6-Day Rwanda Uganda Wildlife Safari

We will pick you up in Kigali and drive you to Volcanoes National Park. Depending on the departure time from Kigali, you may be able to enjoy a complimentary Kigali city tour before traveling to northern Rwanda, visiting the Kimihurura market and the Kigali Genocide Museum. After a 2-hour drive from Kigali to Ruhengeri/Musanze, we will visit the Iby’iwacu Cultural Experience (also known as Gorilla Guardians Village) in Kinigi. We’ll then be treated to a guided nature walk around Volcanoes National Park.

We will start the day with a golden monkey trekking adventure in Volcanoes National Park. This primate is native to the high-altitude forests of the park. Once we have seen their playful interactions, we will head out of the park and transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The transfer to Bwindi National Park will go through the Rwanda-Uganda border at Cyanika.

Day 3 is another day for trekking into the wilderness to spot the rare local animals. You will head to the Bwindi National Park gate immediately after breakfast to get a briefing about the gorilla trek. The national park guide will conduct the presentation that covers the basics of what to expect during the gorilla trek and instruct you on how to behave in order to ensure the safety of guests and the animals. You will then embark on your tracking adventure, making your way through the rainforest until you find a family of mountain gorillas. The gorilla trek can take from 3 to 6 hours on average, depending on how far the gorillas are inside the forest. It could last longer, so be prepared just in case!

We will start the journey in the morning from Bwindi National Park and drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park. The tour will take us through the stunning landscapes of western Uganda and we’ll arrive at Queen Elizabeth National Park in the late afternoon. Our first activity will be to drive through the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, popularly known for the tree-climbing lions. Unlike their counterparts at the Kasenyi plains, the lions at Ishasha have found a way to climb the fig trees to enjoy the warm temperatures. While the sighting of the tree-climbing lions is not 100% guaranteed, a stopover at Ishasha is worth a visit!

We will start the day with an early morning breakfast at the lodge. Afterward, we will proceed to the famed Kasenyi Plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park to spot various species of wild animals. The Kasenyi Plains are in the vast savannahs of the Albertine Rift in Queen Elizabeth National Park. It will be a morning full of adventure! Expect to encounter lions, herds of buffalos, elephants, Uganda kobs, topi, and bushbucks. While spotting the ‘big five’ in the park is not guaranteed, on a lucky day, you may sight leopards to make it the ‘big four’. We will return to the lodge for lunch and a quick break before joining the Kazinga Channel boat cruise for an afternoon of wild game viewing. We’ll have the chance to spot crocodiles, buffaloes, elephants, and a wide range of bird species on the channel waters.

Day 6 begins with yet another early morning breakfast followed by a drive to the Kalinzu Forest to experience tracking the chimpanzees in their forest home. If you are lucky on the trek, you might encounter some of the other different species of monkeys in the forest. These include colobus monkeys, olive baboons, and red-tailed monkeys. Once we have finished our last trekking adventure, it is time to return to Kigali, Kampala, or Entebbe — depending on the end destination that you have decided.