6 Day Uganda Primates Trekking

Your safari begins with an early pick-up from Entebbe International Airport or your hotel in Entebbe or Kampala. Meet your professional driver-guide for a briefing and travel west through fertile countryside, villages, farms and rolling green hills.

Continue via the Fort Portal region, known for tea plantations, crater lakes and Rwenzori views on clear days. Stop for lunch, then continue to your selected lodge near Kibale Forest.

Relax after check-in while your guide briefs you on the next morning’s chimpanzee trek. A guided crater lake walk or tea plantation visit may be arranged at an additional cost.

After early breakfast, transfer to Kanyanchu Visitor Centre for registration and a chimpanzee-trekking briefing. Rangers explain trekking rules, chimpanzee behaviour, forest safety and responsible wildlife viewing before you enter the forest with a ranger and tracker.

Tracking normally takes two to five hours. Once a habituated community is located, enjoy up to one hour observing chimpanzees as they feed, groom, communicate, play or move through the canopy.

After lunch and a short rest, visit Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary for a guided community nature walk through forest, farmland, village paths and wetland habitats, with opportunities for monkeys, butterflies and birds.

After breakfast, travel south through western Uganda toward Bwindi, passing tea plantations, crater lakes, farming communities and the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.

The route may pass near Queen Elizabeth National Park, where occasional roadside wildlife sightings are possible, though no scheduled game drive is included. Continue through the terraced Kigezi Highlands to Bwindi.

Check in at your selected lodge and prepare packed lunch, water, clothing and trekking equipment with your guide for the next day’s gorilla trek.

Wake early for breakfast and transfer to the Uganda Wildlife Authority briefing point with your packed lunch, water, rain jacket, camera, passport and permit information. Hiring a porter is strongly recommended.

After registration and a briefing on conservation and safety, trek into Bwindi with trackers, ranger guides and security personnel. The search may take two to seven hours across steep, muddy forest trails; after locating the family, spend up to one hour observing the gorillas.

Receive your gorilla trekking certificate, then transfer through the southwestern highlands to the Mgahinga or Kisoro area, with views of terraced farms, valleys and the Virunga Volcanoes.

After breakfast, transfer to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park headquarters for registration and briefing. Trek through the bamboo forest on the lower slopes of the Virunga Mountains in search of endangered golden monkeys.

These energetic primates move quickly through the bamboo, feeding on shoots, leaves, fruit and insects. Once located, use the permitted viewing time to observe and photograph their activity while following ranger instructions.

After lunch, drive through Kisoro and the Kigezi Highlands to Lake Bunyonyi. Relax at the lodge; an optional canoe or motorboat cruise, island visit or community walk can be arranged.

Wake to views of Lake Bunyonyi’s terraced hills and islands, then enjoy breakfast before checking out.

Travel through Kabale, Ntungamo and Mbarara, stopping for lunch along the way. Continue to the Uganda Equator at Kayabwe for photographs, souvenirs and an optional water demonstration.

Proceed to Kampala, your Entebbe hotel or Entebbe International Airport. Travellers departing on this day should book a late-evening flight; an additional Entebbe night can be arranged if required.