5 Days Gorilla Habituation and Trekking Safari
This 5 Days Gorilla Habituation and Trekking Safari is tailored to offer you an incredible encounter with the endangered mountain gorillas in their natural habitat, in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – the best gorilla trekking destination on the planet.
On this primate journey you will take part in gorilla trekking for one hour with the gorillas and gorilla habituation experience for 4 hours with a semi-habituated gorilla experience. Your Uganda safari journey continues to Queen Elizabeth National Park for an incredible sights with wildlife including four of the Big Five – lion, leopard, cape buffalo and elephants among others.
Highlights of 5 Days Gorilla Habituation and Trekking Safari
Day 1: Pick up and Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Day 2: Gorilla Habituation Experience
Day 3: Gorilla Trekking
Day 4: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park and Evening Game Drive
Day 5: Departure
Detailed Itinerary of 5 Days Gorilla Habituation and Trekking Safari
Day 1: Pick up and Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
You shall be picked up from your hotel in Entebbe after breakfast or at Entebbe International Airport upon arrival by our representative – your driver guide. After the briefing, you will be driven to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Along the journey you will have a stop at the Equator where you will have a photo session and also visit the craft shops and enjoy lunch in Mbarara. Continue with your journey to Bwindi Forest where you will check in at your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge
Meal Plan: Lunch and Dinner
Day 2: Gorilla Habituation Experience
Enjoy early breakfast, head to the park with your packed lunch for gorilla habituation experience to meet a semi-habituated gorilla family. Join other visitors at the park headquarters for briefing about gorilla habituation dos and don’ts and in groups of 4 people you will head into the forest, led by rangers and guides together with scientists and researchers searching for a semi-habituated gorilla troop.
Gorilla habituation experience is a full day experience, with 4 hours of being with the semi-habituated gorilla family learning about how they get accustomed to human presence, identify their trails and individual characteristics among others. You will also have ample time to take close up photos and videos of the gorillas.
After your time with the gorillas you will return to the park headquarters to pick your certificates and return to your lodge for an evening of rest, dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 3: Gorilla Trekking Experience
Enjoy an early breakfast, meet your driver-guide and return to the park for gorilla trekking experience. Together with other visitors, you will have a briefing session about gorilla trekking dos and don’ts, be assigned a gorilla family to trek in groups of 8 people, and then head into the forest search for gorillas.
The gorilla trek takes approximately 2 to 5 hours or more depending on their movement and where they spent their previous night. On locating the gorilla family you will one hour in their presence watching them go on with their life in Bwindi Forest, feed, play and groom each other. After this intimate one hour encounter, you will trek back to the starting point, meet your driver guide and return to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 4: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park and Evening Game Drive
Enjoy breakfast at your lodge, check out and embark on a journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park via the Ishasha Sector where you will see the rare tree climbing lions as they relax in the tree branches.
Head to your lodge for check-in and lunch. Later head out for an afternoon boat cruise channel for sightings of hippos and Nile crocodiles in the waters and herds of buffaloes and elephants on the banks of the channel plus several water bird species. With evening game drive you will head to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Buffalo Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 5: Departure
Wake up early for a cup of coffee and head out for an early morning game drive offering a perfect time to see several animals including predators as they are just coming back to their dens from their hunting sprees. Lookout for lions, leopards, cape buffaloes, elephants, warthogs, African wild dogs among others.
Return to your lodge for a full breakfast, check and journey back to Kampala with en-route lunch. You will be dropped off at the airport in time for your flight back home.