Go To Africa Safaris
Go to Africa Safaris presents a 6-day journey built around three of Uganda’s most rewarding parks. You track mountain gorillas through the forest of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. You scan the fig trees of Queen Elizabeth National Park for its famous tree-climbing lions. You watch zebras and giraffes move across the open grassland of Lake Mburo National Park. And you drift along the Kazinga Channel past hundreds of resting hippos. Travelers arriving in Uganda for the first time and hoping to see the country’s full range of wildlife tend to find this itinerary the best fit.
Our route was designed to move you through forest, savanna, and wetland habitat in a single trip, putting primates, big cats, elephants, buffalo, and antelope all within reach over six days. Few itineraries pack in this much variety.
For official travel information about Uganda, visit the Uganda Tourism Board website.
This safari runs six days and five nights, starting and ending in Kampala.
The pace alternates between travel days and activity days, giving each park room to show what makes it distinct. By the end of the week you’ll have covered Uganda’s highlights without feeling rushed.
Included in this package: one gorilla trekking permit, two game drives, and one boat cruise.
For more on this park, see our Queen Elizabeth destination guide.
Your guide collects you from your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe in the morning, and you set off west toward Lake Mburo National Park, roughly a four-hour drive. Along the way you’ll pause at the Equator for photos and a short demonstration.
You reach your lodge near the park by early afternoon. After lunch, an afternoon game drive introduces you to Lake Mburo’s zebras, impalas, elands, and giraffes, along with warthogs, waterbucks, and Cape buffalo. Compact but scenic, the park mixes acacia woodland with open savanna.
Dinner and overnight at your lodge.
Read more about Lake Mburo National Park before you go.
After breakfast you head south toward Bwindi, a drive of about five hours through rolling hills, tea plantations, and small villages, with a lunch stop along the way.
You arrive near Bwindi in the late afternoon. Check in, settle into your lodge, and enjoy dinner. Your guide walks you through the plan for tomorrow’s gorilla trek so you can pack your daypack ahead of the early start.
Lodge options near the park headquarters span luxury, mid-range, and budget categories.
This is the centerpiece of the trip. After an early breakfast, you drive to park headquarters for registration and briefing by 7:00 AM. You’re assigned to a gorilla family that matches your fitness level, then your ranger-led group drives to the trailhead.
The hike into the forest can take anywhere from thirty minutes to four hours, depending on where the gorillas are that day. Once you find them, you get a full hour in their company, watching them feed, play, groom, and rest while the silverback keeps a calm eye on the group. The hour goes fast.
Afterward, you trek back to the trailhead and your driver returns you to the lodge for rest and dinner. You’ll receive a certificate marking the trek.
See our packing guide to prepare for the trek.
For health and safety advice while traveling, visit the WHO Africa travel health page.
After breakfast, you drive north to Queen Elizabeth National Park, about four hours away. The route passes through the Ishasha sector, where you’ll keep an eye on the fig trees, this is prime territory for tree-climbing lions.
You arrive near the park in the early afternoon, with time after lunch to rest or explore the lodge grounds. A short late-afternoon game drive near the lodge turns up elephants, buffalo, and antelope.
Dinner and overnight at your lodge.
A full day of wildlife viewing starts early with a morning game drive across the Kasenyi Plains, the park’s best area for lions, along with elephants, buffalo, Uganda kob, and warthogs. Sunrise over the savanna here is worth the early wake-up.
Back at the lodge for breakfast and a rest, before an early-afternoon boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel, often the highlight of Queen Elizabeth. Expect hundreds of hippos, Nile crocodiles, and elephants and buffalo along the banks, plus outstanding birdlife: African fish eagles, kingfishers, herons, and storks.
Dinner and overnight at your lodge.
Learn more about bird watching in Uganda’s parks.
After breakfast, your guide drives you back to Kampala or Entebbe, arriving in the afternoon. You’ll be dropped at your hotel or the airport for your onward flight.
If time allows, you can stop at the Mpigi drum makers for a short cultural visit — your guide is happy to accommodate reasonable requests along the way.
We recommend arranging comprehensive travel insurance before you travel.
Pricing depends on your choice of accommodation and group size. Solo travelers pay a higher per-person rate, while groups of two to six benefit from lower per-person pricing. Get in touch for a custom quote tailored to your dates and preferences.
Your gorilla permit is included in the price, billed at the official permit rate with no markup added.
To book, we’ll need your full name as it appears on your passport, your passport number, your nationality, and your preferred travel dates. A deposit secures your gorilla permit.
Prefer chimpanzees to savanna wildlife? See our primate-focused package instead.
This itinerary runs year-round. The dry seasons, June through September and December through February, offer the easiest trekking conditions and the strongest game viewing, as wildlife concentrates around remaining water sources.
Traveling in the wet season brings lower prices, greener scenery, and fewer crowds, though some roads can turn muddy.
See our full guide to the best time to visit.
This itinerary suits first-time visitors who want it all, gorillas, lions, elephants, hippos, zebras, and more, across Uganda’s three most varied parks in one well-organized trip.
Go to Africa Safaris is a Uganda-based operator with experienced local guides. We manage the logistics so you can stay focused on the wildlife in front of you.
Looking for something bigger? See our extended northern circuit.
Ready to Book Your Uganda Safari?
Six days. Gorillas in the forest, lions on the savanna, hippos in the water, the complete Uganda experience.
