10-Nights Uganda: Gorillas & Beyond - Marco Polo Journeys — CALL

Itinerary Details

Abercrombie & Kent: Uganda: Gorillas & Beyond

DAY 1 Entebbe, Uganda

Arrive in Entebbe, Uganda, a nation of stunning greenery, deep lakes, soaring mountains and rich biodiversity. Transfer to your hotel for an evening at leisure.

Depart Entebbe and fly to Murchison Falls National Park, one of the most scenic spots along the Nile and the location of the classic Humphrey Bogart film, The African Queen. After settling into your lodge on the banks of the Victoria Nile, join your guide for a visit to Murchison Falls, where invigorating spray — the collective force of the majestic Nile — showers a narrow ravine.

Today, set out on a game drive along the northern banks of the Nile in the heart of Murchison Falls National Park. You may see giraffes, buffalo, elephants, warthogs, leopards, lions and antelopes. This afternoon, embark on a boat cruise to the base of the falls, watching for hippos, crocodiles, elephants and birds on the river’s banks.

After breakfast, board a flight to Kibale and transfer to your lodge. Later, you may take an optional nature walk along the top of Bunyaruguru Crater.

Kibale Forest is home to 11 species of primates, including chimpanzees and mangabeys, as well as 300 species of birds. Rise early this morning for the start of your chimpanzee trek. Barks of baboons occasionally pierce the forest’s silence as you make your way along the trail. This afternoon, Ride Like a Local by African canoe across the crater lake, watching for wildlfe and admiring the scenery.

Drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park, home to elephants, lions, hippos, buffalo and baboons. Participate in game drives this afternoon and the next day. While exploring, watch above for tree-climbing lions, a sight seldom seen anywhere else in Africa. Toast your day on safari with a Scenic Sundowner.

Set out for a morning game drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park. Make your way out of the Rift Valley through the Kigezi Highlands and on to the mountains of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This afternoon at your camp, savor a Chef ’s Table experience.

Spend two days tracking endangered mountain gorillas, spending up to an hour among them each day. See mothers keeping infants close as they knucklewalk on three limbs. Watch scampering toddlers reined in by an attentive father, whose job is to protect his family. When you encounter a mountain gorilla in the wild, there is no mistaking the bond that exists between primate and man — and no escaping the poignant fact these creatures lie on the brink of extinction. Later on Day 9, tour the Uganda Nursing School Bwindi, a project supported by A&K Philanthropy, meeting the teachers empowering the region’s health care workers.

Fly to Entebbe and return to your hotel, where a dayroom awaits until your international flight home.