The complete Uganda safari

Met on arrival off your international flight, you will be transferred to Karibu Entebbe Guesthouse for a first night acclimatising after your journey. The guesthouse is just 10 minutes from Entebbe International Airport, and is a welcoming boutique hotel set on the grounds of a former Presidential Residence no less! This is a chance to maybe relax by the pool and rest up before your journey into the wild really begins! Lovely rooms, good food, delightful staff; it’s the perfect base from which to start your trip.

After breakfast you’ll set off to Kibale National Park to stay at the lakeside retreat that is Ndali Lodge. Set amid rolling green hills, the wooden thatch cottages will be your home for three nights. There’s a lot to see and do here! Nearby is the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, a community-based conservation project, home to a variety of monkeys and rarely seen birds, including the White-winged Warbler, White-collared Oliveback and Papyrus Gonolek. Queen Elizabeth NP is where the cheeky monkeys are waiting to try and steal your belongings. The sheer number of primates here is huge! The lodge itself has a great relaxing atmosphere, with a lovely pool, sauna, massages, and yoga. So after a full day in the wild you can come home to a little pampering!

Your next stop on this Ugandan odyssey will take you to a national park that gives you a more classical safari experience - open plains and big game. Ishasha Wilderness Camp is located in a truly remote and unspoilt part of the park, with a bit more luxury and an excellent riverside setting. The region is famous for its tree climbing lions that can sometimes be spotted in the branches of fig trees! The rooms are spacious and breezy, the guiding is excellent and there’s even more chimp trekking on offer here in a magnificent gorge, as well as gentle river cruises.

The next day you will travel into Bwindi Impenetrable Forest - a truly stunning place - and stay at Buhoma Lodge for three nights. It’s one of the few lodges actually located in the park, so you can hear the sounds of this ancient forest and really feel a part of it. The rooms are charming wooden chalets perched in the canopy, blending  in with the leafy surrounds. From here you will trek through the Impenetrable Forest to meet some of the last surviving mountain gorillas. The hike can be long or short depending on where the family is on the day, so be prepared for potentially a long day! But when you spend time with our ancestors, it’s one of the most rewarding things you can do. The lodge is excellent, with great food and service. The main focus of your trip here will be gorilla trekking, but there’s much more to do including the rewarding Batwa experience and a wealth of birds and butterflies!