Uganda Itinerary UG200: Primates and Predators - 10 Days

Highlights: Close encounters with endangered mountain gorillas, chimpanzees and a variety of other primate species plus special guest lectures with wildlife and conservation experts.

Accommodation: Choice of Luxury Lodges or Budget/Camping

Transportation: 4x4 Safari Vehicle

Price:

Luxury Option: $4350 USD per person
Budget Option: $2450 USD per person

Price Includes:
Airport transfers, accommodation, meals on full board basis, transportation, park entry and activity fees.

Price Does Not Include:
Gratuities and all items of a personal nature, meals not specified above, beverages, entry visa, meals not indicated above, laundry or other items of personal nature.

Meal Key:

B=breakfast, L=lunch, D=dinner

Detailed Itinerary:

Day 1
You will be greeted by your guide at the Entebbe airport and transported to your hotel to rest and relax after your flight. In the afternoon, you will visit the Uganda Wildlife Education Center, East Africa's premier wildlife education institution. Meet the Director of the Center and get an "insider's tour" of the Center, a behind-the-scenes visit that only African Connection can provide. See the veterinary medicine unit where ill or injured animals are cared for, and depending on the goings-on at the Center that day, you may have the opportunity to see surgery or other medical treatments, observe orphaned animals being cared for, or other fascinating activities. (L,D)

Day 2
Rise early for the boat ride on Lake Victoria to Ngamba Island, a sanctuary for chimpanzees rescued from the illegal wildlife or bushmeat trade. Spend the morning learning about chimpanzee behavior and social ecology while you observe the chimpanzees playing, grooming, and feeding.

Click here for more information about the outstanding work being done at Ngamba Island.

Return to your hotel for an afternoon of relaxation or optional walk in Entebbe's spectacular botanical gardens on the shore of Lake Victoria, where you will see vervet monkeys, giant hornbills, African fish eagles, herons and a wide variety of other birds as well as examples of Uganda's trees and flowers (B,L,D)

Day 3
After breakfast, depart for Kibale Forest National Park. The five-hour drive will take you through Uganda's busy capital city, Kampala, before heading west into the rolling foothills of the Rwenzori mountains. After lunch, you will have the opportunity to choose from a variety of educational sessions with members of the Kibale community on the following topics:

Medicinal plants
Chimpanzee behavior
Primates of Kibale Forest
Community development activities
Women of Uganda
Mysteries of the forest elephant

Have an early dinner with John Tinka, a community leader in the Kibale area who is spearheading conservation and community development activities which will help to conserve the forest's precious natural resources. Tinka founded and runs the Kibale Association For Rural Economic Development, which is a United Nations Development Programme-funded programme aimed at promoting sustainable economic development activities.

Your dinner will be early to allow you to participate in a night walk in Kibale forest. This 1-hour walk will allow you to observe (with flashlights!) some of the forest's nocturnal life, particularly bushbabies, whose enormous eyes reflect the lights of your flashlights. Return to camp for a lovely fire under the starriest sky you have ever seen and prepare for tomorrow's activities. (B,L,D)

Day 4
Rise early to be ready for the thrilling experience of tracking chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Meet your guides at the Kanyanchu Ranger Station for the morning's trek through pristine rainforest in search of one of several habituated groups of chimps. After a briefing on what to expect on your trek, you will enter the forest to begin your walk that could be from two to four hours long. Your expert guides know this forest intimately and will be able to answer any question you have about the forest's inhabitants and wide-ranging vegetation.

Remember that you are not just searching for chimpanzees, but that there are 12 other species of primates and countless birds in this forest. Red-tailed monkeys, baboons, black and white colobus monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabeys, and a host of other species are likely to be observed while you are walking. In addition, you are likely to spot one of Africa's most magnificent bird species, the greater blue turaco, with its shimmering sapphire blue wings, bright yellow beak and odd-looking crest atop its head.

You will hear the unmistakable sounds of the chimps as you approach: calling, hooting, chirping and even drumming on the massive roots of fig trees to communicate with each other and with other groups. Encountering these wonderful animals in the forest is an unforgettable experience. Seeing chimpanzees in the wild is so much different from seeing them in a zoo; you will feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to observe the natural behaviors and fascinating activities that are part of their everyday life.

After one hour with the chimps, you will return to Kanyanchu to meet the other groups who have tracked. Share your stories with each other and leave the station not quite believing what you have experienced!

After lunch, you will set off on your next adventure, a walk through the Bigodi wetlands. This walk has been developed by Bigodi village as an educational activity for visitors and income-generating activity for the community. The diversity of birds found in the wetland is dizzying, and you will likely encounter many of the same primate species as found in the forest. Your expert guide will answer any of your questions, help you with bird and primate identification, and explain the significance of the wetland to the ecology and economy of the area. (B,L,D)

Day 5
Depart after breakfast for Queen Elizabeth National Park, a five-hour drive to the southwest corner of the country. Your drive will take you through some incredible landscapes in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains before descending to the floor of the Great Rift Valley to the acacia-dotted golden plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Your accommodation is situated on the Mweya peninsula, which extends into the Kazinga channel and offers spectacular views of the surrounding channel, and possibly the best sunrise and sunset in Africa!

Take a game drive late in the afternoon, when animals emerge from their afternoon rest, having avoided the heat of the day. After dinner, meet Dr. Ludwig Siefert for an educational session about the issues facing Africa's wildife and the current status of conservation efforts in Queen Elizabeth and Uganda's other national parks. (B,L,D)

Day 6
Rise early for a morning game drive. The early morning hours offer the best opportunities for spotting wildlife, including the elusive leopard. Return to the Mweya peninsula for a late breakfast and rest until mid-afternoon, when you will take a boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel.

This cruise offers superb bird watching and close encounters with hippos, buffalos, crocodiles and other water-loving species. Return to the peninsula as the sun is setting, in time to relax with a drink, watch the sunset and recount your day's adventures. (B,L,D)

Day 7:
This morning you will again rise early for the drive to the Kyamburu Gorge, a giant crack in the side of the Rift escarpment. The gorge is home to a variety of primate species, including chimpanzees, and is a seemingly out-of-place piece of tropical rainforest in the midst of the savannah. As you descend into the gorge for a walk on its floor you will see a wide variety of bird species, and your guide will explain the unique ecological interactions that occur in this dense forest.

After lunch, depart for the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth, home to the famed tree-climbing lions. This behavior is extremely rare and only seen in a handful of locations in Africa. The Ishasha sector is a rarely visited part of the park, and you may be the only people in this isolated area. You are truly in the wilderness in this pristine area. (B,L,D)

Day 8:
Depart after breakfast for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. As you drive west, the landscape changes from the plains of Queen Elizabeth to lush rolling hillsides as you get closer to the mountains that form the western edge of the Great Rift Valley. These mist-shrouded mountains are home to one of the planet's most critically endangered species, the mountain gorilla.

Current estimates place the numbers of these gentle giants at around 700. This is a substantial increase from the 200 that were believed to exist in the late 1980's, and demonstrate the success of the intensive conservation efforts that have taken place to prevent the gorillas' slide into extinction. However, the species is by no means safe. The main threat to their existence is habitat destruction as the densely-populated region's demand for cultivatable land increases.

The fee that you pay to track and observe the gorillas is used to continue conservation programmes which include community participation. The people who live in areas adjascent to the forest have a stake in the survival of the species, as they benefit from the influx of tourists to the area. A portion of your tracking fee goes directly to community development programs which benefit the people in the area. This conservation concept has been a model for other programs all over Africa. The people of Bwindi are proud of their gorillas, and understand the importance of their survival.

After dinner, meet Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, director of Conservation Through Public Health, a non-governmental organization dedicated to conserving wildlife by improving the health of communities surrounding national parks. Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka, a former chief veterinarian of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, will discuss gorilla behavior and ecology and her efforts to prevent human-wildlife and livestock-wildlife disease transmission. She will also give you an overview of the conflicts between humans and wildlife, and how the country is working to resolve these. Click here to learn more about Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka's work. (B,L,D)

Day 9
Rise early to begin your once in a lifetime experience of tracking and observing gorillas in their natural habitat. You will meet your guides and have a briefing before entering the thick jungle. Tracking is a challenging activity, and you should be in reasonable fitness in order to manage the climb through the forest. Once you reach the gorillas, you will spend one hour observing these gentle giants.

Tracking may take as little as two hours or as many as ten, depending on the location of the family you have been assigned to. In any event, you will finish the day dazzled by what you have seen, and you will never forget your encounter with one of humankind's closest living relatives. (B,L,D)

Day 10
Rise early for the return journey to Kampala.