6-Day Uganda Gorilla Adventure (Fly-in)

Overview

Day by day itinerary

1. 1Arrive in Entebbe (Optional - Shoebill Tracking)⌄

   Take a speed canoe on Lake Victoria to find the prehistoric Shoebill among the Mabamba Swamps. If you're fortunate, you'll see the incredible bird but also, you can spot other swamp inhabitants instead.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Papyrus Guesthouse Entebbe - Garden Room

2. 2Fly Entebbe to Kisoro with Aerolink (Community Hiking & Canoeing on Lake Mutanda)⌄

   Walk from Kisoro through the city market, communities, villages, and terraced gardens to Lake Mutanda for a canoeing adventure.

   Take a canoe ride across one of the most stunning rifts valley lakes with incredible scenery. Your ride will be guided in a dug-out traditional canoe across Lake Mutanda.

   After your canoe ride, have lunch at Mutanda Lake Resort and continue on an optional 9km nature walk to Rubuguri Junction for pick-up to transfer to the lodge.

   Meals: Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

   Overnight: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge (Mid-Upscale Luxury)

3. 3The Gorilla Trekking Experience⌄

   Eat an early energy-giving breakfast, preferably fruits and cereal; you’ll need the energy during your trek. You’ll get a lunch pack at the lodge, and your driver will have you at the Nkuringo visitor center by 7:30 am for the briefing session. After the briefing, the warden selects travelers in groups of eight people and assigns a gorilla group based on their physical ability. He’ll also offer you a walking stick and advise you to take a porter. For 20 bucks, please take one of the locals; you may need them to pull you muddy slopes or carry your backpack—besides, it’s a great way to support the surrounding communities. You will then join two armed rangers and an expert guide on the trekking trail till you disappear under the unmarked forest canopy. The trek can be quite challenging and can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours to locate the habituated gorillas. You’ll be allowed to spend 60 minutes with the gorillas when you find them.

   Spend the rest of the evening relaxing at the lodge or take an evening sundowner to the top of the world - the name given to the football field, high up in Nkuringo which offers amazing views over the peaks and forests around Nkuringo. A great way to stretch your legs after the gorilla tracking and to enjoy a sundowner.

   Meals: Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

   Overnight: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge (Mid-range to Luxury)

4. 4Community Tour, Nature Walk⌄

   This morning after a hearty breakfast, enjoy birding in Nombe Pocket Forest – it was part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and it is still quite impenetrable, however, it was cut off from it as people needed more land to live on and cultivate. It can be reached on foot

   Meals: Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

   Overnight: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge (Mid-High Luxury)

5. 5Hike Across Bwindi Impenetrable Forest⌄

   This part of the adventure will immerse you in the majestic enchantments of the ancient wilderness, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With luck on your side, some of the backwood dwellers like chimps, forest elephants, duikers, forest buffalo, and various primates will cross your path. Otherwise, look out for the unique overgrown plant species and dazzling colorful butterflies of over 300 species. Birds such as African green broadbill, great blue turaco, Grauer’s swamp warbler, Turner’s Eremomela, Shelley’s crimson wing, and Chapin’s flycatcher flying under the canopy will definitely capture your eye. You’ll cross rivers, streams, shaky bridges, climb fallen stumps and walk through damp forest floors connecting you to sapiens’ origins. However, at the other end, your driver will be ready to whisk you off, driving you through dreamy landscapes and delivering you to your luxury forest cottage hagging above the impenetrable jungle you just conquered.

   Meals: Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

   Overnight: Mahogany springs Lodge (Mid-high Luxury)

6. 6Fly Kihihi to Entebbe⌄

   Transfer from Mahogany springs Lodge to Kisoro airstrip for your local flight to Entebbe. The flight takes 1 hour.

   Meals: Breakfast