14-Days Uganda Safari – Northern Circuit
Overview
The 14-Days Uganda Safari – Northern Circuit is an extraordinary adventure through Uganda’s most remote and wildlife-rich destinations. This safari explores Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Murchison Falls National Park, Kidepo Valley National Park, Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, Sipi Falls, and Jinja. It is designed for travelers seeking authentic wilderness experiences, spectacular landscapes, cultural encounters, and outstanding wildlife viewing.
The journey offers rhino tracking, game drives in two of Uganda’s finest national parks, boat cruises on the Nile, visits to the source of the Nile, cultural experiences with the Karamojong people, hiking around Sipi Falls, and opportunities to spot some of Africa’s most iconic wildlife including lions, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, buffaloes, zebras, and numerous bird species.
Safari Highlights
- Chimpanzee trekking
- Canopy walks
- Nature walks
- Kigali city tour
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Entebbe and Transfer to Hotel
Upon arrival at Entebbe International Airport, you will be welcomed by your guide and transferred to your hotel for relaxation and safari briefing.
Accommodation: ViaVia Entebbe / 2 Friends Beach Hotel / Airport Guesthouse Entebbe
Meal Plan: Dinner
Day 2: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park via Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
After breakfast, depart for Murchison Falls National Park. Stop at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for a guided rhino tracking experience before continuing to the park.
Visit the top of Murchison Falls and witness the Nile River squeezing through a narrow gorge before plunging into the river below.
Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge / Fort Murchison / Murchison River Lodge / Hornbill Bush Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 3: Morning Game Drive and Nile Boat Cruise
Enjoy an early morning game drive on the northern plains where you may encounter lions, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, leopards, hartebeests, and Uganda kobs.
In the afternoon, enjoy a boat cruise to the base of Murchison Falls.
Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge / Fort Murchison / Murchison River Lodge / Hornbill Bush Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 4: Delta Boat Safari and Top of the Falls Visit
After breakfast, take a boat excursion towards the Nile Delta, an excellent area for birdwatching and spotting the elusive shoebill stork.
Spend the afternoon exploring more of the park and enjoying wildlife viewing opportunities.
Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge / Fort Murchison / Murchison River Lodge / Hornbill Bush Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 5: Transfer to Kidepo Valley National Park
After breakfast, depart Murchison Falls and travel through northern Uganda towards Kidepo Valley National Park.
Arrive in the evening and check into your lodge overlooking the park’s spectacular wilderness.
Accommodation: Kidepo Savannah Lodge / Zebra Safari Lodge / Kidepo Wilderness Lodge / Adere Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 6: Full Day Game Drive in Kidepo Valley National Park
Spend the day exploring the Narus Valley and other wildlife-rich areas of Kidepo.
Look out for lions, cheetahs, elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, elands, and numerous bird species.
Accommodation: Kidepo Savannah Lodge / Zebra Safari Lodge / Kidepo Wilderness Lodge / Adere Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 7: Kidepo Valley Exploration and Karamojong Cultural Visit
Enjoy another wildlife safari before visiting a traditional Karamojong community to learn about their culture, traditions, dances, and way of life.
Accommodation: Kidepo Savannah Lodge / Zebra Safari Lodge / Kidepo Wilderness Lodge / Adere Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 8: Morning Game Drive and Transfer to Moroto
After a final game drive in Kidepo, travel south through the dramatic landscapes of Karamoja to Moroto.
Enjoy stunning views of mountains, plains, and traditional settlements along the way.
Accommodation: Kara-Tunga Safari Camp / Mount Moroto Hotel / Hotel Leslona
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 9: Explore Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve
Spend the day exploring Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, one of Uganda’s largest protected areas.
Look out for zebras, antelopes, ostriches, cheetahs, and various bird species while enjoying the reserve’s untouched wilderness.
Accommodation: Kara-Tunga Safari Camp / Mount Moroto Hotel / Hotel Leslona
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 10: Transfer to Sipi Falls
After breakfast, drive to Sipi Falls on the foothills of Mount Elgon.
Arrive in the afternoon and enjoy magnificent views of waterfalls, valleys, and surrounding coffee plantations.
Accommodation: Sipi Heritage Lodge / Rafiki Lodge Sipi / Sipi Valley Resort / Lacam Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 11: Sipi Falls Hiking and Coffee Experience
Enjoy a guided hike to the three waterfalls of Sipi before participating in a local coffee experience where you learn how Arabica coffee is grown and processed.
Accommodation: Sipi Heritage Lodge / Rafiki Lodge Sipi / Sipi Valley Resort / Lacam Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 12: Transfer to Jinja
After breakfast, drive to Jinja, Uganda’s adventure capital.
Arrive in the afternoon and relax along the Nile River.
Accommodation: 2 Friends Jinja / Nile Village Hotel & Spa / Jinja Nile Resort / The Mansion Hotel
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 13: Source of the Nile Tour and Jinja Excursions
Visit the Source of the Nile and enjoy a boat ride to the point where the Nile begins its long journey through Africa.
Spend the remainder of the day exploring Jinja and its surrounding attractions.
Accommodation: 2 Friends Jinja / Nile Village Hotel & Spa / Jinja Nile Resort / The Mansion Hotel
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 14: Return to Entebbe or Kampala
After breakfast, depart Jinja and drive back to Entebbe or Kampala.
Depending on your flight schedule, transfer to Entebbe International Airport or your hotel.
Accommodation: No Overnight Accommodation
Meal Plan: Breakfast and Lunch
Optional Activities
Murchison Falls National Park
- Hot Air Balloon Safari
- Sport Fishing
- Night Game Drive
- Bird Watching Safari
- Nature Walk
Kidepo Valley National Park
- Guided Nature Walk
- Mount Morungole Hike
- Ik Community Visit
- Bird Watching Safari
- Bush Breakfast Experience
Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve
- Bird Watching Safari
- Guided Nature Walk
- Photography Excursion
- Community Cultural Visit
Sipi Falls
- Abseiling
- Mountain Biking
- Community Walk
- Bird Watching
- Mount Elgon Trekking
Jinja
- White Water Rafting
- Kayaking
- Bungee Jumping
- Quad Biking
- Horseback Riding
- Sunset Nile Cruise
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
Focusing on Uganda’s Northern Parks
This fourteen-day itinerary emphasizes Uganda’s northern circuit, typically built around Murchison Falls National Park and, on many versions of this route, the remote Kidepo Valley National Park, alongside Bwindi gorilla trekking and other southwestern highlights, giving a genuinely wide-ranging picture of Uganda’s geography.
Because Kidepo sits considerably further north than Uganda’s more commonly visited parks, this itinerary typically uses a mix of road transfers and short domestic flights to keep overall travel time manageable across such a geographically spread route.
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, while Ugandan shillings are 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 permits and lodge availability are limited, particularly during the June to September and December to February peak seasons, we recommend booking this itinerary well in advance given its length and the number of destinations involved.
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 longer road transfers this itinerary involves.
Gorilla Permits and Booking
Only a limited number of gorilla trekking permits are issued for Bwindi each day, one per visitor per habituated family, which keeps groups small and disturbance to the gorillas to a minimum — a maximum of eight visitors are allowed with each family per day. Because demand regularly outstrips supply during the peak dry seasons, permits are best secured well in advance of travel; we handle the full booking process through the Uganda Wildlife Authority as part of your itinerary so you arrive with everything confirmed. Each permit covers one hour with the gorillas once they are located, though the trek itself to reach them is unregulated in length. Visitors under fifteen years of age and anyone showing symptoms of a communicable illness are not permitted to trek, a rule designed to protect the gorillas, which share close to 98% of human DNA and are highly susceptible to human respiratory infections.
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.
Kidepo Valley’s Remote Wilderness
Kidepo Valley National Park sits in Uganda’s remote northeastern corner bordering South Sudan and Kenya, and its isolation is precisely what makes it special — visitor numbers remain low year-round, so game drives across the park’s wide-open Narus and Kidepo valleys often feel like private safaris. The park supports wildlife found nowhere else in Uganda, including cheetah, bat-eared fox and greater and lesser kudu, alongside more classic sightings of lion, elephant and buffalo. Because of the distance from Kampala, most itineraries reach Kidepo by light aircraft, which also affords sweeping views over the Karamoja region’s dramatic, rugged landscape on the way in.
Source of the Nile and White-Water Rafting
Jinja marks the point where the Nile River begins its roughly 6,650-kilometre journey north to the Mediterranean, flowing out of Lake Victoria over what was once Ripon Falls before the construction of the Nalubaale Dam altered the immediate landscape. The town has become East Africa’s adventure hub, built around the river’s grade III to V rapids, which draw white-water rafters from around the world for full- or half-day descents with experienced safety kayakers accompanying every raft. Beyond rafting, gentler ways to experience the river include stand-up paddleboarding, a sunset boat cruise to the actual source point, or simply a quad-biking excursion through the surrounding sugarcane and village landscape.
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All in Africa Safaris arranges tours to Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania
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