8 Days Uganda Culture and Gorilla Safari

Day 1: Arrival for your culture and gorilla safari

On arrival at the airport, you are welcomed by our Calsaar Safaris Uganda guide and transferred to your hotel for over night as you look to start the journey tomorrow.

Journey time – 1,5 hours

Meal plan – Dinner

Accommodation

• Up market – Kampala Serena
• Mid-range – Cassia Lodge
• Budget – Forest Cottages

Day 2:  Journey to Bwindi Impenetrable national park

We start journey to Bwindi impenetrable national park the home of the ‘gentle giants of Bwindi’. This fulfilling journey takes us through the Kigezi highlands with great scenery of terraced hills. You will stop in Mbarara for lunch before proceeding to your lodge next to the impenetrable forest for great resting as you prepare for the next day’s trek.

Journey time – 8 hours

Flight time – 2 hours

Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Accommodation

• Up market – Buhoma Lodge
• Mid-range – Buhoma Haven Lodge
• Budget – Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge (standard rooms)

Day 3: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Enjoy the fullness of the impenetrable forest abounding with life, host to species of birds, butterflies, primates, mammals. Your driver guide will transfer you to the briefing area where you will receive further instruction on your gorilla trekking experience. With help of your guide and park ranger, you will find yourself face to face with the enormous and rare mountain gorillas after walking through the forest for a while. The trekking experience takes anything from one hour (rarely) to about 6 hours to accomplish depending on the gorilla group you have been allocated and where they nested the previous night. Suggested activities for those not interested in gorilla tracking is a community village walk or short guided forest walk.

Day 4: Bwindi Cultural Trail

The best way to understand, appreciate, and enjoy nature is through interacting with the people (communities) that co-exist with it, who contribute greatly to its conservation. After breakfast, we shall follow one of the cultural trails by the communities co-existing with the gorillas. Be ready to learn a new skill and participate in the day-to-day lives of these people.

Lunch will be the community after which we depart for Lake Bunyonyi in the afternoon. Lake Bunyonyi is a beautiful lake with various stories to learn about the place.

Journey time – 2 hours

Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Accommodation

• Midrange – BirdNest @Bunyonyi
• Budget – Crater Bay Cottages

Day 5: Lake Bunyonyi Island tour and transfer to Ankole cultural tour

Lake Bunyonyi is known as the place of ‘many little birds’, this is the translation from the local Rukiga language. Today we will spend some time on the lake touring and learning more about the different Islands with a rich history of how some were used a damping ground of lepers and another known as ‘punishment island’ the place where young pregnant girls were left to die for conceiving outside of wedlock.

Have a tour of some of Lake Bunyonyi’s 29 Islands; engage in a cultural activity at an Island where you will have lunch with the community. After lunch we will start the journey to Ankole where we will be travelling to a rural homestead, to experience their traditional way of living. Enjoy the rolling hills in the countryside of the Ankole Kingdom.

Journey time – 2 hours

Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Accommodation – Homestead

Day 6: Traditional Homestead Experiences

You will spend the night with a family in this community. You will arise very early in the morning before daybreak and join the herdsman with milking the long horned Ankole cows, this is done before the cows are set off for the day. After this experience of milking and learning the tradition surrounding milking cows, we return home for breakfast.

We will take a take a short walk to the village visiting more homes and different stops for great views. Experience the lifestyle of these people, food, and other native habits. The trail leads through undulating hills that overlook the village.

We have an opportunity to stop by a local school so you get to interact with the children if this is of interest to you. Alternatively, you choose to join the herdsmen as they go to the field to graze the cows.

Day 7: Whispers of the wild in Lake Mburo National Park

After breakfast with our host family, we depart to Lake Mburo National Park with a stopover at Igongo cultural Museum which tells of the history of the Ankore Kingdom. Lake Mburo is the smallest Savannah park in Uganda.

We arrive at our lodge and take an afternoon boat trip on Lake Mburo – where we are likely to see Hippos, Crocodiles, Zebras, and Buffaloes. The park has amazing bird life which you will enjoy while on the boat. After the boat ride, you have an option of a nature walk in the park with an armed ranger guide for close experience with the animals.

Journey time – 2 hours

Meal plan – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Accommodation

• Up market – Mihingo Lodge
• Mid-range – Rwakobo Rock
• Budget – Eagles Nest

Day 8: Transfer to Entebbe for departure

We depart Lake Mburo after a short morning game drive. Enjoy the magnificent view one more time before we embark on journey to Kampala. We shall have stopover at Equator for shopping and lunch. Arrive at Entebbe Airport that evening for travel back or overnight at your Hotel depending on your flight time.