You arrive today at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport, where you complete arrival immigration procedures before flying onwards to Kasese, located in a very picturesque region of crater lakes and the Kibale Forest. You are met at the airstrip by your private guide, who will accompany you around his ‘home turf’ for the next few days.

Kibale National Park protects 776km² of pre-montane rainforest and is home to 13 primate species, including chimpanzee, red colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys. The surrounding landscape of crater lakes, forest, and plantations offers further exploration, while Bigodi Wetland is a community-run sanctuary rich in birdlife, primates, and butterflies.

This morning you enter ‘the jungle’ for an encounter with one of the national park’s chimpanzee families, accompanied by a knowledgeable park guide. Kibale National Park is one of the best places in Africa to view chimpanzees in the wild and your “Chimpanzee Tracking” experience promises a very high likelihood of quality viewing of our primate cousins. This afternoon you can discuss the various activities and excursions on offer with your guide. Options include another chimpanzee tracking (to a different family), a drive through the surrounding Crater Lakes region, or a guided walk through the bird- and primate-filled Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary. Perhaps you prefer to simply enjoy an afternoon enjoying the forest views (and sounds) from your cottage.

Accompanied by your guide, you now drive westwards to the nearby Queen Elizabeth National Park, offering Uganda’s best savanna landscapes complete with the “Big Five”. Here you’ll also find Kazinga Channel, a 32km-long natural channel that links Lake Edward and Lake George. The channel is usually teeming with hippo and birdlife, which you’ll discover on a boat safari this afternoon.

Queen Elizabeth National Park is scenically diverse and quietly rewarding. Its savannas, forests and crater lakes support over 600 bird species, herds of antelope, and large predators. The Kazinga Channel links Lakes Edward and George and is a magnet for wildlife. Ishasha’s fig trees shelter unique tree-climbing lions, while the northern plains are rich with Ugandan kob and other grazers.

Your game viewing continues today as you travel south through the park to the Ishasha section, famous for its tree-climbing lions. A short game drive brings you to the southern exit of the park, from where you travel through spectacular mountainous and rural scenery to Buhoma, the village overlooking the “gorilla forest”. You arrive in time for lunch and your guide now leaves you in the capable hands of the lodge as he travels by road back to Entebbe.

Bwindi is one of Africa’s oldest and most biologically diverse forests, home to more than half the world’s population of mountain gorillas. It also shelters a number of other primate species along with forest elephants and many endemic bird species. The village of Buhoma offers meaningful cultural engagement and the opportunity to support community-led initiatives.

Today you embark on a gorilla trek. This afternoon offers time to visit some of the community projects taking place in the village as well as taking in the ambience of being in the unique environment of Equatorial East Africa.

Bwindi is one of Africa’s oldest and most biologically diverse forests, home to more than half the world’s population of mountain gorillas. It also shelters a number of other primate species along with forest elephants and many endemic bird species.  The village of Buhoma offers meaningful cultural engagement and the opportunity to support community-led initiatives.

We now say Kwaheri (“Goodbye” in the local Kiswahili language) as you are transferred through more beautiful, mountainous scenery to Kihihi airstrip for your flight to Entebbe and onward travels home. For late evening/early morning flight departures, we can include an afternoon and evening at a boutique guesthouse in Entebbe as well as a sunset cruise on nearby Lake Victoria.