4 Days Flying Gorilla Trekking Safari with Lion Tracking
4 Days Flying Gorilla Trekking Safari with Lion Tracking takes you to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park. Bwindi is a UNESCO World heritage site and is a home to over 50% of the world’s remaining mountain Gorillas. This makes it the best place for doing Gorilla trekking safaris.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is the most visited national park in Uganda with thousands of hippos that populate the shorelines of Kazinga Channel. The open savannah is dotted with Acacia and Euphorbia trees which provide a habitat for elephants, lions, leopards, Uganda kobs and big herds of buffaloes.
Day 1: Fly from Entebbe Airport to Kasese Airstrip, to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
You will fly from Entebbe International Airport/ Kajjansi airstrip where you will fly to Kasese airstrip, and then drive to Queen Elizabeth national park. You will check in at the lodge and have lunch. After your lunch, you will head to Kazinga channel for a boat safari where you will be amazed by the wonderful biodiversity during your boat cruise.
The Kazinga Channel is a wide, 32-kilometre-long natural channel that links Lake Edward and Lake George, and a dominant feature of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The channel attracts a varied range of animals and birds, with one of the world’s largest concentration of hippos and numerous Nile crocodiles.
You will then have an evening game drive as you drive through the savannah grasslands and get to see a number of animals resting as well as walking back to their resting zones.
The open savannah dotted with Acacia and Euphorbia trees provides a habitat for elephants, lions, leopards, Uganda kobs and big herds of buffaloes. Later you will head to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Buffalo Safari Lodge
Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Day 2: Lion and Leopard tracking, transfer to Bwindi via Ishasha sector.
Have breakfast and head to the Northern section of the park “Kasenyi planes” where you will interface with the predators (Lions). With a ranger guide/ tracker, you will drive around to find lions that have radio collars placed around the neck. You will interface lions and leopards among other animals like hyenas, buffaloes, elephants etc. Here, you have a 97% guarantee to see these lions.
Later, you will head to the Southern sector of the park called Ishasha sector for the tree climbing lions. In the southern sector of the park, you have a chance of spotting tree climbing lions. There are other different wildlife species such Topis, kobs and others in this special place.
Ishasha is one of only two places in Africa where you can see tree-climbing lions. The other place is Lake Manyara Park in Tanzania. These lions spend almost the whole day in the tree branches resting from a day’s hunt and also escaping from the hot ground during the hot days.
Later, you will transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for Gorilla trekking the following day. Upon arrival, you will check in at your lodge for relaxation and overnight stay as you wait for Gorilla tracking.
Accommodation: Gorilla Leisure Lodge
Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Day 3: Gorilla Trekking and Batwa cultural experience
After an early morning breakfast, you will drive to the park headquarters for registration and then join the others for a briefing. You will learn about the dos and the don’ts during your Gorilla Trek. Once this is done, you will trek through thick creepers and undergrowth with your guides to find the Gorillas. This can take you from half an hour to three quarters of the day.
The steeply forested landscape is incredibly dense but crisscrossed by numerous animal trails allowing access to tourists. On your trek, you are likely to spot other primates, birds and rare tree species. After finding the gorillas, you will spend one magical hour with them before trekking back. This is indeed an extraordinary feeling being with these beautiful yet endangered Creatures. You will receive a certificate for participating in gorilla trekking and thus contributing to the conservation of Mountain gorillas.
Later after your lunch, you will have the Batwa cultural experience before returning to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Gorilla Leisure Lodge
Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Day 4: Fly back to Kajjansi airstrip
After your breakfast, you will check out of your lodge and transfer to Kihihi airstrip for your flight back to Kajjansi airstrip.
End of safari