5-Day Gorillas, Wildlife, and Chimpanzee Trekking at Kalinzu Forest

Our representative will pick you up at Kigali Airport or downtown Kigali and drive you to Bwindi National Park. The 4 to 5-hour scenic drive to Uganda will go through Rwanda’s northern town of Ruhengeri where you will cross over into Uganda via the Cyanika or Katuna border posts. The trip continues through the nearby towns of Kisoro or Kabale and finally into Bwindi National Park. Arriving at the park early afternoon will allow you to choose from our optional activities such as hiking, visiting the Batwa community, or trying your hand at the local industry: coffee making.

After an early morning breakfast, we will have a short drive to the Bwindi National Park gate to receive a gorilla-trekking briefing. The national park guide will conduct the presentation that covers the basics of what to expect during the gorilla trek and how to act to ensure the safety of both guests and the gorillas. Once you are assigned to a group, our adventure into the rainforest begins! Follow your guide through dense vegetation until you encounter these impressive creatures in their natural habitat. Depending on how far inside the forest the gorillas are, the trek can take from between 3 hours up to 8, but most last between 3 and 6 hours. After the gorilla trek, we will take you back to the lodge to enjoy a well-deserved dinner and an evening of relaxation.

We will start the journey in the morning from Bwindi National Park and drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park. The tour will take you through the stunning landscapes of western Uganda and get you to the park by early afternoon. We will drive through the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, popularly known for the tree-climbing lions. Unlike their counterparts at the Kasenyi Plains, the lions at Ishasha have found a way to climb the fig trees to enjoy the warm temperatures. While the sighting of the tree-climbing lions is not 100% guaranteed, a stopover at Ishasha is well worth a visit!

We start our action-packed fourth day with an early morning breakfast at the lodge. Afterward, we proceed to the famed Kasenyi plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park to spot various species of wild animals. The Kasenyi plains are found in the vast savannahs of the Albertine Rift in Queen Elizabeth National Park and it will be a morning full of adventure! Expect to encounter lions, herds of buffalos, elephants, Uganda kobs, topi, and bushbucks. While spotting the ‘big five’ in the park is not guaranteed, on a lucky day, you may sight leopards to make it the ‘big four.’ We will return to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch, join the Kazinga Channel boat cruise for an afternoon of wild game viewing. We’ll have the chance to spot crocodiles, buffaloes, elephants, and a wide range of bird species on the channel waters.

After an early morning breakfast, we will drive to the Kalinzu Forest to experience tracking the chimpanzees in their forest home. Visitors to Kalinzu Forest have more than a 50% chance of encountering these creatures. Kalinzu Forest is not only a haven for chimps but it’s also home to 6 more species of primates, and if you’re lucky, on the Kalinzu trek you might encounter other different colobus monkeys, olive baboons, and red-tailed monkeys.

After our trekking adventure is over, it’s time to end the tour with the transfer to either Kigali or Kampala/Entebbe.