12 Days Rwanda and Uganda Safari

Tour details

Duration: 12 days

Best for: Travellers with two weeks who want both countries properly covered, including Murchison Falls and Kibale as well as the gorillas

Group size: Private tour, your group and your guide

Travel style: Gorilla trekking, Chimpanzee tracking, Big Five, Boat trip, Cross-border

Introduction

Your trip starts in Kigali and ends in Entebbe. Or the other way around. Both routes work, and we set the order based on your flights.

Over 12 days you track mountain gorillas twice, in two countries. You walk with golden monkeys in the Virunga foothills. You trek chimpanzees in Kibale, cruise the Kazinga Channel past a thousand hippos, and drive the Kasenyi plains looking for Queen Elizabeth's tree-climbing lions. You end at Ziwa Sanctuary, the one place in Uganda where rhinos still roam free.

This isn't a cheap trip. A single gorilla permit alone runs into the hundreds of dollars, and you're buying two. What you get for it: two gorilla treks, one golden monkey trek, one chimp trek, two boat cruises, and four national parks, mapped into a route that keeps drive days short and border crossings simple.

On this journey, you will explore the following highlights:

Gorilla Tracking - The Ultimate Wildlife Encounter

Volcanoes National Park

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – Home of the Mountain Gorillas

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Ishasha (Queen Elizabeth National Park)

Kibale Forest National Park – The Primate Capital

Chimpanzee Tracking

Murchison Falls National Park – Uganda’s Largest Safari Park

Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary – Rhino Conservation in Action

Kigali City - The Heart of Rwanda

Day to day programme

Day 1: Arrive in Kigali

A guide meets you at Kigali International Airport and transfers you to your hotel. You get a full briefing on the days ahead. Bed and breakfast.

Day 2: Kigali city tour, transfer to Volcanoes National Park

Half-day tour covering the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Nyamata Genocide Church, and the local markets. Afternoon transfer to Volcanoes National Park. Full board.

Day 3: Gorilla trekking and community walk

Your first gorilla trek. Briefing at park headquarters, then the hike, then one hour with your assigned family. Evening visit to Ibwachu Cultural Village, run by former poachers turned guides. Full board.

Day 4: Golden monkey tracking, transfer to Bwindi

Morning trek, early lunch, then the drive south to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Full board.

Day 5: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi

Your second gorilla trek, in one of four sectors depending on your lodge location. Full board.

Day 6: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth via Ishasha

Mid-morning game drive through Ishasha looking for tree-climbing lions, then on to the northern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Full board.

Day 7: Game drive and Kazinga Channel cruise

Morning game drive across Kasenyi, afternoon boat cruise on a Kazinga Channel.

Day 8: Transfer to Kibale Forest, via Kasenda craters

Stop at the "Top of the World" viewpoint over the crater lakes and Lake Nyinambuga, the lake pictured on Uganda's 20,000-shilling note. Full board.

Day 9: Chimp tracking and Bigodi Swamp walk

Morning chimp trek, afternoon nature walk through Bigodi Wetland. Full board.

Day 10: Transfer to Murchison Falls

A 7 to 8 hour drive through the Albertine Escarpment and the Bunyoro and Toro kingdoms. Full board.

Day 11: Game drive and launch cruise to the base of the falls

Pre-dawn game drive, late breakfast, then a 3-hour afternoon cruise to the foot of Murchison Falls. Full board.

Day 12: Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and departure

Stop at the top of the falls, then Ziwa for a rhino walk, then the drive to Entebbe via the Luweero Triangle. Breakfast and lunch included.

What does a typical day look like?

It depends on the day. Trekking days start early: breakfast before dawn, a ranger briefing at park headquarters, then a hike that can run anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 hours depending on where the animals were last seen. Once you find them, you get one hour with the gorillas or chimps, timed by the ranger. Drive days are longer and slower, with stops built in for the Kasenda crater lakes, the Genocide Memorial in Kigali, or a rest break in Fort Portal with the Rwenzori Mountains on the horizon if the sky is clear.

Every day ends at a lodge, on a full board or bed-and-breakfast basis depending on the day. You choose your accommodation tier once, budget, midrange, or upmarket, and we book the same tier throughout so there's no guesswork.

Where will you track gorillas?

Twice. Once in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, once in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

Volcanoes National Park holds 12 habituated gorilla families, including Susa, Sabyinyo, Amahoro, and Kwitonda. Rwanda caps daily trekking at 96 people, eight per family. Briefing starts at 7:00am at Kinigi headquarters. Hikes here climb between 2,500 and 4,000 metres, so fitness matters. Some visitors hire a sedan chair, locally called a "human helicopter," if the altitude is a concern.

Bwindi splits gorilla trekking across four sectors: Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga, and Nkuringo. Together they hold 18 habituated families, also tracked in groups of eight. Trekking time ranges from 3 to 8 hours depending on the sector and the family's last known location.

In both parks, once you find the gorillas, the clock starts on your one hour with them. Pack a lunch, carry water, and hire a porter. Porters are locals from the surrounding community, and hiring one puts money directly into the park's neighbouring villages.

What about the chimps and the golden monkeys?

Golden monkey tracking happens the morning after your Rwanda gorilla trek. It's a shorter outing than gorilla trekking, the monkeys are easier to locate, and you're usually back at the lodge in time for an early lunch.

Chimp tracking happens in Kibale Forest National Park, home to 13 primate species and over 325 bird species, including the rare green-breasted pitta. Kibale has run chimp treks since 1993. Groups of six set out with a ranger at either 8:00am or 2:00pm, and the trek takes about 3 hours on average, easier going than gorilla trekking. The minimum age for chimp tracking is 12.

Pair it with a walk through Bigodi Wetland, a 4.5-kilometre trail run by KAFRED, a community-based organisation. Guides here have logged over 200 bird species and 8 primate species along the boardwalk, including red colobus, L'Hoest's monkeys, and black-and-white colobus.

What happens in Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls?

Queen Elizabeth National Park holds 95 mammal species and 600 bird species. You get a morning game drive across the Kasenyi plains, where the park's tree-climbing lions are the main draw, followed by a 3-hour boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel, the waterway linking Lake Edward and Lake George. The channel holds one of Africa's largest hippo populations, alongside elephants, buffalo, and crocodiles feeding along the banks.

Murchison Falls National Park covers 3,840 square kilometres and was gazetted in 1926. It's split into northern and southern sectors by the Victoria Nile, and it holds 550 bird species and 76 mammal species, more of each than Queen Elizabeth. You get a pre-dawn game drive followed by a 3-hour launch cruise to the base of the falls, where the Nile forces itself through a 7-metre gorge and drops 43 metres with enough force to throw up a permanent rainbow.

Your last stop is Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, on the road to Entebbe. This is the only place in Uganda where you can see rhinos in the wild. You track them on foot, on a 1 to 2 hour walk, guided by a ranger who knows every animal in the sanctuary by name.

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What's included

Includes

• Accommodation, full board
• One gorilla permit per person, in each country
• Park entrance fees
• Internal domestic flights
• Private guide throughout
• All transfers listed in the itinerary

Excludes

• Drinks
• Gratuities
• International flights
• Travel insurance
• Visas

Accommodations

During the trip, you will stay at:

Kigali: Scheba Hotel or ChezLando (budget), Heaven Boutique, Mille Collines or Lemigo (midrange), Kigali Serena or The Retreat (upmarket), bed and breakfast.

Volcanoes National Park: Le Bambou Gorilla Lodge or Davinci Lodge (budget), Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, Five Volcanoes Lodge or Ingagi Park View Lodge (midrange), Bisate Lodge, One & Only Gorilla Nest, Bishop's House, Virunga Lodge or Sabinyo Lodge (upmarket), full board.

Bwindi: Bakiga Lodge or Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge (budget), Buhoma Haven Lodge, Gorilla Safari Lodge or Engagi Lodge (midrange), Mahogany Springs Lodge, Bwindi Lodge or Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge (upmarket), full board.

Queen Elizabeth National Park and Ishasha: Enjojo Lodge, Ishasha Wilderness Camp, full board.

Kibale Forest: Kibale Guest Cottages (budget), Turaco Tree Tops (midrange), Primates Lodge (upmarket), full board.

Murchison Falls: Pakuba Safari Lodge (budget), Nile Safari Lodge or Baker's Lodge (upmarket), full board.

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