8 Days Uganda Gorillas and Kenya Migration Safari – Fly in safari

Day 0: Arrival at Entebbe

Arrival transfer to your hotel in Entebbe City transfer to your Hotel

Full Board Meals: Breakfast & Dinner included.

Accommodation: Boma Entebbe

Day 1: To Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Early breakfast at the resort and thereafter transfer Entebbe airport flight to Kihihi with Aero-Link.

Arrival Kihihi: 09.30 am/ Arrival Kisoro: 08:55 am

On arrival at Kihihi/ Kisoro airstrip, you will be picked up by our representative or staff of the lodge you are staying at. You will be transferred in about 1 hour to the lodge.

Journey time: Flight in the morning or afternoon/transfer to lodge 1½ hours.

In an evening Village walking tour, you will observe women making handicrafts from local materials and those creating the baskets, a chance to buy some. See how hard women are working in the fields tending to their crops. Just a hoe and hard work all day in the fields. If it school going season, visit the local Primary School and meet children and the teachers – amazing how one can learn without electricity, lights, computers.

It’s possible to visit the Batwa Pygmy community, the original people of the forest – those who lost their homes when Bwindi forest was legally made Impenetrable Forest National Park. This tour ends with traditional dance and gorilla dance. Please advise our safari expert if you prefer to go on a village walk (Optional)

Depending on the Gorilla family previously available and booked by our tour consultant (Buhoma or Ruhija or Rushaga) there are chances of seeing local women washing clothes in the traditional way by hand – there is no whirlpool washing machine in this village – just hands.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is in western Uganda, both Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge and Mahogany springs lodge are only a 10-minute walk to the national park and have sweeping views of the valley and forests that surround it.

The lodge has sweeping views of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – a 124-square-mile UNESCO site home to approximately 350 mountain gorillas (half of the world’s remaining population), non-habituated chimpanzees, more than 100 other species of mammals, 346 species of birds, and 163 species of trees.

Accommodation: ICHUMBI Gorilla Lodge or Mahogany Springs

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included

Day 3: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – Gorilla Trekking

After breakfast hike to the park headquarters, for a briefing by the park ranger on how you need to conduct yourself before the gorillas.

At 8.30 am begin hiking along well-established trails in the forest. Gorilla tracking is a strenuous exercise but the joy you experience after encountering the gorillas is overwhelming. The time is taken to encounter these apes ranges from an hour to several hours depending on their movement in the jungle.

Today our guide will pick you up from your lodge, at 7.30 am transfer you to the park gate (5-10 minutes) Pre-tracking orientation starts at 8:00 AM. Trekking through the thick jungle, traversing canopies of thick undergrowth can be tough, wet, strenuous but not impossible – the tracking can last from as little as 45 minutes to as much as 10 hours. The activity depends on the location of the gorillas the previous day.

Visitors, therefore, are supposed to move along with packed/picnic lunch and water and should be equipped with strong water-proof clothing and must be averagely healthy.

Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly humbling and emotional experience. This is a fantastic and privileged opportunity to get up close and personal with Uganda’s very own ‘Gorillas in the Mist’.

Bwindi impenetrable forest National Park is about 330sq km, with spectacular scenery, impressive forest views. The whole geographical scenery is basically hilly and mountainous. At an elevation between 1160 to 2607m (3806 to 8553ft) rains can shower anytime in Bwindi forest, it is recommended that visitors pack rainwear, waterproof clothing, and appropriate hiking shoes to wear on during gorilla tracking or forest walks. Daytime temperatures range from 23C/73F at times dropping to as low as 11C/52F.

There are 23 gorilla families which have been habituated for gorilla viewing, all of which can be accessed from specific locations/sectors of the forest. Eight people are permitted to view a single family per day.

Accommodation: ICHUMBI Gorilla Lodge or Mahogany Springs

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included

Day 4: Bwindi – Entebbe- Mara via Kisumu

Breakfast at the lodge.

After breakfast, drop off 55 minutes at the Kihihi/Kisoro airstrip for your scheduled flight to Entebbe.

09.10 hrs – Departure from Kisoro/Kihihi airstrip.

11.25 hrs – Arrival at Entebbe airport connect to your flight to Masai Mara.

12.15 hrs – Fly to Masai Mara with a stop in Kisumu airport to clear immigration procedures for Kenya.

14.30 hrs – Arrival in Masai Mara, met at the airstrip, and transfer to your luxury camp.

Enjoy your late lunch at the camp.

1600 hrs – After enjoying your afternoon Kenyan tea and coffee – Head out this afternoon, for an exciting game viewing adventure.  Search some of the area`s wildlife hot-spots determined by your driver-guide, as they`ve learned and now understand the game’s daily routines through tracking.  Some wildlife is more difficult than others to spot, for instance, the Leopard.  These spotted cats blend almost seamlessly into the tall grass and undergrowth and are even more challenging to spot up in their favorite hangout, the trees.  Your guide will take you to nearby watering holes, where on a hot day, you might spot many bird and wildlife species, including the elusive cats.

1830 hrs – After game viewing drive head back to your tented lodge.

Overnight: Ilkeliani Camp

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included

Day 5 & 6:  Masai Mara Game Reserve

Have 02 days of Great migration experience in Kenya – Masai Mara.

Masai Mara Game Reserve provides the necessary requirements to house a wide range of animal species.  The most recognized are known worldwide as the African Big 5 which includes the African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Rhinoceros, Leopard, and the King of the beasts, the Lion.  The term Big 5 was coined by big-game hunters as these species were the most difficult and dangerous to track and hunt.  Subsequently, the term was adopted by the tourism industry for marketing purposes, spinning a web of positivity opposed to the negative effect portrayed by the original terminology.  Numerous other species of bird and wildlife inhabit this dynamic location including Hyenas, Gazelles, Impalas, Giraffes, Zebras, Vultures, Cranes, Eagles, Falcons, and Ostriches.

Overnight: Ilkeliani Camp

Day 7:  Masai Mara Game Reserve – Nairobi

0630hrs – Early morning game drive.

0830hrs – Return back to your camp for sumptuous breakfast and after breakfast time at leisure.

1230hrs- Lunch at the camp.

150hrs – Transfer to the airstrip for your flight back to Nairobi.

1700 hrs – Arrival in Nairobi upon arrival at the airport, you are met with our representative and then proceed to Tamarind Tree Hotel which is just about 5 minutes drive from the airport.

Arrive and check-in at the hotel, assisted to your room then have time at leisure to relax.

1900hrs – Dinner at the nearby famous carnivore restaurant in Nairobi

Overnight: Tamarind Tree Hotel

Meal plan: BB- Bed and Breakfast are only included.

Day 8: Nairobi – departure flight

Breakfast at leisure.

Check out – transfer to Jomo Kenyatta airport for your departure flight.