This 14 days Murchison Falls and beyond tour is one of Uganda’s most wonderful safaris, giving you the best safari experience for a lifetime. Explore, discover and enjoy the greatest encounters in Africa with unique experiences, including chimpanzee habituation tour.
While on this tour you will spend a full day with the chimpanzees, learn how they build nests. Your day will be full, so your camera might fill up with quality pictures of the chimpanzees as you get to learn to identify them as individuals by their markings, sometimes scars and other unique features that differentiate them.
You will also have an opportunity of 2 days of gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and meet the world’s greatest safari moments.
14 Days Murchison Falls and Beyond Tours
Day 1: Arrival Entebbe Airport – Kampala
You’ll be personally met by our company representative upon arrival at Entebbe airport, and then be transferred to Cassia Lodge, overlooking Lake Victoria. Meal plan: dinner.
Day 2: Whole relaxing and leisure
Today is dedicated for relaxation at Cassia Lodge. Meal plan breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 3: Kampala – Murchison Falls
Our guide picks you up from your hotel or place of residence in Kampala at 7:30am and begin the panoramic drive north-west through the famous Luwero Triangle and Masindi Town to start off with a morning drive to Murchison via Masindi. You will branch off for a visit to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for a guided rhino trekking walk and picnic lunch, before continuing to Murchison Falls while enjoying the sunset as you get to your lodge.
Enjoy the superb comfort at Paraa Safari Lodge (high-end). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 4: Murchison Falls National Park
After your cup of coffee, your guide will help you spot elephants, lions, cape buffaloes, Rothschild’s giraffes, hartebeests, waterbucks, oribi, bushbucks, Bohor reedbucks, and hyenas. If you are lucky, you will also see the leopard. You will then return to the hotel for breakfast and lunch.
After lunch, you will go for a boat safari upstream the calm Victoria Nile to the base of Murchison Falls stopping just tens of meters from the “Devil’s Cauldron”. En-route, you will marvel at the toothsome hippos, crocodiles, elephants, waterbucks and kobs, over this 17 km stretch.
This is also a zone of many bird species such as Goliath heron, Egyptian goose, pelican bee-eater, kingfisher, hornbill, cormorants and the rare shoebill stork.
There, you will leave the boat and start your – quite heavy – hike to the top of the falls (for approx. 1 hour), to see where the world’s longest river explodes violently through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment, to plunge into a frothing pool of about 43m below. Your driver/guide will be waiting for you to bring you back to the lodge.
Overnight stay and dinner at Bakers’ Lodge Murchison/Paraa Safari Lodge (high-end) Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 5: Boat ride along the Nile Delta Murchison Falls
After your morning breakfast get ready for a boat trip to the Nile Delta that takes you between 4-5hrs. This is one of the most interesting experiences in Murchison Falls National Park because of the extensive papyrus delta through which the Victoria Nile flows into Lake Albert.
While here, you will again see plenty of animals and birds with an excellent chance of seeing the rare shoebill stork. The afternoon is spent relaxing at your Lodge.
Dinner and overnight stay at Paraa Safari Lodge (high-end). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 6: Murchison Falls – Kibale – Part of Murchison Falls and beyond tour
You will drive southwards via Hoima to Fort Portal through verdant countryside passing traditional homesteads and farms along Albertine Rift escarpments. Visit Lake Butiaba and the Butiaba Landing Site before proceeding to Fort-Portal. This rests in the shadow of the fabled Rwenzori Mountain ranges, locally known as ‘Mountains of the Moon’.
Meals and overnight stay at Kyaninga Safari Lodge. A stunning location overlooking a dramatic crater lake. Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 7: Kibale Chimpanzee Habituation Experience
Today is dedicated for chimpanzee habituation experience, so you will start your day with an early morning breakfast and packed lunch and then set off into the forest before dawn breaks. You will meet your guide and then get to where the chimpanzees built their nests the night before.
Dawn is just breaking and the chimpanzee community you are going to be with for the rest of the day is rising from their sleep in the nests.
Your day will be full, so your camera might fill up with quality pictures of the chimpanzees as you get to learn to identify them as individuals by their markings, sometimes scars and other unique features that make them stand apart from rest. Besides everything described, there are the most colorful butterflies, plants and trees that will amaze you because the forest setting is simply awesome.
Meals and overnight stay at Kyaninga Safari Lodge (high-end lodge). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 8: Kibale – Queen Elizabeth National Park
After breakfast, a visit to Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary for a guided nature walk around the Swamp. This will provide you with an opportunity to see a wide range of flora and fauna, view a variety of butterflies, birds and other insects. Thereafter, you will drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park while viewing the mystical Rwenzori Mountain ranges on much of your journey. Check in at your accommodation facility as you wait for your lunch.
After lunch, you will take on an afternoon launch cruise along Kazinga Channel – one that joins Lakes Edward and George. The cruise is a wonderful way to see hippos, buffaloes, kobs, the occasional Nile crocodile, and a spectacular bird watching experience on the water banks. Many who experience this launch cruise consider it the highlight of their entire African safari.
Dinner and overnight stay at Mweya Safari Lodge. Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 9: Queen Elizabeth National Park – Part of Murchison Falls and beyond tour
Rise very early with your packed lunch and take on a morning game drive to catch-up with the early risers and predators returning to their hideouts. You will most likely meet grazing hippos, elephants, lions, spotted hyenas, bushbucks, waterbucks, stripped jackals, comical warthogs and the elusive leopard.
You will proceed to Maramagambo forest, with many surprises that await you here, for example the pythons that are often observed in the crevices of the bat cave floor using bats as their source of food. The cave is near a picturesque former blue lake and hunters’ cave. You may also see forest birds such as bat hawks, brown eared woodpecker and other primates.
Dinner and overnight stay at Mweya Safari Lodge. Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 10: Queen Elizabeth National Park – Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
With previous day’s memories, you will enjoy your breakfast as you get ready for a guided chimpanzee/primate walk along Kyambura Gorge, to look for habituated chimps. After the primate walk, you will proceed to the southern Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
You will then drive along the deep and wide dry craters that are occupied by savanna grasses and acacia. This drive takes you through the unique western rift valley escarpment and the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park – Ishasha sector. Here you will take on yet another game drive in search of tree-climbing lions, before proceeding to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
The journey takes about 2 hours but driving through interesting features, before arriving at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the evening. This Park is home for the rare mountain gorillas. However, apart from gorillas, there are also a wide variety of other primates to see, including the blue and red-tailed monkeys. The forest itself is lush and green with streams running through it.
Dinner and overnight stay at Buhoma Lodge (high-end facility). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 11: Bwindi Gorilla Tracking – Part of Murchison Falls and beyond tour
Begin the day with breakfast ready for your gorilla trekking safari, which begins at 8:00 am with a briefing from Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) staff. Ensure that you carry along with you rain jacket, drinking water, snacks, and jungle boots among other protective gear.
The guides will lead you inside the jungle to see the shy primates for a group you have been booked for. Do not forget to take your lunch boxes and all the necessary gear to track the rare mountain gorillas, perhaps one of the most exciting wildlife experiences on earth. The tracking may take between 2 and 6 hours but it’s well worth the effort.
With time permitting, you will spend the afternoon on a community foot safari to explore the lifestyle of the people living and surrounding the Park. Return to camp exhilarated to relieve the encounter with friends over a drink.
Dinner and overnight stay at Buhoma Lodge. Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 12: Second Gorilla Trekking
After breakfast, you will go for the second gorilla tracking experience but with another gorilla family, and then return in the afternoon for relaxation and sightseeing around your lodge.
Dinner and overnight stay at Buhoma Lodge. Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 13: Bwindi – Lake Mburo
After early morning breakfast, you will begin the day with a boat canoe ride along Lake Bunyonyi before driving to Lake Mburo National Park with a visit to Igongo Cultural Village, to explore and learn the culture of the Bahima and Ankole, before continuing to Lake Mburo National Park. Igongo is a place where the future meets the past.
Dinner and overnight stay at Mantana Tented Camp. Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 14: Lake Mburo – Nature Walk in the Salt Lick
An early start is a wonderful chance to take on a game drive because the Park is a habitat for a variety of bird species including the rare shoebill stork. Here, you will have a chance to view several species of mammals including zebras, impalas, elands, topis and buffaloes, before returning to the lodge for lunch.
You will then drive back to Kampala, passing via the Equator crossing line with your lunch enroute before heading back to Entebbe to catch up your evening flight back home or to your next destination. Meal plan: breakfast and lunch.
14 Days Murchison Falls and Beyond Tour Inclusions:-
- Airport transfers
- Transportation by a 4wd vehicle
- Accommodation and meals as per the itinerary
- Ziwa Rhino trekking
- Hike to the Top of the Falls
- Ferry crossings
- Igongo cultural village visit
- All Boat trips
- Two Gorilla permit per person to be secured and paid for in advance
- Park fees
- Kibale Chimpanzee Habituation Permits
- Community visits
- Bigodi guided Nature walk
- Services of English speaking Driver/guide.
- Enroute lunches
- Game drives
- Bat Cave visit
- Salt Lick visit
14 Days Murchison Falls and Beyond Tour Exclusions:-
Expenses of personal nature like: Visa, drinks, laundry, tips to local guides, telephone, porter fee while trekking, personal insurance, and tobacco