10 Days Rwanda Uganda safari
Overview
This 10 Days Rwanda Uganda Safari combines the best wildlife, primate, and cultural experiences that Rwanda and Uganda have to offer. The journey takes you through Volcanoes National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kibale Forest National Park, and Lake Bunyonyi. Experience mountain gorilla trekking, chimpanzee tracking, game drives, boat safaris, cultural encounters, and some of East Africa’s most spectacular scenery.
The safari is ideal for travellers seeking a complete East African adventure featuring primates, wildlife, landscapes, and authentic cultural experiences.
Safari Highlights
- Chimpanzee trekking
- Gorilla trekking
- Golden monkey trekking
- Nature walks
- Game drive
- Boat cruise
- Cultural encounter
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Kigali
Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport, you will be welcomed by your driver-guide and transferred to your hotel. Depending on your arrival time, enjoy a short Kigali City Tour, including visits to local markets, craft centres, and historical sites.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Eagle View Lodge Kigali
Mid-range: Hotel des Mille Collines
Luxury: Kigali Serena Hotel
Meals: Dinner
Day 2: Kigali City Tour and Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
After breakfast, enjoy a guided city tour of Kigali before departing for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda.
Cross the Rwanda-Uganda border and continue through beautiful countryside characterized by terraced hills, valleys, and traditional villages.
Arrive at your lodge in the evening and prepare for the next day’s gorilla trekking adventure.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Rushaga Gorilla Camp
Mid-range: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge
Luxury: Four Gorillas Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 3: Gorilla Trekking and Batwa Cultural Experience
After an early breakfast, proceed to the park headquarters for a briefing by Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers.
Begin your trek through the forest in search of a habituated mountain gorilla family. The trek may take several hours depending on the gorillas’ movements.
Upon finding the gorillas, spend one unforgettable hour observing them in their natural habitat.
After lunch, enjoy a Batwa cultural experience where you will learn about the traditions, history, music, dance, and forest survival skills of the indigenous Batwa people.
Accommodation
As above
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 4: Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi
After breakfast, depart Bwindi and drive to Lake Bunyonyi, often referred to as one of Africa’s most beautiful lakes.
Spend the afternoon relaxing by the lakeshore, enjoying canoe rides, bird watching, or simply taking in the spectacular scenery of the surrounding hills and islands.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Bunyonyi Overland Resort
Mid-range: Arcadia Cottages Lake Bunyonyi
Luxury: BirdNest Resort Bunyonyi
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 5: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park via Ishasha
After breakfast, travel to Queen Elizabeth National Park through the famous Ishasha Sector.
Enjoy a game drive in search of the region’s renowned tree-climbing lions. Other wildlife commonly seen includes elephants, buffaloes, topis, Uganda kobs, and various bird species.
Proceed to your lodge for dinner and overnight.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Pumba Safari Cottages
Mid-range: Twin Lakes Safari Lodge
Luxury: Elephant Plains Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 6: Game Drive and Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise
Begin the day with an early morning game drive in the Kasenyi Plains. Search for lions, elephants, buffaloes, hyenas, waterbucks, and numerous antelope species.
Return to the lodge for breakfast and relaxation.
In the afternoon, enjoy a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel, famous for its large concentration of hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffaloes, and water birds.
Accommodation
As above
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 7: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park
After breakfast, drive to Kibale Forest National Park through the scenic crater lakes region and tea-growing areas of western Uganda.
Arrive at your lodge in time for lunch and spend the afternoon relaxing or exploring the surrounding area.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Chimpanzee Forest Guest House
Mid-range: Turaco Treetops
Luxury: Kyaninga Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 8: Chimpanzee Tracking and Bigodi Wetland Walk
After breakfast, transfer to the Kibale visitor centre for a briefing before beginning your chimpanzee tracking adventure.
Accompanied by experienced guides, enter the forest in search of habituated chimpanzees. Along the way, you may encounter several other primate species.
After lunch, visit Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, one of Uganda’s best community tourism projects. The wetland is rich in birdlife, monkeys, and unique vegetation.
Accommodation
As above
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 9: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park
After breakfast, begin the journey north towards Murchison Falls National Park. Travel through rural towns, farmlands, and scenic landscapes as you head to Uganda’s largest national park.
Arrive in the evening and check into your lodge overlooking the Nile River or surrounding wilderness.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Fort Murchison
Mid-range: Pakuba Safari Lodge
Luxury: Paraa Safari Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 10: Murchison Falls Game Drive, Boat Cruise and Departure
Start the day with an early morning game drive on the northern banks of the Nile. Search for elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, lions, leopards, hartebeests, oribis, and Uganda kobs.
After lunch, enjoy a boat cruise to the base of Murchison Falls where the Nile squeezes through a narrow gorge before plunging dramatically below.
After the cruise, begin the drive to Entebbe International Airport for your departure flight, marking the end of your Rwanda and Uganda safari.
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Optional Activities
Kigali
- Kigali Genocide Memorial visit
- Inema Arts Centre tour
- Kimironko Market experience
- Rwanda Art Museum visit
- Coffee tasting experience
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
- Gorilla habituation experience
- Guided forest walks
- Waterfall hike
- Bird watching excursions
- Community village visits
Lake Bunyonyi
- Canoe excursion to the islands
- Ziplining experience
- Community cultural visits
- Bird watching tours
- Nature walks
Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Lion tracking experience
- Chimpanzee tracking in Kyambura Gorge
- Night game drive
- Bird watching excursions
- Community visits
Kibale Forest National Park
- Chimpanzee habituation experience
- Crater lake tour
- Tea plantation visit
- Bird watching safari
- Community cultural walks
Murchison Falls National Park
- Top of the Falls hike
- Delta boat cruise
- Bird watching excursions
- Sport fishing on the Nile
- Rhino tracking at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Tour Includes
- Travel in a 4×4 car
- Professional guide
- Park fees
- Accommodation
- Meals
- All Activities In Itinerary
Tour Excludes
- Alcoholic drinks
- Laundry
- Tips
- Shopping
- Insurance
- Anything not included per itinerary
Get Your Tailored Gorilla Trekking Tour
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A Fuller Rwanda and Uganda Circuit
At ten days, this itinerary extends beyond a focused gorilla-trekking comparison into a genuinely comprehensive two-country trip, typically adding Uganda savannah wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park and, on many versions, chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest alongside gorilla treks in both Rwanda and Uganda.
The extra days compared to our seven-day version give this itinerary room for a more relaxed pace, with less back-to-back scheduling between the border crossing, treks and wildlife activities, and more buffer for weather or permit timing to shift without disrupting the rest of the trip.
Balancing Two Countries’ Logistics
Combining Rwanda and Uganda over ten days means coordinating two sets of park authorities, permit systems and border logistics, something we handle directly as part of this booking rather than leaving travelers to manage the coordination themselves.
This length also gives enough time to properly appreciate the contrast between Rwanda’s more compact, tourism-polished infrastructure and Uganda’s larger, more varied park network, rather than rushing through both countries in a shorter, more compressed itinerary.
Practical Notes
A Uganda e-visa or East Africa Tourist Visa, arranged before travel, is required for most nationalities, along with a yellow fever vaccination certificate if arriving from a country with risk of transmission. Travel insurance covering trekking or wildlife activities and medical evacuation is strongly recommended, and malaria prevention is worth discussing with a travel health clinic ahead of your trip.
US dollars printed after 2009 are widely accepted for park fees, permits and lodge bills across all destinations on this itinerary, while local currency is more practical for tips and smaller day-to-day purchases. Mobile network coverage is generally reliable at lodges and along main routes but becomes patchy inside the parks themselves.
Because this itinerary spans multiple countries and involves gorilla trekking permits, park fees and border logistics across each stop, we recommend booking at least four to six months in advance, particularly for travel during the June to September or December to February peak seasons.
Tipping is customary though not compulsory. Rangers and trackers typically receive a tip at the end of any trekking activity, scaled to group size, while your driver-guide, who accompanies you throughout the trip, is usually tipped separately at the end. We’re glad to advise on typical tipping ranges when you book.
A private 4×4 safari vehicle with an experienced English-speaking driver-guide accompanies you for the entire trip, handling both park game-viewing tracks and the border crossings and road transfers this multi-country itinerary involves.
Gorilla Trekking Sectors in Bwindi
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is divided into four trekking sectors — Buhoma in the north, Ruhija in the east, and Rushaga and Nkuringo in the south — each with its own habituated gorilla families and its own character. Buhoma offers the gentlest terrain and is the most established sector, with lodges close to the park gate. Rushaga has the highest concentration of habituated families and is also where gorilla habituation experience permits are issued, allowing visitors extended time with a family that is still being acclimatised to human presence. Ruhija sits at higher altitude with cooler mornings, while Nkuringo is known for its steep ridgeline approach and rewarding views over the forest canopy. Your guide assigns you to a specific family the morning of the trek based on fitness level and permit allocation, and treks can last anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours of hiking through dense, humid rainforest before the encounter.
Tree-Climbing Lions of Ishasha
The Ishasha sector in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park is famous for a rare behavioural trait: lions here regularly climb into the branches of the sector’s large fig trees, reportedly to escape biting insects and the heat of the savannah floor, and to get a better vantage point for spotting prey. Spotting a pride draped over the low branches of a fig tree is one of the more memorable sightings on a Uganda safari, though it requires patience since the behaviour is not guaranteed on any single game drive. Ishasha is quieter than the park’s main Kasenyi plains, seeing far fewer vehicles, which makes for a more private and unhurried game-viewing experience.
Top of the Falls and Boat Cruise
Murchison Falls, where the entire Victoria Nile forces itself through a gap in the rock only a few metres wide before plunging some 43 metres into the Devil’s Cauldron below, can be experienced from two very different vantage points. A launch cruise along the Nile from the base of the falls brings you close to pods of hippos, basking crocodiles and elephants drinking at the water’s edge, with the roar of the falls building as the boat approaches. A short hike to the top of the falls, meanwhile, puts you directly beside the point where the river is compressed into that narrow gorge, and the raw power of the water at close range is something photographs rarely capture accurately. Most itineraries through Murchison Falls National Park combine both perspectives.
Uganda Safari Photos
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All in Africa Safaris arranges tours to Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania
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