Uganda 14-Day Luxury Private Tour

Welcome to Uganda. Your driver meets you at Entebbe International Airport and takes you the short distance to your hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria. The rest of the day is free to rest after the flight, walk in the gardens or watch the light change over the lake. If you arrive early, the Entebbe Botanical Gardens are close by and lovely for a slow stroll among old trees and birds. Your local team is on hand for anything you need before tomorrow’s journey. Dinner can be at your hotel or by the water. Tonight’s welcome dinner is included, timed around your arrival.

After breakfast, your driver takes you to the airport for a scheduled light-aircraft flight west to Kasese, about an hour and a quarter over green hills and farmland. Baggage allowances are limited, so we advise you on packing before the trip. Your private driver and vehicle meet you at the airstrip, where the Rwenzori Mountains rise to the west if the clouds allow. From there it is about two hours by road, past tea estates and the crater lakes near Fort Portal, to your forest lodge. Settle in, have a late lunch and hear what to expect from tomorrow’s chimpanzee tracking.

After breakfast, drive to the Kanyanchu visitor center for the ranger briefing, then walk into the forest in a small group to look for a habituated chimpanzee community. Trackers usually find them, though the walk can take a few hours over uneven ground, and your time with the chimpanzees is limited to one hour once you reach them. Listen for their calls and watch for monkeys and turacos above. The permit is included. After lunch, the afternoon is free to rest at the lodge or stroll to a crater lake viewpoint nearby.

Travel south through tea country and the crater lakes, about two and a half to three hours with stops, and cross the Equator as you descend to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Check in to your lodge and have lunch with a view over the plains. In the late afternoon, if conditions allow, set out with your private guide for a first game drive, looking for elephants, buffalo, Uganda kob and perhaps lions. The evening is quiet, with dinner at the lodge and the sounds of the bush around you. The Rwenzori Mountains may show on the northern skyline.

Head out early for a private game drive across the Kasenyi plains, when the air is cool and predators are most active. Look for elephants, buffalo, Uganda kob and perhaps lions. Return to the lodge for lunch and a rest through the warmest hours. In the afternoon, join the scheduled boat trip on the Kazinga Channel, included in your tour, along the natural waterway between Lakes George and Edward. Hippos crowd the shallows, elephants and buffalo come down to drink and the birdlife is rich. Sightings depend on nature, which makes each outing different.

After breakfast, continue south through the Ishasha sector of the park, known for its tree-climbing lions, though they are not always in the trees. A game drive here breaks the journey, with a picnic lunch under the fig trees, before the road climbs into steep green hills with views over terraced farms. The whole day is about five to six hours, including the game drive and lunch. We book your gorilla permit in a sector that suits this route, so you arrive at your lodge by mid-afternoon. Enjoy a quiet evening with the forest outside your window.

After an early breakfast, join the ranger briefing at the park office for your sector. Your group of up to eight visitors then sets off into the forest to find an assigned gorilla family. The walk can take from one to several hours each way on steep, muddy trails, so reasonable fitness helps, and a local porter is worth hiring. Once you find the family, you spend one quiet hour with them. Sightings are very likely but never guaranteed. A packed lunch comes with you, and the afternoon is for rest at the lodge.

Today is deliberately free after your trek. Sleep in, enjoy breakfast with views over the forest canopy and let the experience sink in. If you would like a little activity, your guide can arrange a gentle nature walk at the forest edge or a visit to a community project run by local residents. Otherwise, the lodge is a lovely place to read, rest and watch the mist lift from the hills. It is also a useful spare day if weather delays a trek. All meals are at the lodge. Nothing needs to be rushed today.

After a slow breakfast, leave the forest and drive south through some of the most beautiful hill country in Uganda, about two and a half to three and a half hours depending on your gorilla sector, past terraced slopes and small farming villages. Near Kabale the road drops to Lake Bunyonyi, a long, deep lake dotted with more than twenty islands. Check in to your lakeside hotel and spend the afternoon as you like, with a swim, a walk along the shore or simply a chair on the terrace. The evenings here are cool and very quiet. Dinner at the lodge is included.

A day to rest after the forest. In the morning, a private boat takes you out among the islands, a trip included in your tour, past dugout canoes and terraced hillsides, with stops to hear the stories of the lake and its small communities. Return for lunch and keep the afternoon free for a book, a massage or a gentle walk. Swimming is safe here, as the lake is free of crocodiles and hippos. In the evening, watch the light fade over the water from the terrace. Nothing needs to be rushed today. Dinner at the lodge is included.

After breakfast, drive east through the hills to Mbarara and on to Lake Mburo National Park, about three to three and a half hours with a coffee stop. This small park of rolling grassland, acacia and lakes is the best place in Uganda to see zebras, impalas and eland, and you may also meet buffalo, warthogs and giraffes. Check in to your lodge in time for lunch and rest through the afternoon heat. In the late afternoon, set out with your guide on a private game drive as the light softens. Dinner is at the lodge.

Lake Mburo has no elephants or lions, which makes it one of the few parks where you can explore on foot. After an early breakfast, join a ranger for a guided walk across the grassland, getting close to zebras, impalas and topi in the cool of the morning. Return for brunch and a quiet middle of the day by the pool. In the afternoon, take the boat trip on Lake Mburo, included in your tour, looking for hippos, crocodiles and fish eagles along the papyrus shore. Your last evening on safari ends with dinner at the lodge.

Enjoy a slow breakfast with a last look over the savanna. Your driver then takes you back toward Lake Victoria, about four to four and a half hours, with a stop at the Equator for a coffee and a photograph with one foot in each hemisphere, and another for lunch along the way. Arrive at your hotel in Entebbe in the afternoon, with time to repack, rest and enjoy a final dinner by the water. This last night near the airport keeps your departure easy and unhurried. If you like, a walk in the Botanical Gardens rounds off the day. Your farewell dinner tonight is included.

Enjoy a relaxed breakfast and a slow morning as your flight time allows. Your driver takes you the short distance to Entebbe International Airport with comfortable time for check-in. If your flight leaves late in the day, extra hours at the hotel can be arranged and quoted in advance. Spending this last night in Entebbe means your international connection never depends on a same-day bush flight. You leave with memories of the forests, the savanna and that hour with the gorillas. Safe travels, and we hope to welcome you back to Uganda.