Day 1 NAIROBI, KENYA – ENTEBBE, UGANDA
Today you will be collected from the Nairobi City Centre by an Jungle Empire Africa representative and transferred to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for the scheduled Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi, Kenya to Entebbe in Uganda.
You will be met at the Entebbe International Airport and transferred to the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel.
The Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe and is a mere 7-minute drive from the Airport on 27 acres of landscaped gardens with a 1 km beach frontage.
This 3* hotel has 185 rooms, 5 suites and one Presidential Suite, all furnished to the latest international standards. Rooms are classed as Deluxe (smallest), Club and Executive (Largest). All rooms are equipped with Baths and stand up showers, Direct dial telephones, Internet access, 24 hours satellite, T.V., In-room electronic safe, central air- conditioning and writing desks. 54 of the rooms have a minibar that is stocked on request.
The Hotel has 3 Restaurants: the 330-seater Victoria Coffee shop, the 150-seater Nouvelle Grill Room, and the Beach Garden Restaurant.
The swimming pool and the health club are located in the lower gardens next to the beach
Balance of the evening spent at leisure with dinner at the resort’s main restaurant.
Overnight Imperial Resort Beach Hotel
Day 2 ENTEBBE, UGANDA – BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK
After breakfast, you will be transferred to a nearby airstrip to for a Charter flight to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in south-western Uganda is home to roughly half of the world’s Mountain Gorillas making it world famous for Gorilla Tracking. The national park has 90 mammal species, including 11 primates of which the black-and-white colobus with its lovely flowing white tail, is prominent. The park also hosts Chimpanzee, Monkeys and other smaller antelope in addition to more than 20 species of bird and there is also Elephant. Bwindi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.
Bwindi is 522 kms/10 hrs drive from Entebbe and Kampala and 1.5 hrs flight by light aircraft to the Kayonza airstrip which is 25 kms/40 minutes from the Gorilla Forest Camp.
On arrival at the local airstrip, you will be met by a Gorilla Forest Camp guide and transferred to camp.
Gorilla Forest Camp is a small luxury permanent tented camp in the heart of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. It is the only camp inside the park’s boundaries and therefore an ideal base for gorilla tracking, primate viewing and birding excursions in the park.
The camps only 8 en-suite tents are built upon wooden platforms. Tent amenities include two queen size beds, WC, basin and a bathtub looking out onto the forest and hot and cold running water. Each tent has a spacious wooden verandah where guests can relax and enjoy a private meal and absorb the mystery of the surrounding rainforest that provided the inspiration for the animation of Disney World’s The Jungle Book.
Other facilities include a bar, dining cottage and a raised platform for open air dining. In the night, around a traditional African campfire, a lecture might be given by a visiting primatologist, the gorilla tracking briefings undertaken or you may simply admire the myriad brilliance of Bwindi’s crystal clear mountain sky.
Whilst Gorilla Forest Camp welcomes children of all ages, please note that children below 15 yrs are not allowed on the Gorilla Tracking Excursions.
After lunch, you spend the rest of the afternoon acclimatizing or visiting local villages.
After dinner, we retire for the night, lulled to sleep by the sounds of one of Africa’s most incredible natural environments
Overnight Gorilla Forest Camp
Day 3 BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK
We spend today on Gorilla Tracking in the forest. The tracking may take anything from one to nine hours and today may well be the most challenging and yet wonderfully exciting day in our Uganda safari.
The Bwindi Mountain Gorillas are part of a total worldwide population of just 600 individuals. The gorillas we are allowed to track belong to either one of two habituated family groups. For up to five years each, these groups have undergone an extremely delicate process that has gradually brought them to tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period every day and allowed a few privileged visitors to interact with them in the wild.
The gorillas are by no means tame, and are completely wild animals. However, experienced guides will accompany us on our tracking, many of who have been involved in the habituation process themselves. The guides will use their knowledge of the gorillas’ habits and information from the previous day to locate the group’s whereabouts.
Because of this, the time taken to track the gorillas varies enormously, from as little as half an hour to as much as 9 hours before we returns to camp. But an encounter, face to face with these gentle giants of the forest is well worth our efforts. Once the gorillas are located, our group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. This is one of the world’s most truly memorable experiences – a look into one of these magnificent creatures eyes brings home the bond that exists between them and us. It also brings home the poignant fact that they are on the edge of extinction, and that our presence here contributes to ensuring their continued survival.
The hour is often over all too quickly, and we slowly make our way back to camp to recount the day’s adventures.
Overnight Gorilla Forest Camp
Day 4 BWINDI – ENTEBBE, UGANDA – NAIROBI, KENYA – END
After breakfast, you will be transferred to the airstrip for your charter flight back to Entebbe.
The return flights to and from Bwindi are very scenic as they open up huge vistas during the 1.5 hr flight belying Uganda’s small size. In the distance, one can see the hills and plains of Rwanda and Tanzania and the Rift Valley dropping away towards Lake Edward and the D. R. Congo. Below, rolling ranchland soon gives way to dry scrub and gigantic wetlands before thee final approach over L. Victoria. Later, we transfer to a nearby landing site and travel by speedboat to the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, 23 kms off Entebbe on L. Victoria. At 69,000 sq. kms, the lake is the second-largest fresh water lake in the world. This boat ride will give you an idea of its sheer size.
Ngamba Island Sanctuary is a program run by the Jane Goodall Institute for orphaned chimpanzees rescued within Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The environment on the 97 acres (45 ha) island is the same as for wild chimpanzees: an African tropical rainforest with more than 50 species of plants that chimps are known to utilize. There is plenty of room for the chimps to explore their forest environment. However the forest is not large enough to provide long-term sustenance for the 34 chimps at the sanctuary, so staff members feed them four times every day. Two of these feeds are delivered from the viewing platform, providing an opportunity for the island’s many visitors to observe and photograph the chimps. After lunch on the island, we will get a chance to view the afternoon feeding.
We then return to our hotel to prepare for our flight out to Nairobi, Kenya.
Later, you will be transferred to Entebbe International airport for your flight to Kenya
On arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, met by an Jungle Empire Africa representative and transferred to the Nairobi City Centre. You will be dropped off in the Nairobi City Centre or at your directly booked hotel.
Above costs include
- Full board accommodation on safari Bed & Breakfast
- Park entrance fees
- Game viewing drives as shown
- All transfers as shown
- Porterage of 2 pieces of luggage per person
- Government taxes and levies
Above costs exclude
- International airfare
- International airport departure taxes
- All expenses of a personal nature such as all drinks, laundry, telephone calls,
- Tips and gratuities for Driver/guide, hotel staff etc
- Entry visa fees
- Travel and medical insurance
SEE MORE RELATED SAFARI PACKAGES BELOW!
- JEA28: Bwidi Gorilla Tracking(3 days 2 nights)
- JEA29: Queen Elizabeth National Park(4 days 3 nights)
- JEA42: A week on the wild side
- JEA43: Africa’s Great Apes
- JEA44: Gorilla Tracking in Uganda – 7 Day Safari
- JEA45: Gorilla Tracking in Uganda – 4 Day Safari
- JEA46: Gorillas and Chimpanzee Tracking
- JEA47: Kidepo Extension
- JEA48: Explorers Trail
