A family safari in Uganda with a 4×4 rooftop tent sounds like an unforgettable adventure. Uganda is known for its diverse wildlife, beautiful landscapes, and unique safari experiences.
On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, your safari guide will meet you and transfer you to your accommodation in Entebbe for overnight stay. Choose a family-friendly lodge or hotel like The Boma Entebbe, Protea Hotel by Marriott, 2Friends Beach Hotel, Mowicribs Hotel and Spa among others. Rest after your flight or if you arrive early, you can visit Entebbe Botanical Gardens or take a stroll around Lake Victoria. Dinner and overnight stay at your booked lodge or hotel.
Start your 2nd day of your family safari with a panoramic drive to north-west through the famous Luwero Triangle and continue to Masindi via Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in your jeep. A visit to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for Rhino trekking is a must as long as you are having a trip to Murchison Falls National Park.
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is the only place where you can spot white Rhinos in Uganda. Rhino trekking costs USD5O per person and this includes entrance fee. The Rhino trekking tour also involves Shoe bill Trek, Bird Watching and Nature Walk.
This sanctuary is well-positioned making it an ideal stop point for most Uganda safaris to Murchison Falls National Park in Northwestern Uganda. After having lunch, drive to Murchison Falls. Overnight and dinner at Paraa Safari Lodge, Sambiya River Lodge, Pakuba Safari Lodge, Murchison River Lodge, Red Chilli Rest hotel among others.
Begin your 3rd day with a cup of African Coffee. After your cup of coffee, cross the Nile by ferry to the northern bank of the park. Your guide will help you spot some wildlife species such as Elephants, Lions, Cape buffaloes, Rothschild’s giraffe, hartebeests, Water bucks, Oribi, Bush bucks, Bohor reed buck, hyenas and if you are lucky, the leopards. Return to the hotel for breakfast and lunch.
After lunch, go for a boat safari upstream the calm Victoria Nile to the base of the falls. Marvel at some species such as hippos, crocodiles and over this 17 km stretch you may see elephants, water bucks, Uganda Kob among other animals.
This is also a zone of many bird species like Goliath heron, Egyptian goose, pelican bee-eater, kingfisher, horn bill, cormorant, the rare shoe bill stork and so many. After the boat cruise, you will quietly hike to the top of the falls to see where the world’s longest river explodes violently through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment to plunge into a frothing pool 43m below. Your driver/guide will be waiting for you to bring you back to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
On the 4th day, transfer to Kibale Forest National Park in a family jeep via Hoima to Fort Portal through verdant countryside and past traditional homesteads and farms along Albertine Rift escarpments. Fort-Portal rests in the shadow of the fabled Mountains of the Moon. Dinner and overnight stay in your booked family room. Some of the lodges in Kibale such as Little Monkey Camp among others have a stunning location overlooking a dramatic Crater Lake and the fabled “Mountains of the Moon”.
You will have your en-route lunch in Fort Portal town after visiting the Mabere Ganyina mwiru caves. Mabere ga Nyina Mwiru is a cultural site with remarkable history located in western Uganda in Fort portal town. This rock is actually as a result of formation of stalagmites and stalactites. Mabere ga Nyina Mwiru is nestled between several trees and beautiful water falls.
On the 5th day after early breakfast, report at Kanyanchu Tourist Centre where tourist activities begin and set out to trek chimpanzees in the forest. Chances of viewing the chimpanzees are over 90% but not a guarantee. Kibale Forest National Park is one of the beautiful and stunning forests in the Uganda. It is home to our closest living relatives the endangered Chimpanzees, the threatened red colobus monkeys and the rare L’Hoest’s monkeys.
The forest also has one of the highest diversity and density of primates in Africa totaling 13 species including the Black and white Columbus, Blue monkeys, Grey-cheeked mangabeys, Red tailed monkeys and Bush babies and Pottos.
After lunch visit Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary from where you will take on a guided walk around the swamp which will provide you with the opportunity to see a wide range of flora and fauna. View a variety of butterflies, birds and other insects. Have an evening tour around the crater region, visit “top of the world”, the natural bridge. On a clear day you will be able to have a view of the snow cap on the Rwenzori. Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
After having your breakfast on the 6th day, drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park viewing the mystical Rwenzori Mountain range for much of the journey. Check in at your accommodation facility as you wait for your lunch. After lunch, take on an afternoon launch cruise along Kazinga Channel that joins Lakes Edward and George.
The cruise is a wonderful way to see hippos, buffaloes, Kobs and the occasional Nile crocodiles and a spectacular bird watching on the water bank. Kazinga channel offers two independent boat ride operators, the Uganda Wildlife Authority boat and Mweya Safari Lodge boat. Both boat trips cost around $30 per tourist.
You will have your dinner and overnight at one of your favourite lodge or hotels such as Little Elephant Camp, Engiri Game Lodge, Tembo Safari Lodge and Campsite among others offers humble parking places for your 4×4 rooftop tent car and camping.
The following day rise up very early with your packed lunch and take on a morning game drive to catch-up with the early risers and predators returning to their hideouts. You will most likely meet grazing Hippos, Elephants, Lions, spotted Hyenas, bush buck, water buck, stripped jackal, comical warthogs, the elusive leopard among others.
You may proceed to Maramagambo forest where a lot of pythons are often observed in the crevices of the bat cave floor using the bats as a source of food. The cave is near a picturesque formerly blue lake and hunters’ cave. You may also see forest birds such as bat hawks, brown eared woodpecker and other primates. Return to the lodge and spend the remaining hours at leisure as you wait for dinner.
With previous day’s memories, this day you will proceed to Ishasha. Drive along the deep and wide dry craters that are occupied by savanna grasses and acacia.
The drive takes you through the unique western rift valley escarpment and the Ishasha sector where you will take on yet another game drive in search of tree climbing lions in the afternoon and evening. Accommodation options for your dinner and overnight stay include; Ishasha Camp, Topi Lodge among other lodges.
On the 9th day, you will have an early morning guided bush walk for a closer interaction with nature. The mid-morning will be spent on a game drive for the tree climbing lions and after proceed to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. You have an en-route lunch on the way in the preferred restaurant.
The journey takes about 2 hours but driving through interesting features. Upon reaching Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, you will just check-in at your lodge for dinner and overnight stay. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a home of the rare mountain gorillas. Apart from gorillas, there are a wide variety of primates to see including the blue and red-tailed monkeys.
The forest itself is lush and green and there are streams running through it. Accommodation options for comfortable stay with your family include; Dinner and overnight Bwindi View Banda’s, Buhoma Rest Camp, Nshongi Gorilla Camp among others.
On the 10th day, after breakfast set off early with guides to trek the gorillas in their natural habitat. The thrill of your encounter will erase the difficulties of the potentially strenuous trek.
Spend time in awe watching the gorillas go about their activities. Each gorilla safari encounter is different and has its own rewards but you are likely to enjoy the close view of adults feeding, grooming and resting as the youngsters’ frolic and swing from vines in a delightfully playful display.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is a magnificent green swathe of dense rain forest. It is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth and its unique precious flora sustains roughly half of the world population of mountain gorillas.
There are also a substantial chimpanzee population and research shows that Bwindi is the only forest in Africa in which these two apes live together.
Upon reaching the gorilla group allocated to you, you will be allowed one hour of watching them and taking pictures and videos for memories or to show people back home.
After having your lunch, spend the late afternoon on a community foot safari to explore the life style of the people living and surrounding the park. Return to the lodge in the evening for relaxing as you wait for dinner.
This morning, begin the day with an early breakfast with your family and get ready for a Batwa experience where the Batwa demonstrate hunting techniques, gather honey, point out medicinal plants.
Batwa cultural experience in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park starts with a guided nature walk in the forest where they used to live and during the cultural experience, you will be accompanied by Batwa guides who will show you how they used to hunt small animals for food, their gathering skills, demonstrate how they used to live in small huts made of grass and trees, visit their traditional homesteads among others.
The Batwa women of the community perform a sorrowful song and leaves guests with a moving sense of the richness of this fading culture. If interested, your family will help these Batwa people in carrying out their day-to-day daily activities like cooking, milking, gathering fruits among others. You will spend the whole day in the Batwa community village with its people.
On lunch, you will taste traditional meals prepared by the Batwa women. The Batwa Cultural Experience in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park costs 40 USD per person. In the evening, meet your guide and return to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
The following day after having your breakfast, drive to Lake Mburo National Park for an evening game drive in your private family jeep. The park is renowned for zebras, impalas, buffaloes, hippos, topi and elands including the rare shoe bill, crested crane, pelicans, fish eagle, heron and many water birds. You can have your dinner and overnight at Mihingo Safari Lodge or Mantana Tented camp.
On the 13th day, you can start your morning with a game drive in the park to spot big herds of Zebras, Impalas, Elands, Warthogs, buffaloes and other Savannah species.
Enjoy your game drive in your private family jeep for clear views of a variety of species. For birders, this is one of the best places to find African Fin foot, Papyrus, Bush Shrike among others.
In the afternoon after having lunch, go for a boat cruise on Lake Mburo and get an opportunity of spotting a variety of Hippos and other water species and land mammals that come to drink water and bath around the shores.
The boat cruise on Lake Mburo in Lake Mburo National Park cost $30 and is done in shifts between 9 am to 5 pm. Each cruise lasts for two hours and starts from pier.
On the 14th day after having your early breakfast, go for a morning Bush Walk. Lake Mburo National Park is a very special place whereby every part of it is alive with variety, interest and color. It contains an extensive wetland.
You are likely to see elands, impalas, water bucks, warthogs, zebras among others. After the walk, return to the lodge, check-out of the room and transfer to Entebbe for overnight stay with an en-route stopover at Equator for photography and shopping souvenirs.
Accommodation options for your comfort stay in Entebbe include; Lake Victoria Serena Resort, the Boma Hotel and many others depending on your choice.
On your last day of the safari depending on your flight time, you may opt to go for a tour city around Entebbe and later be transferred to the Airport for your out-bond flight back home or next destination and that will mark the end of your family safari with Nature Adventure Africa Safaris’ team.
