8-Day Birding with Chimps, Gorillas and Wildlife

Upon your arrival in Uganda before mid-day, you’ll meet your driver-guide from verdoro safaris uganda. He will transfer you to Entebbe Botanical Gardens for bird watching. This is an ideal spot to observe various bird species like the orange weavers and orange-tufted and red-chested sunbirds. Afterward, you’ll be driven to your accommodations for dinner and your overnight stay. 

After breakfast, you will visit the Mabamba Wetland Swamp to spot different bird species such as African jacana and the rare shoebill stork. From here we’ll transfer to Kibale Forest National Park with lunch en route. The park is popular for its primate population, including chimpanzees, colobus monkeys, mangabeys, and red-tailed monkeys. Primates are regularly seen swinging in the forest trees and feeding on wild fruits. Dinner and your overnight stay will be at the camp.

After breakfast, you’ll experience some serious primate business! Kibale Forest National Park boasts the highest number of primate species in the world, including chimpanzees. Approximately 5,000 chimpanzees live in the wild in Uganda, making it a perfect place to spot them. After a briefing you’ll head out with an experienced ranger for chimp tracking. After locating the chimps, you’ll spend an hour with them and then transfer back to your lodge for lunch. After lunch, you’ll check out and drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park, arriving in the evening. Dinner and your overnight stay will be at the lodge.

Wake up early and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea before starting the day with a morning game drive. During the game drive, you’ll have a splendid view of the plains, valleys, terraced hills, and abundant wildlife— including reedbuck, bushbuck, kob, warthogs, elephants, lions, buffaloes, and more. After the game drive, return to your lodge for lunch and relaxation.

In the afternoon, embark on a boat trip on the Kazinga Channel, a waterway that connects Lake Edward and Lake George. The channel is home to many hippos and Nile crocodiles, as well as a variety of birds such as pelicans, kingfishers, saddle-billed storks, and sometimes crowned cranes. Dinner and your overnight stay will be at the lodge.

After an early morning breakfast, you’ll transfer to Bwindi via the Ishasha sector, which is known for its resident tree-climbing lions. You have a roughly 70% chance of seeing the lions, although they can be hard to spot (especially when they are down in the grassland looking for prey). Bwindi, or the “Land of Gorillas” is a major habitat for mountain gorillas in Uganda. It harbors an estimated 400 mountain

gorillas, roughly half of the world’s population. The area includes several habituated groups that can be tracked.

Bwindi’s mist-covered hillsides are blanketed by one of Uganda’s oldest and most biologically diverse rainforests, dating back over 25,000 years and containing almost 400 species of plants. Check into your lodge for dinner, relaxation, and your overnight stay as you prepare for the next busy day.

Have a cup of coffee and then make your way to the trekking center with a packed lunch in hand. You’ll start the tracking activity after a briefing at the center. It’s an extraordinary feeling to sit in the dense rainforest knowing you are with a few of the last remaining mountain gorillas. It may take anywhere from two to seven hours to track the gorillas. Your guide will point out signs of previous gorilla activity, including dung, nests, and chewed bamboo shoots. Once you locate a gorilla group, you will be allowed an hour in their presence. The thrill of spending time observing these gentle and endangered giants is an awesome, exciting experience to be savored.

Return to your lodge, check out, and transfer to Lake Bunyonyi. Lake Bunyonyi is framed by lush, green-terraced hills that reach a height of 2,200 to 2,478 meters, but it’s the 29 islands of various shapes and sizes scattered across the water that make it most magical—you could admire them all day

After a relaxed breakfast overlooking the picturesque Bunyonyi islands, we will drive to Lake Mburo National Park. Upon arrival in the early afternoon, you can choose between a boat ride on the lake, or an evening game drive or bush walk to the salt lick area. The bush walk offers sightings of various animals such as eland, zebras, hyenas, Cape buffalos, sitatunga, and other mammals. The boat ride is ideal for bird enthusiasts, with opportunities to spot African harrier hawks, cormorants, fish eagles, spectacled weavers, herons, and more. The lake’s shore is also home to a significant number of crocodiles and hippos. Dinner and your overnight stay will be at the lodge.

Have breakfast and then head out for a morning game drive to see eland antelope, zebras, topis, impalas, warthogs, Cape buffalos, and other savannah animals. Return to your lodge for lunch, check out, and then drive back to Entebbe International Airport. We’ll stop at the equator in Kayebwe for a tropical balance experience and photography.