Compare Uganda & Rwanda: African Primate Safari by MT Sobek (Mountain Travel Sobek) vs Remarkable Rwanda & Gorillas of Uganda by Intrepid Travel

Day 1: Arrive in Entebbe, Uganda.

Meals: Dinner

Accommodation: Protea Hotel Entebbe

You may arrive anytime today into Entebbe, Uganda.  A Mountain Travel Sobek representative will meet you outside the customs and immigration area at the airport. He or she will answer questions, brief you on the immediate arrangements, and escort you to our group hotel located on the shores of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake.

Day 2: Entebbe to Kibale Forest National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Primate Lodge

We board our Land Rovers in the morning and drive into the lush green countryside of Uganda, a country described by Winston Churchill as “the Pearl of Africa.” We pass through landscapes where African farmsteads crammed with bananas and tropical trees mingle with wetlands and patches of forest or bush, and give way to tea plantations as we gain elevation. After a picnic lunch en route, we enter Kibale Forest National Park, where we may catch our first glimpse of chimps, baboons, or other primates. While in Kibale, we’ll stay at Primate Lodge, a luxury tented camp consisting of eight deluxe safari tents. They are raised on wooden platforms and feature verandas, comfortable beds, and en-suite bathrooms. We gather for meals in the open-air restaurant and can relax in the cozy bar, lounge, or around the fireplace. (6-7 hours driving)

Day 3: Kibale Forest National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Primate Lodge

Kibale is home to more than 500 chimpanzees and twelve other primate species, including black-and-white and red colobus, galagos, and L’Hoest’s monkeys. The forest, which averages about 3,300 feet in elevation, is inhabited by three large communities of chimps, each numbering more than 100 individuals. Over time, scientists have cut a grid of walking trails through the forest, which facilitates tracking these well-studied and protected chimps.

After a hearty breakfast, we’ll spend the morning in the forest tracking chimps! Chimp tracking sessions are carefully regulated by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Morning and afternoon tracking sessions take place at Kibale.* Each is limited to a maximum number of 16 visitors, who are divided into groups of four. Each group is accompanied by an experienced ranger-guide and a tracker. Typically, we locate the chimps by listening for their pant-hooting calls, then rush to the area where they are calling. They spend the majority of their day high in the fig trees, eating fruit and socializing, though it is not uncommon for one to swing down from the canopy to watch as we pass by. Getting this near to one of mankind’s closest relatives is an awesome experience that you won’t soon forget!

After a traditional Ugandan lunch, we’ll take a swamp walk (along the edge of the swamp—not through it!), looking for other primates which may include red-tailed monkey, red colobus monkey, black-and-white colobus, gray-cheeked mangabey, olive baboon, and vervet monkey. The forest is also the habitat of a wide array of birds, including the spectacular great blue turaco and the African gray parrot, and is alive with the tantalizing sounds of elusive birds such as the Angola pitta. On our walk, we’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the wetland flora, and how these natural resources are used in daily life and protected by the people of Uganda.

In the evening, we walk in search of nocturnal primates, including pottos and bushbabies. On all walks at Kibale, expert national park guides accompany us. They will use their tracking skills and share their knowledge of primates and birds, as well as reveal some of the botanical secrets of the forest. Twenty percent of your park entrance fees help support the local Batooro and Bakiga tribes.

*NOTE—we may be assigned either morning or afternoon tracking sessions, in which case we will adjust the rest of the day’s activities accordingly.

Days 4-5: Drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Jacana Lodge

Today we drive 3-4 hours to Queen Elizabeth National Park, located in the western branch of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. With 2,000 square miles of deep jungle, volcanoes, crater lakes, and open savannahs, this diverse landscape is home to a similarly broad array of wildlife, including nearly 100 mammal species and 606 species of birds spotted (so far). We will delve into the varied landscape and waterways of the park in search of elephants, leopards, waterbucks, topis, and horned kobs, to name a few of the regularly sighted species. In addition to game drives, we’ll take an exciting launch trip on the Kazinga Channel that connects Lake Edward with smaller Lake George to get a different perspective on the wildlife. This is an absolutely spectacular experience: we are certain to see tremendous numbers of hippos and water birds of every type and hue, plus elephant and leopard are often encountered along the shore. From the thick tree canopies and chattering chimps of Kyambura Gorge to the world’s largest congregation of hippos (30,000!) in the Kazinga Channel, Queen Elizabeth National Park offers a truly world-class safari experience.

And, you’ll have incredible wildlife experiences even when you’re not out on a game drive—you can enjoy some of the best birdwatching in East Africa right from your deck at Jacana Lodge! Set on the edge of Uganda’s largest crater lake, the tree house lodge is naturally built of rock, wood, and rope. Seven luxury chalets have en-suite bathrooms with hot water and enclosed verandas with large windows offering panoramic views of the forest and Lake Nyamusingire. Enjoy evening sundowners or morning tea in the lounge area, beautifully accented with a large stone fireplace and handmade Persian carpets.

Twenty percent of your park entrance fees help support the local community surrounding the park, including funding schools and medical clinics.

Days 6-7: Maramagambo Forest – Ishasha

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Ishasha Wilderness Camp

We'll explore the remote southern Ishasha region of Queen Elizabeth National Park, known for herds of elephant, buffalo, and many species of antelope. Game drives provide a good chance of seeing buffalo, elephants, kob, topi, and the park’s renowned tree-climbing lions. It’s not known how the lions learned to climb fig and acacia trees here, but they seem to do it to escape the heat.

At night, we'll relax around the fire at Ishasha Wilderness Camp. Each of the ten spacious East African Meru tents is comfortably furnished and has an en-suite bathroom and dressing area with a hot water shower. Because the camp is within the park boundaries, they maintain a low energy profile by using solar power and eco-friendly toilets.  This is often our guest's favorite lodging on the trip!

Day 8: Kisoro – Kinigi

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Gorilla Mountain View Lodge

Drive through the region known as “the Switzerland of East Africa” for its awe-inspiring mountains. We travel through the famous Kanaba Gap, one of East Africa’s most scenic areas, before arriving in the lovely town of Kisoro, which is dominated by volcanoes—Sabinyo (11,923'), Mgahinga (11,397'), and Muhabura (13,540'). We cross over into Rwanda, then continue through volcanic uplands to Kinigi, headquarters of Parc National des Volcans (Volcanoes National Park). We settle into the simple comforts of Gorilla Mountain View Lodge, our base for gorilla trekking in the Parc National des Volcans.  This is our longest driving day--about 9-10 hours with stops for lunch, photography, and the border crossing--but it's incredibly scenic.

Day 9: Parc National des Volcans

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Gorilla Mountain View Lodge

Local trackers lead us through misty rainforest for our first adrenaline-filled encounter with the mountain gorillas. Although park rangers try to keep tabs on the whereabouts of the gorillas, they are free-ranging wild creatures and can be difficult to locate depending on the animals’ movements. Sometimes finding them is very easy, as they may remain close to the area where they had been feeding the previous day. On other occasions, they require lengthy tracking, which can be arduous. Once found, we will stay with the gorillas and observe them closely for up to one hour (the park service requires we maintain a distance from them of 22 feet).

Six to eight people per day are allowed to visit each gorilla group; each day, we will try to assign group members to track the gorilla family most appropriate to their strength and hiking abilities. The difficulties we may encounter include steep muddy slopes, stinging nettles, safari ants, hanging and low-lying vines, and rain. The reward is an extraordinary opportunity to observe the gorillas at close range.

NOTE—These gorillas are NOT tame, but they have been scientifically habituated to accept the presence of quiet and non-threatening human observers.

Day 10: Virunga Volcanoes – Kigali

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Kigali Serena

Today we trek up the forested slopes of the Virunga Volcanoes for our second gorilla encounter. There are currently 10 family groups of gorillas in the park which are available for tracking by the public. Each family group lives in a very different part of the park. The Sabinyo Group lives on the hills below the jagged peak of Sabinyo Volcano. These hills are mostly covered with forests of giant bamboo. Umubano and the Amahoro Groups live on the forested slopes between Visoke Volcano and Sabinyo. Visoke is a lovely volcano that reaches up to 12,175 feet on its rim, and its interior is filled with a crater lake. Fortunately, the gorillas tend to range in the moss-draped hagenia forests of its lower slopes. Group Susa lives on the middle-level slopes of the largest volcano, the giant Karisimbi (14,787'). Although the Susa Group tends to inhabit the forest at altitudes of 9,000-10,000 feet, they do range widely and sometimes venture higher up on the mountain, into the zone of bizarre and wonderful Afro-alpine vegetation. Susa is therefore considered the most strenuous group to track. Other family groups we may track include the Kwitonda, Ugenda, Bwende, Karisimbi, Agashya, and Hirwa Groups. The number of gorillas in each family group varies from 11 to 33.

After returning from our second memorable visit with the gorillas, we drive through the scenic countryside and quickly understand why Rwanda has been nicknamed “the land of a thousand hills.” These hills are intensively cultivated by rural people who live on tiny farmsteads, so they form a terraced patchwork of banana plantations, sorghum fields, and vegetable gardens. Rwanda is densely populated so we may see many people walking along the roads and working their fields while en route to the nation’s capital, Kigali. Here we stay at the Kigali Serena Hotel, a full-service, western-style hotel with a gym, swimming pool, lounge, terrace, and a taste of the “real” world—Internet access!

Day 11: Kigali

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

We’ll tour bustling Kigali, including a tour of the genocide museum, the Kigali Memorial Centre, commemorating the one million Rwandans killed in 1994. Transfer to the airport for departure on homeward-bound flights via Entebbe or Nairobi.  It's best not to schedule departure flights before 2pm.

Day 1 Kigali

Welcome to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda since it gained independence in 1962. Most associate Rwanda with the horrific genocide that took place in 1994, but this is a country that has been striving to rebuild its economy for years and offers so much to the intrepid traveller. And though the past won't, and shouldn't, be forgotten, the future of Rwanda's tourism is looking bright thanks to its welcoming people, an abundance of lakes and the beautiful Virunga Mountains. Your adventure begins by meeting your fellow travellers and local leader at 6pm.

Day 2 Musanze

After breakfast this morning, your tour leader will take you to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, which opened in 2004 to mark the 10th commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi people. It serves as a museum detailing the history and consequences of Rwanda's genocide and a place for people to grieve for lost friends and family. This afternoon, you’ll drive to Musanze – the gateway to Volcanoes National Park, home to gorillas and golden monkeys. This afternoon, you'll visit The Gorilla Doctors headquaters; the only organisation in the world dedicated to saving the mountain and eastern lowland (Grauer’s) gorilla species one gorilla patient at a time using veterinary medicine and science. They monitor the health of gorilla groups to ensure the early detection of disease and injury, and stage medical interventions when gorillas suffer from human-induced or life-threatening trauma or disease.

Day 3 Musanze

Today, you’ll visit the The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. This research centre leads the world in protecting and studying gorillas while helping communities build their conservation capabilities. Learn about Dian Fossey’s life and the conservation of endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda. There are heaps of optional activities to do in Musanze, including Golden Monkey Trekking in the Virunga Mountains, the Mount Bisoke trek, or keep it chill with a canoe ride on the Mukungwa River. Maybe visit Redrocks Rwanda, where you’ll learn about the local banana beer production and be treated to some dancing, drumming and basket-weaving demonstrations.

Day 4 Queen Elizabeth NP

Today, you’ll leave Rwanda as we cross the border into Uganda, making our way to Queen Elizabeth National Park. This park is home to 618 bird species, 10 species of primates - including chimpanzees, and 95 different types of mammals. The route to your accommodation may feel like an unofficial safari. Keep a look out for African elephants, buffalo, hippos, warthogs, Nile crocodiles, leopards, spotted hyenas, lions and chimpanzees. Tonight, stay in a simple safari lodge within the park overlooking the Kazinga Channel.

Day 5 Queen Elizabeth NP

Wake up for another exciting day in Queen Elizabeth National Park with another 4x4 Game Drive. Be on the lookout for any sightings you may have missed yesterday, and if you’re really lucky, you might be able to spot leopards or lions. This afternoon, you have the opportunity to see the park from a different perspective with an optional cruise down the Kazinga Channel, linking Lake Edward to Lake George. You’ll be joined by local guides who will fill you in on everything you could want to know about the landscape and the animals who live within it – be on the lookout for hippos basking on the shore, as well as crocodiles, herds of elephants and abundant birdlife.

Day 6 Queen Elizabeth NP

This morning we make our way to Ishasha, the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Here you meet some local residents to learn more about rural life in Uganda. Visit a local organic farm, medicine garden and homestead and learn how its owner is tackling human-wildlife conflict with his anti-crop raiding techniques. You’ll also meet a local Mukiga woman who will share her story while showing you how to sort, pound and grind millet to make porridge and other Bakiga meals. This part of the park is famous for its tree climbing lions, so be on the look out as you make the game drive towards our ecolodge in the northern sector of the park frequented by herds of elephants, buffaloes and antelopes!

Day 7 Kisoro

Today, drive out of the Queen Elizabeth National Park on your way to the southwest tip of Uganda (approximately 6 hours). The journey is like a game drive in itself, with the chance to spot zebras, antelopes, baboons and monkeys out the window. When you arrive at the corner of Uganda, where the border touches Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, you’ll be based in Kisoro, which provides access to seven different gorilla groups located in Mgahinga, Nkuringo, Rushaga and Nshongi.

Day 8 Kisoro (Gorilla Trek)

Join a local guide and trackers as you climb through the rugged, mountainous terrain of Bwindi National Park in search of mountain gorillas. A quick lock of eyes with these creatures is a truly primal moment and visits are strictly controlled to minimise disturbance. Make no mistake, tracking gorillas is no walk in the park – it's called Bwinidi Impenetrable National Park for a reason. It can be wet, muddy, strenuous and uncomfortable, but the indescribable elation at coming across a group of gorillas is worth the effort. Spend a mesmerising hour with the gorillas as they eat, sleep, groom and play as the male silverback watches over them, then return to the lodge for dinner and to reflect on this incredible experience.

Day 9 Kigali

After breakfast this morning, it’s time to make the journey back to Kigali. When you arrive, there are no further activities planned and your adventure comes to an end. If you’d like to spend more time here, just speak to your booking agent.