Bwindi Gorilla Trekking and Birding Safari

On this day, your 7 days Bwindi Gorilla trekking and birding safari will begin with a pickup from your hotel in Entebbe, Kampala, or at Entebbe International Airport, travel southwest of Uganda, stopping along the way at the Kayabwe Equator Point for the stunning water experiment showing the forces of movement where the two hemispheres divide them selves. Later on, proceed with your tour across the rolling savannah grasslands of the Ankole Villages and nearby farms with their long-horned cattle. Another stopover will be at the Igongo Cultural Centre for lunch in Mbarara. After that, drive to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and check into your booked lodge at Buhoma Haven Lodge or Ride for a woman where you will have dinner and an overnight stay.

Accommodation:

Meal Plan: Lunch/Dinner

After your breakfast in the morning with your packed lunch, head to the park information offices for a briefing on the safety precautions and guidelines for gorilla trekking. Afterwards, you can begin your guided gorilla trekking experience into the forest looking for mountain gorillas in their natural environment. Depending on where the gorilla family is located, the process could take 2 to 7 hours under the supervision of a tour ranger guide.

Other wildlife species that may be seen include Duikers, Forest Elephants, L’Hoest, Black and White Colobus Monkeys, Bush Pigs, and Forest Hogs. It is a laborious but exciting and thrilling experience. Upon meeting your mountain gorilla family, you will spend an hour observing as you learn their behaviours and take photos in order not to miss these priceless moments.

Once you get back to the park, pick up your tracking certificates. Take your packed lunch and head back to your lodge to relax. Later in the evening, expect to go on some nature walks around the lodge and neighbouring farms for birdwatching in search for a variety of interesting bird species, such the Strange Sunbird, Regal Sunbird, White-bellied Robin-chat, Stripe-breasted Tit, and Rwenzori Batis. Return to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation:

Meal Plan: Lunch/Dinner

Take your early morning breakfast with packed lunch, begin your birdwatching with the waterfall trail in search for several endemic species of the Albertine Rift, such as Red-throated Alethe, Neumann’s Warbler, Yellow-spotted Barbet, Dwarf Honeyguide, Cassin’s Hawk-eagle, Cabanis’s, Shelley’s and Slender-billed Greenbuls, African Dusky, Dusky-blue and Sooty Flycatchers, White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher, Grey-throated Tit-flycatcher, Abyssinian (Kivu) and Oberländer’s Ground-thrushes, Albertine and Willard’s Sooty Boubous, and Blue-headed and Purple-breasted Sunbirds.

The following birds are possible sightings during the day: Black-throated and Grey Apalis, African and Black-and-White Shrike-flycatchers, Black-faced Rufous-warbler, African Crowned Eagle, Brown-throated Wattle-eye, Red-chested Owlet, Speckled, Yellow-rumped, and Yellow-throated Tinkerbirds, and Black-tailed, Dusky, and Olive Long-tailed Cuckoos, Narrow-tailed, Slender-billed and Stuhlmann’s Starlings, Lesser and Willcocks’s Honeyguides, Black-tailed Orioles, Oriole Finch, African and White-tailed Blue-flycatchers, Petit’s Cuckooshrike, Northern Double-collared, Blue-throated Brown and Bronze Sunbirds among others. Later, you will be transferred back to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation:

Meal Plan: Lunch/Dinner

After your early morning breakfast, we shall do our birdwatching via “neck” to Ruhija which is one of the top birding spots in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. We anticipate seeing more Albertine Rift endemics, such as Grauer’s Swamp-warbler, Rwenzori Batis, Doherty’s and Lagden’s Bushshrikes, Regal Sunbird, Rufous Flycatcher-thrush, Stripe-breasted Tit, Sharpe’s Starling, White-starred Robin, African Black Duck, Olive-breasted Greenbul, Black and Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters, the Many-colored Bushshrike, Olive-green Camaroptera, Grey-chinned and Little Green Sunbirds, Jameson’s Antpecker and Handsome Spurfowl (Francolin), and Green and White-browed Crombecs.

We will head to Ruhija, but first, we will make a diversion along the ‘Kyogo’ trail in search of the Dusky Twinspot, which is found in the cultivations where it feeds from. Other bird species to see in the late afternoon include Regal Sunbird, Dusky Crimsonwing, and many others. Retire and relax for dinner and overnight at Gorilla Mist Camp or Bakiga Lodge.

Accommodation:

Meal Plan:

Have an early morning breakfast and embark on Mubwindi swamp route in search of the rare and endemic Red-faced Woodland Warbler, Red-throated Alethe, Strange Weaver, and the Grauer’s Broadbill, which is endemic to the Albertine Rift. This marsh is what gave Bwindi Impenetrable National Park its name. Besides the Albertine Rift endemics such as the Handsome Spurfowl, Archers Robin-chat, Grauer’s Warbler, and Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher, expect to see other species during the forest walk.

Other possible species include the Narina Trogon, African Thrush, Black Crake, African Rail, White-headed Woodhoopoe, Northern Puffback, Carruthers’s Cisticola, African Thrush, African Olive (Rameron) Pigeon, Olive Woodpecker, and White-bellied Crested-flycatcher, among others.  After, return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation:

Meal Plan: Lunch/Dinner

After your breakfast, we will search for the extremely specialised Bamboo Warbler in the early morning hours by birding the main road, particularly the bamboo zone. There will be lots of chances during our hunt to spot species that we might have missed previously, and then we’ll head back to the lodge for a nice meal and some rest.

We’re going to go back out later in the day to search for Montane (Rwenzori) Nightjar when dusk approaches. Additionally, we can come across some nocturnal creatures during the night trip, such as Galagos or Bush Babies and Serval cats. After this birding excursion, you will be transferred back to your lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

Accommodation:

Meal Plan: Lunch/Dinner

Get up early and prepare your self, have your travel bags packed into your safari vehicle and embark on an early birding along the forest edges of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to mark your 8 days Bwindi gorilla trekking and birding safari. You will have lunch at Igongo Cultural Centre and another stopover at Kayabwe Equator landmark for refreshment, and later continue with your journey to Entebbe International Airport.

Meal Plan: Lunch/Dinner

Includes:

• All airport transfers
• All ground transportation
• 1 gorilla permit per person
• Car fuel for 8 days
• Birding fee
• Drinking water for 8 days
• All accommodation and meal plans for the 8 days

Excludes:

• Travel Insurance
• Travel Ticket
• Visa
• Extra activities and meals
• Personal items like laundry, phone bills, gifts, souvenirs etc…