Southern Uganda’s Primates in Great Depth

Arrive Entebbe. Met on arrival and transfer to your hotel.

Pick up by private safari guide with specially equipped 4WD Land Cruiser with popup roof, charging sockets, WiFi and a fridge well stocked with fruit, snacks and soft drinks. Drive (approx. 60 minutes) to the Mabamba Wetland for a boat trip in search of shoebills and other birdlife. Continue by road (approx. 5 hours) to Kibale and check into your lodge.

Depart before dawn for Kibale Forest National Park headquarters and check in for the morning chimpanzee trek. Bordering the Queen Elizabeth National park to the south, the Kibale protects Uganda’s largest expanse of intact forest containing more than 350 species of trees, 375 species of bird and 70 species of mammal including forest elephant, red and blue duikers, bushbuck, sitatunga, bush pig, giant forest hog, common warthog, buffalo, leopard and the occasional lion. The 13 species of primate include Uganda mangabey, Ugandan red colobus, L'Hoest's monkey, black-and-white colobus and blue monkey. It is also offers probably Africa’s best chimpanzee trekking with over 120 individuals within the main habituated community, divided into various sub-groups. After a short briefing, you will be split into parties of eight people and spend the morning tracking one of the chimpanzee groups with an armed ranger, usually starting where the group was seen the previous day. If lucky, the group will be vocalising so you are able to follow their distinctive whoops and calls to find the apes. If not, the ranger will need to use his tracking skills to follow the trail of broken vegetation and dropped fruit which leads to the group. This can sometimes take a little time and may involve plenty of walking through thick forest. Once found, however, you will enjoy an unforgettable hour experiencing chimpanzee behaviour and social interaction before returning to the park HQ and your lodge for lunch.

In the afternoon, have a walk in the Bigodi Wetlands for smaller primates found in the area and rich birdlife. A series of trails and boardwalks pass through farmland, forest and extensive areas of papyrus. Wildlife is dominated by birds including blue turaco, papyrus gonolek, hornbill, waxbill, weaver, cuckoo, flycatcher and a number of kingfisher species. There are also eight species of primate there, including black and white colobus, red colobus, mangabey, red tail, vervet, and L’Hoest monkeys.

Depart before dawn and head to the Kibale Forest National Park headquarters for a full day’s visit to the chimpanzee habituation programme. Setting out before dawn with your armed tracker, you head to the last known location of the group and follow tracks and calls until you find the group. Then you may choose to spend as long as you like with the group but will need to return to the park headquarters by night fall. This unforgettable experience provides incredibly intimate encounters and reveals a wide range of chimp behaviour, usually with very few other tourists present. As with any wild animal, the length of your encounter cannot be guaranteed as it can take some time to find a group as they occasionally move to inaccessible areas of the park. The terrain is generally fairly flat but you might need to move quickly on uneven, slippery ground to keep up with the chimpanzees. Good boots and thick trousers are essential to protect from thorns and ants as you move through the forest. NB: You will not be allowed to participate if you show signs of illness, in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of the chimpanzees.

Pick-up from your lodge and drive (approx. 60 minutes) to the northern border of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. Stop to see the beautiful crater lakes that punctuate the park and explore the flat open grasslands looking for lion and buffalo. Check in to your hotel and enjoy an afternoon game drive.

Morning chimpanzee trekking in the Kyambura Gorge. Bisecting the flat plains of the Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kyambura feels very much like a lost and secret world of primate-filled tropical forest. The gorge is around 1km wide at its widest point but is actually relatively shallow, descending to only around 100 metres.

The different terrain and presence of permanent water has led to a completely different habitat from the surrounding plains. Gone are the dry grasslands, grazers and predators. Instead, you are greeted by tall tropical trees, jungle, rivers and a wealth of different wildlife. The river is the home of hippos and you might spy forest antelopes and the occasional elephant wandering through. However, it is the primates that everyone comes here to see. The forest is home to black and white colobus and vervet monkeys, olive baboon, red tailed monkey and a small group of habituated chimpanzees. The chimps can be quite difficult to find, especially when silent, so sightings can be erratic. However, chances are high and you can often gain a little height in order to observe the apes at eye level or up in the trees, thus giving a refreshingly different view from those available in other chimp trekking locations.

Return to your lodge for lunch then enjoy a game drive south through the Ishasha sector of the Queen Elizabeth National Park looking for the famous tree-climbing lions. Arrive at your lodge in time for dinner.

Depart with picnic lunch for a morning game drive in Ishasha to find tree-climbing lions and other wildlife. Continue south (approx. 2 hours) to the Buhoma section of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Rest of day free to relax and acclimatise.

Morning gorilla tracking in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. This is one of the oldest and most biologically diverse forests in Africa, containing over 400 species of plant, 350 species of bird and 120 species of mammal including forest elephant, antelopes and baboons. However, there is one mammal everyone comes here to see: the mountain gorilla. Bwindi holds the world’s largest surviving population of the great apes which are dispersed in several family groups, eleven having been habituated to accept human visits.

There are four main starting points for the Bwindi trekking. You will begin at Buhoma where there are three main groups: Rushegura, Habinyanja and Mubare (the first group to be habituated in Uganda). Arrive at the park by 8am to be registered and shown a video about gorilla conservation and the rules of tracking. You will be assigned to a group and begin your trek. Groups will be allocated according to participants’ fitness and the approximate location of the gorillas.

There is usually a short drive to the trek starting point where you will have a chance to prepare yourself and hire a porter – porters are not essential but we recommend one. Not only do they carry your bags but also lend a hand (literally) on steeper sections of the trip, and the fee of around $20 provides much needed income for them and their families.

Treks typically start with a steep walk up mountain paths into the forest, usually taking one to three hours depending on the route and overall fitness of the party. Then it’s a scramble through the vegetation to your gorilla group, usually across flatter terrain. You will often be hacking through very dense foliage (it’s not called “impenetrable” for nothing) so it’s best to have both hands free and wear thick gardening gloves for the thorns and stinging plants.

When you finally reach your gorilla group (often after another hour or so) you will have a chance to rest, collect your thoughts (and your camera) before walking the final few metres to the great apes. You will then be given an hour to observe and photograph the group. The time will fly by so make sure you have plenty of space on your memory card, a fully charged battery and your flash switched off as no flash photography is allowed. You are expected to keep a respectful distance or around seven metres from the animals. Of course, you should not even begin the trek if suffering from any sort of illness in order to protect the health of the gorillas.

After an unforgettable hour you will retrace your steps to the vehicle and return to the lodge. The total length of the trek can be anything from three to eight hours depending on the group tracked and the fitness of your party. Bring plenty of water, snacks, sun cream, hat and raingear with you.

After lunch there will be a free afternoon to rest and relax or, if you have the energy, visit a nearby Batwa (pygmy) tribe or enjoy a forest walk to spot some of the other wildlife found in Bwindi.

Today, you will enjoy a fabulous walk (approx. 7 hours) with private guide from Buhoma through the Bwindi National Park in the hope of seeing some of its 350 bird species, 200 varieties of butterfly and various primates. With luck you may even encounter wild gorillas. Emerge from the forest at Nkuringo and continue by car to your lodge.

Travel (45 minutes) by car to Rushaga to begin your Gorilla Habituation experience. The environment and trekking conditions are the same as the regular gorilla treks, however, the experience is completely different. You will be in a small group with a maximum of four and permitted to spend up to four hours with the gorillas. You will be trekking a semi-wild group, so their behaviour should be quite different. The gorillas can be quite skittish, often trying to keep their distance and constantly on the move. It can be a challenge keeping up with them while taking photos. Please Note: This is part of the official habituation programme. There will usually be researchers there to explain their work but who will also have the right to cut the experience short if they observe that the group is getting unduly stressed by your presence.

Drive (approx. 2 hours) to Kisoro and take a scheduled light aircraft flight to Entebbe. Visit a nearby restaurant for dinner (included) then take your evening flight home.