5 days Primate Safari – Summary

Day 01: Drive to Kibale Forest National Park

Day 02: Chimpanzee trek and Bigodi Wetland walk

Day 03: Drive to Semuliki Wildlife Reserve for an afternoon game drive

Day 04: Visit the Semuliki Hot springs and afternoon game drive in Semuliki Reserve

Day 05: Drive Back to Kampala/Entebbe to end the trip

DETAILED ITINERARY

DAY 1: TRANSFER FROM KAMPALA TO KIBALE NATIONAL PARK

After breakfast, you will embark on the journey to Kibale with a packed lunch to enjoy en-route. The journey to Kibale is an awesome adventure which is filled with lots of fascinating road sightings during this 5-6 hour journey covering about 300km. Along this adventurous journey, expect to have several stops such as one at the Mityana local market that gives you an opportunity to take your taste buds on a culinary journey as you taste some Uganda’s purely organic tropical fruits which will tantalize your taste buds due to their absolute sweetness.  

Continue to Fort Portal town where you will settle for lunch. Fort portal rests in the shadow of the fabled ‘Mountains of the Moon’ and is famous for her many tea plantations. After your meal, you may choose to continue to Kibale or connect to Fort Portal Crater Lake Area where you will see the Amabere g’ Nyinamwiru caves, hike to the Fort Portal Crater Lake field and traverse the challenging slopes of Kyeganywa hill surrounded by a range of crater lakes and crater hollows presenting one of the beautiful scenic sites in Uganda. The top of Kyeganywa hill offers the views of Rwenzori Mountains on a clear day.

Retreat from the activity and transfer to Kibale National Park for relaxation, dinner and overnight.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

DAY 2: CHIMPANZEE TREKKING IN KIBALE NATIONAL PARK.

Today the forest opens its doors for a sensational chimpanzee tracking experience. After your breakfast, you will have pre-tracking briefing after which you will walk or drive to the trailhead for the start of an unforgettable adventure – hiking in the footsteps of the habituated family of chimpanzees.

En-route, your guide will enthral you with stories and facts about the forest and her other inhabitants including other species of primates and birds and other big mammals. Upon sighting the chimpanzees, you will spend an unforgettable one hour with them as they go about their daily life – feeding, playing, grooming, taking care of their young, howling and screeching, in their natural habitat. Besides the chimpanzees, you should also not miss out on the sightings of several other primates that call this forest their home including the black and white colobus monkeys, L’Hoest monkeys, Grey monkeys. After the chimpanzee encounter which lasts an hour of pure enjoyment return to the park centre where your trekking efforts are rewarded with a trekking certificate.

Return back to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon you will enjoy a guided nature walk through the Bigodi wetland.

The Bigodi Swamp Walk is an initiative of the local community and is known for its rich diversity of birds and primates. The path and board walk maybe flooded and muddy after heavy rainfall and gumboots are recommended. This community walk will bring you closer to the local tribe that lives in this area and is about 4km in length taking 3-4 hours at birding pace. Accompanied by a local guide, who can tell you everything about the traditional customs and lifestyle, you will follow the village path and visit a primary school, traditional homesteads and learn more about the crops in the fields.

All proceeds from eco-tourism go back to into the community, a conservation project worth supporting.

After this really exciting cultural mash-up you will have had, you will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

DAY 3: DRIVE TO SEMULIKI NATIONAL PARK.

Drive to Semuliki National Park after breakfast at your lodge. On arriving in Semuliki National Park, you will have lunch and later head for a game drive. This region is highlighted with more chances of shoe bill stork spotting in Uganda, you will be able to spot a lot of game within the reserve. Smaller forest and larger savannah elephants are regularly seen, along with Buffalo, Waterbucks, Warthog, and Uganda Kob. With luck, you may even see leopard and elusive Bush babies. Game drives in the wildlife reserve are done in the morning, afternoon, and at night. After dark, visitors may come across curious nocturnal species such as the white-tailed mongoose.

Retreat from the activity and connect to Ntandi to visit the Batwa people who are initially forest dwellers that were evicted to pave way for conservation. They dance for you and tell you stories of their ancient hunter gatherer culture. Retire for relaxation, dinner and overnight

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

DAY 4: VISIT THE HOT SPRINGS IN SEMULIKI NATIONAL PARK AND AFTERNOON GAME DRIVE

After breakfast, you will drive to Semuliki Forest National Park for a visit the Hot springs. With a cultural attachment, Hot springs shouldn’t miss on to do list in western Uganda. Both the Male and Female Hot springs bubble up from the depths to demonstrate the powerful subterranean forces that have been shaping the rift valley during the last 14 million years.

The famous Sempaya Nature walk brings you to the hot springs both the female and the male hot springs. You can boil some plantain or eggs to have picnic bites. The walk to the hot springs also exposes to the lush flora of Semuliki Forest which is an extension of Congo forest biome.

Later after lunch, you will head to the reserve for an afternoon game drive for chances of spotting other wildlife you would have missed the previous day. These may include a range of primates including Grey cheeked mangabey, Olive Baboons, Black and white colobus Monkeys, Blue and red tailed monkey, Central African red colobus, De Brazza monkey, Dent’s Mona Monkey, Red-tailed monkeys, Grey-chooked mangabeys, Blue monkeys, Vervet monkeys, and may be Chimpanzees

As you search for the primates, you will also encounter several bird species. Of the 1073 birds recorded in Uganda, 441 bird species (41%) are found in Semuliki National Park including 35 Congo-Guinea biome species found nowhere else in East Africa such as Nkulengu rail, Congo serpent eagle, Gabon woodpecker, Spotted-breasted ibis, Hartlaub’s duck, Chestnut-flanked goshawk, Red-thighed sparrowhawk, Long-tailed hawk, Black-throated coucal, Chestnut owlet, Black-wattled hombill, White crested hornbill, Black dwarf hornbill, Red-bill hornbill, Red-rumped tinkerbird, Spotted honeyguide, Lyre-tailed honeyguide, Zenker’s honeyguide, African Piculet, Palm swamp greenbul, Simple greenbul, Sassi’s olive greenbul, Lowland akalat, Black winged oriole, Maxwell’s black weaver, and Blue-bellied malimbe. Retire for relaxation, dinner and overnight.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

DAY 5: DRIVE BACK TO ENTEBBE/KAMPALA

After breakfast, you will bid farewell to the lodge and start your drive back to Kampala with a stopover for lunch and another stopover at the Equator. Once you arrive in Kampala you will tour around the city briefly and then you can be dropped at your hotel or Entebbe International Airport for your flight out.

End of tour