Uganda · Premier circuit · Kidepo wilderness
Each day below shows where you go, what you experience, and where you can stay—luxury, mid-range, and budget lodge options included.
On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, meet your Adventure in the Wild Safaris representative and professional driver-guide after immigration and luggage collection. Receive a short briefing before your transfer to selected accommodation in Entebbe.
Relax after your flight. Early arrivals may arrange an optional botanical-garden visit, Lake Victoria sunset cruise, Mabamba shoebill excursion or town tour, subject to time and quotation.
After an early breakfast, begin the journey north through Kampala, farming communities, roadside markets and central Uganda. Stop for lunch at a suitable restaurant along the Kampala–Gulu highway.
Arrive in Gulu during the afternoon, check in and relax. This overnight divides the journey to Kidepo into comfortable travel days.
Travel through Kitgum into the remote Karamoja region, where dry open landscapes, rocky outcrops and mountain ranges announce your approach to Kidepo Valley National Park. Lunch is taken en route or packed for the road.
Settle into your lodge on arrival. If time allows, join a short evening game drive in the Narus Valley, looking for buffaloes, elephants, giraffes, zebras and lions.
Set out for a morning game drive through the Narus Valley, whose permanent water attracts large concentrations of wildlife. Search for lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, elands and antelope with your driver-guide selecting tracks according to conditions and sightings.
Return to the lodge for lunch and a rest, then explore another area of the park or revisit the valley in the afternoon before sunset.
Explore the open plains, seasonal riverbeds and rocky hills of Kidepo Valley, possibly travelling toward Kanangorok or along the dry riverbed. Watch for ostriches, zebras, elands, giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, jackals and raptors.
After lunch, choose a further game drive or an optional respectful Karamojong community visit with recognised local guides. Return to the lodge for your final Kidepo night.
After an early breakfast, leave Kidepo and travel via Kitgum and Gulu toward Murchison Falls National Park. Stop for lunch as the route passes northern Uganda’s rural communities, farms and open landscapes.
Enter the park through the most suitable gate for road conditions and lodge location, then continue to your lodge for dinner and overnight.
Enjoy an early game drive across the Buligi tracks on Murchison’s northern bank, searching for lions, elephants, buffaloes, Rothschild’s giraffes, Uganda kobs, hartebeests and, with luck, leopards. Return for lunch and a short rest.
In the afternoon, cruise from Paraa Jetty up the Victoria Nile toward the base of the falls, watching for hippos, crocodiles and waterbirds. Finish at the Top of the Falls, where the Nile forces through a narrow gorge.
Leave Murchison after breakfast for a ranger-guided white-rhino tracking walk at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Observe the rhinos safely on foot and learn about conservation and reintroduction efforts.
After lunch, continue through Hoima or Kagadi toward the Kibale Forest National Park region. This is a long transfer day, so arrival may be in the evening before tomorrow’s chimpanzee trek.
Transfer to Kanyanchu Visitor Centre for registration and briefing, then enter Kibale Forest with rangers and trackers to locate a habituated chimpanzee community. The trek may take two to five hours, followed by the permitted viewing time.
After lunch, take a shortened Bigodi Wetland walk if timing permits, then continue to Queen Elizabeth National Park for dinner and overnight.
Explore the Kasenyi Plains on a cool early-morning game drive, searching for lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, waterbucks, warthogs and hyenas. Your guide follows current wildlife activity and suitable tracks.
Later, take a Kazinga Channel boat cruise between Lakes George and Edward. Hippos, Nile crocodiles, elephants, buffaloes, monitor lizards and abundant waterbirds gather along the banks.
Travel south through the Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, searching for its famous tree-climbing lions as well as topis, buffaloes, elephants and Uganda kobs. Individual lion sightings cannot be guaranteed.
Continue through changing savannah, cultivated hills and forest to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Your guide briefs you for the following morning’s gorilla trek.
Attend the mandatory ranger briefing with your passport, packed lunch, drinking water and rain gear, then trek with trackers to an assigned habituated gorilla family. The forest route can be steep, muddy and demanding, and the trek may take two to seven hours.
After up to one hour observing the gorillas, return for your certificate and transfer to Lake Bunyonyi for a relaxed evening by the water.
Enjoy breakfast overlooking Lake Bunyonyi before a guided canoe or motorboat experience among its islands. Depending on the confirmed programme, this may include birdwatching, scenic photography, a community visit or a short guided walk.
After lunch, drive via Kabale, Ntungamo and Mbarara to Lake Mburo National Park. An evening game drive on the way to the lodge may reveal zebras, impalas, elands, giraffes and topis.
Meet an armed ranger for a guided walking safari through Lake Mburo’s savannah and woodland. Learn to read tracks, plants and bird calls while looking for zebras, impalas, elands, giraffes, waterbucks, topis and other wildlife.
After breakfast and check-out, travel to Kampala or Entebbe with a stop at the Uganda Equator at Kayabwe. Continue to your hotel, agreed drop-off point or Entebbe International Airport; late-evening flights are recommended.
