9-Day Uganda (Entebbe Start): Gorillas, Savannahs & Lakeside Legends

Welcome to Uganda, the Pearl of Africa. Your driver-guide meets you in the arrivals hall at Entebbe International Airport and takes you the short distance to your hotel in Entebbe, a calm garden town on a peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Victoria.

Depending on your arrival time, the rest of the day is yours to settle in. If you land early, your guide can take you to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, laid out in 1898 along the lakeshore, or to the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre for a first look at the country's animals.

In the evening your guide briefs you on the journey ahead before dinner and a restful first night beside the lake.

After breakfast you leave Entebbe and drive west along the Masaka road, about 4–5 hours in total. At Kayabwe you stop on the Equator to stand with a foot in each hemisphere and watch the famous water demonstration, then continue through banana plantations and papyrus swamps into the rolling cattle country of Ankole.

You reach Lake Mburo National Park, the closest savanna park to Kampala, in time for lunch. In the late afternoon you take a boat trip on Lake Mburo, where hippos grunt in the shallows, crocodiles bask on the banks and African fish eagles call overhead; keep watch for the shy African finfoot along the shoreline.

Begin the day with a guided walking safari in the company of an armed ranger. With no elephants or lions in the park, Lake Mburo is one of the best places in Uganda to explore on foot, and you walk among zebras, impala, eland, topi, buffaloes and warthogs as the morning sun lights up the acacia ridges.

After breakfast you drive west via Mbarara and Bushenyi, about 4–5 hours, descending into the Albertine Rift to Queen Elizabeth National Park, with views of the Rwenzori Mountains on clear days.

Head out at first light onto the Kasenyi plains, the best part of the park for lions, which hunt the herds of Uganda kob. Elephants, buffaloes, waterbuck and warthogs are common, and the backdrop of crater cones and the Rwenzoris makes this one of Africa's most scenic game drives.

After lunch you join a two-hour cruise along the Kazinga Channel, the natural waterway linking Lake Edward and Lake George. The channel holds one of Africa's densest hippo populations, and you glide past basking crocodiles, elephants drinking at the water's edge and a wealth of waterbirds.

After breakfast you drive south through the park to the remote Ishasha sector, famous for its tree-climbing lions. The lions here often rest in the spreading branches of fig and acacia trees during the heat of the day, and your guide will search the favourite trees while you also watch for topi, buffaloes, elephants and Uganda kob.

After a picnic lunch you continue south on winding roads into the hills, a drive of about 2–3 hours, until the dark, mist-wrapped ridges of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest rise ahead. You check in to your lodge near the Buhoma gate, where the forest begins right at the edge of the garden.

This is the day you have been waiting for. After an early breakfast you gather at the park headquarters in Buhoma for a briefing from the rangers, who assign you to one of the habituated gorilla families. Bwindi protects almost half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas, and the trek may take anything from two to six hours through steep, tangled forest. Porters can be hired at the trailhead to carry your bag and lend a hand on slippery slopes.

When the trackers locate the family you spend one hour in their company, watching the silverback, mothers cradling infants and youngsters tumbling through the vines. It is a deeply moving encounter and one of the great wildlife experiences on Earth.

Return to your lodge to rest. Later, if you have the energy, you can take a gentle walk through Buhoma village to meet the community living alongside the forest.

After breakfast you leave the forest and drive about 4–5 hours through the terraced hills of Kigezi to Kabale and on to Lake Bunyonyi, set at 1,962 metres among steep green slopes. Its name means 'place of many little birds', and it is the perfect place to rest after the excitement of the gorilla trek.

Check in to your lakeside lodge and spend the afternoon at your own pace: watch the birds from the shore or simply enjoy the views as dugout canoes glide past.

Today you explore the lake by canoe or motorboat with a local guide. Bunyonyi has 29 islands, each with its own story. You pass Akampene, or Punishment Island, where under old Bakiga custom unmarried girls who became pregnant were abandoned, and hear how the practice ended. You stop at Bushara Island and Sharp's Island for walks and views across the water.

In the afternoon you can visit a lakeside village to learn about Bakiga farming on the terraced hillsides, or simply relax with a book. This is a day to slow down and enjoy one of the most peaceful corners of Uganda.

After an early breakfast you begin the long drive back to Entebbe, about 8–9 hours via Kabale, Mbarara and Masaka, crossing the Equator once more and stopping for lunch on the way. You reach Entebbe International Airport in the evening for your departure flight.

For a shorter day, a scheduled domestic flight from Kisoro or Kihihi to Entebbe can be arranged at extra cost, or we can add a final night in Entebbe beside Lake Victoria.