Great Rift Valley
Uganda
Gorillas & Game Drives | Uganda
The journey begins gently in Entebbe, on the shores of Lake Victoria, before a short flight west delivers you to the forests of Kibale, where two chimpanzee treks, wetland birding and evenings with working primatologists fill three richly varied days.
You then drive south through Queen Elizabeth National Park to Kyambura Gorge Lodge, splitting your time between classic savannah safari, a wildlife cruise on the Kazinga Channel and treks into the extraordinary sunken forest of Kyambura Gorge itself, home to an isolated chimpanzee community. Hands-on conservation runs through everything here, from logging lions for a live carnivore census to roasting coffee with a women’s cooperative.
A final flight carries you to the foot of the Virunga Volcanoes, where the journey crescendos with a trek to the Nyakagezi mountain gorillas, golden monkey tracking in the bamboo and time with the Batwa, one of Africa’s oldest peoples. Throughout, you stay in three of the most celebrated small lodges in East Africa, each one funding the conservation and community work you experience first-hand.
You will love
- Two chimpanzee treks in Kibale
- Searching Kyambura for lost chimps
- An hour with mountain gorillas
- Hippo-packed Kazinga Channel cruise
- Batwa culture & heritage trails
- Fireside chats with working conservationists
Let us design your perfect itinerary.
11 DAYS FROM JUNGLES TO PLAINS
DAY 1 | ARRIVE ENTEBBE | HOTEL NO. 5 | 1 NIGHT
Welcome to Uganda. You will land at Entebbe International Airport on the shores of Lake Victoria, where a representative will greet you and transfer you to Hotel No. 5, a boutique retreat just minutes away. The evening is yours to rest, swim and settle into the gentle rhythm of equatorial Africa before the safari begins in earnest tomorrow.
DAY 2 | FLY WEST TO KIBALE | KIBALE LODGE | 3 NIGHTS
A short morning flight carries you west over crater lakes and tea plantations to Kasese, where your expert guide waits. En route to Kibale Lodge you visit the Rwenzori Sculpture Foundation, a working bronze foundry celebrating Uganda’s clan totems. The lodge looks out to the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountains and the plains of Queen Elizabeth beyond. In the afternoon you visit a local school partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots and Shoots programme, then gather for cocktails and a fireside chat with a primatologist from the Kibale Chimpanzee Project.
DAY 3 | BIGODI WETLANDS & CHIMPANZEE TREK
The morning belongs to the Bigodi Wetland, a community-run sanctuary alive with butterflies, red colobus monkeys and shy sitatunga antelope; birders scan for the Great Blue Turaco and the rare Papyrus Gonolek. After lunch you enter Kibale Forest, the Primate Capital of the World, for your first chimpanzee trek. The forest erupts with hoots and drumming as you find the chimps feeding, grooming and swinging through the canopy high above you.
DAY 4 | 2ND CHIMPANZEE TREK & SADHGURU SCHOOL
Return to the forest this morning for a second chimpanzee trek, watching for olive baboons, bushbabies and some of the world’s finest birdlife, including the elusive Green-breasted Pitta. Every trek is different; today the chimps may be on the move, calling to one another as they forage. After lunch at the lodge you visit the nearby Sadhguru School, supported by the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust, where arts and culture are shaping a new generation of changemakers.
DAY 5 | QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK & THE KAZINGA CHANNEL | KYAMBURA GORGE LODGE | 3 NIGHTS
Drive south through Queen Elizabeth National Park, watching for lion, leopard, elephant and great herds of Uganda kob on the way to Kyambura Gorge Lodge. In the afternoon you board a boat on the Kazinga Channel, home to one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of hippo, where elephant and buffalo crowd the water’s edge. Back near the lodge, harvest honey with the local bee-keeping cooperative or walk the gorge rim for birds and monkeys.
DAY 6 | LION MONITORING & THE LOST CHIMPS OF KYAMBURA
An early game drive takes you across the Kasenyi plains, prime country for lion and leopard, where you photograph and GPS-log the cats you find for the Kyambura Lion Monitoring Project’s annual carnivore census. After lunch you walk the Fig Tree Trail from the lodge and descend into Kyambura Gorge itself, a sunken rainforest slicing through the savannah, in search of its famous lost chimpanzees, an isolated community moving fast through the canopy overhead.
DAY 7 | BUSH BREAKFAST, SECOND GORGE TREK & COMMUNITY EVENING
After a bush breakfast overlooking the park you trek the gorge a second time, tracking footprints and reading the forest with your guide, then check camera traps for the Kyambura Carnivore Survey to see what passed in the night. The afternoon brings the Kyambura Ecotourism Project: hand-roasting beans with the Women’s Coffee Cooperative, birding the wetlands and planting a seedling in the wildlife buffer. In the evening, share stories, a barbecue and a film night with guides, researchers and neighbours at the community centre.
DAY 8 | SOUTH TO VIRUNGA | MOUNT GAHINGA LODGE | 3 NIGHTS
A morning flight from Kasese carries you south to Kisoro, followed by a short drive to Mount Gahinga Lodge, tucked at the foot of the Virunga Volcanoes on the edge of Mgahinga National Park. In the afternoon you visit the Gahinga Batwa Village, home to one of Africa’s oldest peoples, and join the Batwa Heritage Tour for an insight into their traditional forest life. Cocktails follow, with a fireside chat from a Gorilla Doctors vet working on the frontline of gorilla health.
DAY 9 | GORILLA TREKKING IN MGAHINGA
Today is the day. After an early breakfast you set off into Mgahinga’s densely forested slopes to trek the Nyakagezi family, the park’s only habituated gorilla group, famous for the rare sight of several silverbacks living together under the mighty Mark. The hike may take one hour or several, but the moment you find them, camouflaged in the vegetation, is one of travel’s great privileges: a full hour in their gentle company. A late lunch follows, then the volcanic spa and its famous Rungu massage.
DAY 10 | GOLDEN MONKEYS OF THE VIRUNGAS
Climb into the bamboo-clad foothills of the Virungas this morning to track golden monkeys, endangered primates found only in these mountains, their bright coats flashing as they tumble through the bamboo. The afternoon is gentle: the Batwa Heritage Trail and vocational centre, or simply the lodge fire as the volcanoes turn violet at dusk.
DAY 11 | DEPART ENTEBBE
After breakfast you transfer to Kisoro airstrip for the flight back to Entebbe, where you connect with your onward international flight, carrying with you the calls of the forest and the steady gaze of the gorillas. International departures should be booked after 8pm.
WHERE YOU’LL STAY
A selection of the finest safari camps
A boutique stay in Entebbe
Championing chimpanzees
Endless Views
A soulful retreat at the foot of the Virunga volcanoes
NEED TO KNOW
Start: Entebbe, Uganda
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Finish: Entebbe, Uganda
YOUR JOURNEY
This ten-night journey traces the western arm of the Great Rift Valley through Uganda, linking the finest chimpanzee and gorilla trekking in Africa. From Kibale Forest, the Primate Capital of the World, you travel through Queen Elizabeth National Park to Kyambura Gorge, a sunken rainforest hiding an isolated chimpanzee community, before finishing beneath the Virunga Volcanoes with a trek to Mgahinga’s famous Nyakagezi gorilla family. Along the way, community and conservation projects run by the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust open doors that few travellers ever walk through.
This itinerary suits travellers drawn to wildlife encounters of the most intimate kind: sitting metres from a silverback, hearing chimpanzees call through the canopy, logging lions for a working census. A moderate level of fitness is needed, as treks range from one to eight hours over steep and sometimes muddy terrain, though porters and walking sticks help every step of the way.
It equally rewards those who want their travel to mean something. Every night’s stay funds community and conservation work, and guests are welcomed into it, roasting coffee, planting trees and sharing meals with the people who protect these forests.
Supplement
Duration: 11 days / 10 nights
Route: Entebbe – Kibale National Park – Queen Elizabeth National Park & Kyambura Gorge – Mgahinga National Park – Entebbe
Start & Finish: Entebbe International Airport, Uganda
Group Size: Based on a minimum of 2 travellers
Gorilla Trekking: Minimum age 15 years; permits included
Fitness Level: Moderate; treks of 1 to 8 hours on steep, sometimes muddy terrain
Best Time to Travel: Year-round; driest from June to September & December to February
Inclusions
- Ten nights’ accommodation as specified
- All meals from dinner on Day 1 to breakfast on Day 11
- Soft drinks, standard & premium spirits, signature cocktails & cellar wines (excluding French champagne)
- Domestic flights Entebbe–Kasese, Kasese–Kisoro & Kisoro–Entebbe
- All road transfers in a private safari vehicle with expert guide
- Gorilla, chimpanzee & golden monkey trekking permits
- All park entrance fees & scheduled activities
- Kazinga Channel boat cruise & game drives
- Community & conservation experiences run by the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust
- Laundry services & lodge massages (subject to booking & availability)
Exclusions
- International flights
- Ugandan visa fees
- Travel & medical insurance
- French champagne
- Gratuities to guides, trackers, porters & lodge staff
- Items of a personal nature
- Any activities not specified in the itinerary
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