11-Day Safari in Uganda and Rwanda

You will be picked up by your safari guide who will give you a short briefing about this 7-day safari. You will start your 6-hour drive to Lake Mburo National Park from Kigali and across the Rwanda-Uganda land border. Upon arrival, you will have lunch and get prepared for a brief evening game drive where you'll encounter the true zebra magnet alongside other animals like buffalos, giraffes, and elands. From there, you will check in at the lodge, for relaxation and dinner. Immediately after dinner, you will go for the nocturnal game drive which starts at 6:00 p.m. in the evening till late. On this game drive, you may encounter various nocturnal animals such as leopards, hyenas, jackals, civets, genet cats, and serval cats.

After your breakfast, you will head out for the morning, game drive through Lake Mburo National Park and feed your eyes as you spot amazing wildlife species and bird species alongside the scenic savannah grasslands. After the game drive, you will drive out of the park with a stopover along the way for lunch. The meal plan includes breakfast and lunch in Mbarara Town. Later, you will proceed to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

On this day after breakfast, your guide will take you to track man’s closest cousins the chimpanzees. This is an obviously amazing experience to mark done on your bucket list. After chimpanzee tracking, you will transfer to your lodge for relaxation as you enjoy the scenic landscape views. After lunch, you will embark on an amazing launch cruise on Kazinga Channel where you will have an exciting and memorable adventure. This water sail provides a magnificent platform for photographing and 360-degree game viewing. After the boat cruise, you will drive back to the hotel for your dinner and overnight stay.

After an early breakfast, your driver will take you for the morning game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is an amazing experience with a great opportunity to spot a wide range of wildlife such as cape buffalos, Uganda kobs, African elephants, hippos, lions, leopards, waterbucks, warthogs, and antelopes. After the successful game-viewing adventure, you will transfer to the lodge for lunch and then kick-start your journey to the famous Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The park is famous for its endangered mountain gorillas. The drive to the park is incredibly scenic, going through the remote and hilly plains covered by lush green. Upon arrival at Bwindi, it is visible that the park has the most appreciative ecosystems in Africa and the diversity of the wildlife species is also portrayed on sight. The park is home to about 120 species of mammals and 348 species of birds. Later on, you will check in at the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

You will set off early morning with your packed lunch to the gorilla trekking park headquarters for the mandatory briefing. All tourists are put in groups of 8 people and allocated to the gorilla families and the ranger escorts on duty. You will explore and traverse nature and wilderness. Shortly after your gorilla trekking and wilderness experiences activity in Bwindi, your guide will transfer you back to the lodge.

Today, you're spending the entire day at a glance at the scenic Lake Bunyonyi. Here, you will have a boat ride through the lake where you will visit various islands and learn about their traditional significance. You will see multiple bird species and other wildlife species. The island consists of 29 islands and is the most scenic place in Uganda and Rwanda. You will spend your evening at the resort enjoying the beauty of the area.

The day starts with breakfast shortly after sunrise and then a road trip to the Volcanoes begins. Upon arrival, you will have a cultural tour at Ibiwachu culture village where you will experience and learn about the historical and present day’s livelihood of the Rwandan citizens through cultural performances, village walks, and museum visits.

You will set off by 7:30 a.m. for the briefing at the Volcanoes National Park offices after breakfast at your hotel. It takes between 4 to 6 hours to hike Mount Bisoke. The actual hike starts at 8:00 a.m. After the briefing, you will be taken by car to the starting point. This is because the Bisoke head trail is a 3-day gorilla tour and Bisoke is a hiking distance from the park offices. It’s advisable to get yourself a porter to carry any heavy backpack or camera. The park authorities will provide you with a hiking stick. On reaching the summit, expect to view the magnificent crater lake on top of the volcano. From the summit, one can spot beautiful views of the other Virunga ranges of mountains, the Volcanoes National Park, Virunga National Park, Mgahinga National Park, and the Rwenzori Mountains. Once done with enjoying the beautiful views from the mountain top, you will descend down and head back to the starting point.

After the briefing, you will embark on the golden monkey tracking. The encounter starts at 7:00 a.m. at the park headquarters where you'll head to the forest in unlimited numbers in search of these endangered species. You'll take about 4 hours on the golden monkey tracking experience inclusive of an hour-long encounter with them where you see them roll themselves on the bamboo stems. They are not shy as it has been reduced through habituation. You will enjoy the sights of their silver patch. After the adventure with the rare monkeys, you will transfer to the Twin Lakes or Musanze caves in the evening for a more adventurous experience. You will drive to the lodge for relaxation as you wait for the next day’s adventure with dinner and an overnight stay.

Early in the morning, you will transfer to Kigali for the city tour especially the renowned Kigali Genocide Memorial Center where you will learn about what happened during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. After visiting the genocide site, you will visit the local markets, the presidential palace museum, and a few artisan shops. Once done with the city tour, you will be taken for lunch at a suitable hotel. After some relaxation, you will embark on the transfer to the airport or your hotel of stay hence the end of your safari to Rwanda.