Compare Signature Uganda by Abercrombie & Kent vs Gorillas & Masai Mara - Camping by Exodus Travels
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4 | Great
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5 | Excellent
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| Duration | 9 days | 15 days |
| Price From | $ 6,995 | $ 6,480 |
| Price Per Day | $ 777 | $ 432 |
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| Trip Style | Private guided tour | Small group tour |
| Lodging Level | Luxury | Standard |
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| Flights & Transport | Ground transport included | Ground transport included |
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| Meals Included |
8 Breakfasts, 7 Lunches and 7 Dinners |
Virtually all meals are included and will be prepared for you by our chef and crew. They are adept at catering for large groups of hungry travellers! Breakfasts usually include cereal, toast and hot food such as porridge or eggs. Lunches tend to feature a range of sandwich options plus a fruit selection. Dinners usually feature soup, a main (a mix of local and international cuisine) and dessert (typically fruit salad). All cooking equipment is loaded onto the overland vehicle and so our crew are ready to prepare food wherever we stop – don’t worry about going hungry on this trip! You also have time to stock up on snacks and drinks along the journey. For meals not included, it would be a good idea to allow a further US$100 to cover these. |
| Description |
Embark on an independent journey to see habituated chimpanzees at Kibale National Park, glimpse tree-climbing lions at Queen Elizabeth National Park and track endangered mountain gorillas in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. |
The Masai Mara, a vast grassland teeming with animals, has an astonishing amount of wildlife, including lions, cheetahs and, at certain times of the year, the wildebeest migration. Lake Nakuru National Park has an incredible variety of birds plus a healthy population of white and black rhinos while Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to hippos, elephants, buffalo, leopards and elusive tree-climbing lions plus a huge variety of birds. Murchison Falls is one of the most impressive national parks in Africa, renowned for scenic beauty, spectacular falls and abundant wildlife, including elephants, buffalo, Ugandan kobs (antelope), leopards, and more than 450 bird species. We also go trekking to see the playful nature of chimpanzees. But the trip highlight is undoubtedly an hour with mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. This close-up encounter is arguably the most sensational wildlife experience of them all.Discover the fantastic wildlife of Kenya and marvel at the endangered mountain gorillas of Bwindi |
Day 1: Arrive Entebbe, Uganda
Accommodation: Lake Victoria Serena Resort & Spa
Arrive in Entebbe and transfer to your hotel. Nicknamed the “Pearl of Africa,” Uganda shines with stunning greenery, deep lakes, soaring mountains and perhaps the greatest natural treasure of all — half of the world’s last remaining mountain gorilla population.
Day 2: Kibale National Park | Into the Forest
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: Kyaninga Lodge
Take a scenic drive through rolling hills dotted with tea estates to Kibale National Park, one of the most varied tracts of tropical forest in Uganda. Known for its 300 bird species and population of chimpanzees, Kibale is home to 11 primate species. You may also spot mangabeys and a vast array of butterflies. Arrive at your lodge amid Lake Kyaninga and the Mountains of the Moon.
Day 3: Kibale National Park | Domain of the Chimpanzee
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: Kyaninga Lodge
Rise early this morning and make the short drive to the start of your chimpanzee trek. The chimpanzees feed high in the trees, so binoculars are a must. Barks of baboons occasionally pierce the forest silence as you make your way along the trail. Take a guided walk in the wildlife-rich Bigodi Forest swamp, an excellent chance to view birds, sitatunga, mongooses, bush pigs, otters and bushbucks.
Day 4: Queen Elizabeth National Park | Ugandan Views
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: Ishasha Wilderness Camp
Travel from Kibale to Queen Elizabeth National Park, home to a wide array of wildlife, including elephants, hippos, buffalo and baboons. Offering magnificent views of the rift valley, it is also known for its tree-climbing lions. En route to your camp, you may opt to take a boat cruise on the Kazina Channel. Upon arrival at your camp, take in fantastic park vistas and views of the Rwenzori Mountains.
Day 5: Queen Elizabeth National Park | Elephants & More
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: Ishasha Wilderness Camp
Set out on morning and evening game drives in this majestic national park. Because the region occupies the main migration corridor between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, prolific plains game resides here, including topi and Uganda kob, as well as buffalo, hippos and some of the largest herds of elephants in the country. Spotted hyenas are common, and leopards occasionally glimpsed.
Day 6: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park | Lush Hills
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp
Take a game drive as you leave the park, with views of farmlands and local villages. Check in to your camp, the only one located within Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From this luxurious home base, set off on gorilla treks to track down these magnificent mammals at their most natural, a rare sight experienced by only the most fortunate. An even luckier few might see these placid creatures passing through the Gorilla Forest Camp, as there are no barriers, redefining any close encounter you have ever had with wildlife.
Days 7-8: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park | Gorilla Encounters
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp
Spend the next two days tracking endangered mountain gorillas and spending up to an hour with these fascinating creatures each day. Return to the lodge with time to relax, or set out on another guided forest hike.
Day 9: Depart Entebbe
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Lake Victoria Serena Resort & Spa (dayroom) |
Fly to Entebbe, with use of a dayroom until your connecting flight.
Day 1 Start Nairobi; overnight in hotel
The adventure begins in Nairobi, the capital and largest city in Kenya. This evening’s welcome briefing is the perfect opportunity to meet your guide and get to know your fellow travellers. Accommodation: Kenya Comfort Suites (or similar)
Day 2 To Masai Mara; late afternoon game drive
After loading our things onto the vehicle, we depart Nairobi and travel approximately seven hours into the Masai Mara, a vast grassland teeming with life. Here wildebeest, gazelles, topis, zebras and buffalo abound in the rolling savannah, and never far away lay the predators: cheetahs, lions and hyenas. Between mid-August and late October, one of the greatest spectacles on Earth takes place in the Mara: the annual migration of thousands of wildebeest, gazelles and zebras trampling across the long grass. Nothing is guaranteed on safari, but with the help of our brilliant guides you should see and learn a huge amount about the Masai Mara wildlife as we drive through the park this afternoon. Accommodation: Mountain Rock Camp (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades available
Day 3 Full day in the Masai Mara
Enjoy a full-day game drive in the Masai Mara to increase our chances of encountering many of the wildlife species in the reserve. We find a quiet spot inside the park to enjoy lunch by our vehicle, looking out across the plains. There is also an optional hot-air balloon safari at sunrise, which includes champagne and breakfast. Accommodation: Mountain Rock Camp (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades available
Day 4 To Lake Nakuru National Park; afternoon game drive
We depart the Masai Mara in the morning after breakfast and drive to Lake Nakuru National Park, one of the finest small parks in Kenya, where we have an afternoon game drive. The park is widely known for having an impressive population of black and white rhinos, which are relatively easy to spot in the open savannah. Fever trees line the park and are a well-known spot for leopards to laze in, while one of the most impressive sights is the vast flamingo population. Owing to flooding, the alkaline content of the lake has changed in recent years; as a result, the flamingos no longer tend to be found in such large numbers, but this can change depending on the rainfall. Accommodation: KWS Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping
Day 5 Morning game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park; to Eldoret
This morning, we once again go in search of wildlife on a game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park. After lunch inside the park, we have a journey of around three hours as we drive to Eldoret, one of the larger cities in Kenya, where we spend the night. Accommodation: Green Wood Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 6 To Jinja, Uganda
Today there is a drive of about 155mi (250km) to Jinja, which should take about eight hours, including a border crossing into Uganda. The crossing can be slow but we leave plenty of time for this and you’ll no doubt find the experience interesting! On the shores of Lake Victoria, Jinja is the adventure capital of Uganda. The area is most famous for grade IV and V white-water rafting excursions but there are plenty of other adrenaline-fuelled activities here. Accommodation: Adrift Camp (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 7 Free day for optional activities
Today is free to choose from a range of optional activities. White-water rafting in Jinja is considered to be among the best in the world, with a half- or full-day route that varies from quiet pools and forested islands to thunderous rapids and drops. There are several grade V rapids to navigate including Big Brother, Overtime and Silverback. If rafting doesn’t appeal, you can visit the source of the White Nile, one of the two major tributaries of the Nile. Accommodation: Adrift Camp (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 8 To Murchison Falls
We leave Jinja and drive to Murchison Falls National Park (six hours), the largest national park in Uganda, with rolling grasslands and wooded savannah. Tomorrow, we visit the top of the falls, where the river narrows from 165ft (50m) to crash through a 23ft (7m) gorge, falling 150ft (45m) to the rocks below. A truly impressive sight! Accommodation: Sambiya River Lodge (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 9 Full day in Murchison Falls
We have an early morning game drive in Murchison Falls National Park. We transfer by ferry to the north side of the Nile where we embark on our game drive. The area is home to elephants, giraffes, buffalo and Ugandan kobs, plus the predators: lions and leopards. After lunch, we travel by boat up the Nile, passing hippos and crocodiles, searching for elephants and waterbuck that come to the river to drink. The cruise lasts about three hours and we travel upstream to the bottom of the falls, stopping near the Devil’s Cauldron, the place where the water bursts through the narrow gorge and creates an outstanding rainbow. Accommodation: Sambiya River Lodge (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 10 Chimpanzee tracking in Budongo Forest
We depart early this morning for Budongo Forest, home to the largest number of chimpanzees in Uganda; we go on a trek in search of chimps and other wildlife. The walking is fairly easy due to the well-maintained trails and reasonably flat terrain. While trekking in the depths of the lush green forest, we are surrounded by bird song and hope to see velvet and colobus monkeys, wild pigs and, of course, chimpanzees. Once a chimp family is found, we have an hour with these fascinating creatures, to watch them interact and play with each other. Accommodation: Simba Safari Camp (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 11 To Queen Elizabeth National Park
Today, we have a long drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP), which goes south along the eastern length of the Rwenzori Mountains, where we can see the glaciated peaks, weather permitting. We gently descend into the Great Rift Valley and QENP. The park resides in a fertile, equatorial area and has beautiful scenery. It is the most popular and accessible savannah reserve in Uganda. It is primarily associated with grassy savannah plains, but this impressive park also includes leafy rainforests, dense papyrus swamps and natural volcanic crater lakes. As a result, it has one of the highest biodiversity ratings of any game reserve in the world, including 95 recorded mammal species and more than 610 bird species. Accommodation: Simba Safari Camp (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 12 Spend a full day in Queen Elizabeth National Park
We explore QENP on a game drive this morning, searching for elephants, lions, buffalo, leopards, hyenas, jackals, topis, kobs, bush bucks and various others. In the afternoon, there is an optional boat trip of about two hours along the Kazinga Channel to view one of the largest concentrations of hippos in the world (reported to be about 30,000) and other game with excellent birding. The game drive continues in the afternoon for those who do not join the boat trip. Accommodation: Igongo Cultural Centre (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 13 To Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
We have a final early morning game drive in QENP and depart after breakfast, heading for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site and home to mountain gorillas. The journey is 185mi (300km) and takes five to six hours, including stops. Accommodation: Virunga Hotel & Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 14 Trek to see mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
You will probably remember today for the rest of your life as we spend a full hour in the company of a family of mountain gorillas! Owing to the terrain and need to explore to find the gorillas, our trek doesn’t follow a path; instead, our guides cut a route through the undergrowth. After a safety briefing, we are assigned to a gorilla family group and begin our trek. Expect a minimum of three hours of walking on irregular terrain; steep ascents and descents over muddy slopes are the norm. Strong footwear is essential and we recommend hiring a local porter to help you carry your bag/camera equipment and provide a steady, supportive hand (porters are arranged and paid for locally on the day). Seeing wild mountain gorillas in their natural habitat is an experience you will never forget. An adult male can weigh up to 430lb (195kg), a female up to 220lb (100kg), and a male can reach 5ft 7in (1.7m) tall. They are almost exclusively vegetarian and quite destructive eaters, which makes them unpopular with the farmers lower down the mountain as they have been known to wreck a whole field of crops just to eat one plant. For this reason, and poaching, the gorillas are very carefully protected. Gorillas are gentle creatures and are not known to attack unless very severely provoked. The family groups we trek to see are habituated to human presence but to prevent over familiarisation our time with them is limited to one hour. If the permits for gorilla families close to where we stay are unavailable, there may be more permits for other areas of the park, although this will mean a longer drive to the start of the trek. Accommodation: Virunga Hotel & Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades and wifi available
Day 15 Early morning departure to Kigali airport
We depart early in the morning and transfer to Kigali airport. Our trip comes to an end in the afternoon when we bid our group goodbye.
