Classic Uganda: A Primate Paradise

Uganda’s largest national park, a scenic wonderland of rolling palm-studded grass lands, acacia woodland, papyrus swamp, and the meandering Victoria Nile, is home to some of the most impressive concentrations of animals in all of Uganda. We have two full days to enjoy the magnificent scenery and bountiful wildlife of this unique area. Meals and overnights at Paraa Safari Lodge.

Highlights of our stay are game viewing cruises on the Nile. An upriver foray brings us to the foot of Murchison Falls. This memorable ten-mile journey delivers us to one of Africa’s most powerful and dramatic waterfalls. At this point, the mighty Victoria Nile is squeezed through a mere 15-foot-wide chasm and released over a sheer cliff to cascade nearly 150 feet to the rocks below, providing wonderful photographic opportunities. En route, keep binoculars and cameras at the ready for the large herds of hippopotamus and enormous Nile crocodiles, with Cape buffalos, waterbucks, and elephants in close attendance. Birders will thrill to the species that live in this region: Goliath herons, rock pratincoles, red-throated bee-eaters, and possibly even the shoebill—surely one of the world’s strangest birds.

Chimpanzees are abundant here. Typically, they live in large communities and are located by their characteristic pant-hooting calls as they execute their nomadic treks along forest pathways and forage for fruit in the canopy above. Although they feed primarily on figs and other fruits, they also hunt and eat other forest animals. At these times, the chimpanzees use their extraordinary social and communication skills to band together and rush through the forest to capture ground dwellers such as bushpigs and duikers.

Although chimpanzees are our main focus, we will also spend time viewing the other wildlife species which inhabit this diverse forest reserve. Those commonly encountered include grey-cheeked mangabeys, red-tailed and vervet monkeys, and both red and black-and-white colobus monkeys. The forest is also home to waterbucks, civets, buffalos, genets and, though rarely seen, Uganda’s largest population of forest elephants. We return to Ndali Lodge for dinner and overnight.

After lunch we drive to the permanent luxury-tented Gorilla Forest Camp, set on the edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a World Heritage Site and one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet. In the evening attend a briefing on gorilla-watching etiquette followed by dinner and overnight.

Other activities at Bwindi include forest trekking for the lesser primates, colobus, red-tailed, and L’Hoest’s monkeys. We also look for the many bird species that make this montane forest their home. Dinners and overnights at the Gorilla Forest Camp.