30 Days Self Drive Uganda Photography Safari
This is a one life time experience for independent travellers, you can book your car now and self drive Uganda with an aim to photograph the most scenic parts of Uganda. This itinerary has covered all the destinations that you can best reach out on your own at leisure.
Day 1: Arrive at Entebbe international airport and check in to you favorable hotel (option Via Via, Boma Entebbe.
1: Mabamba for Shoebill Stock
Drive to Mabamba for a shoebill experience and later slope straight to Entebbe botanical gardens for other birding activities ( Acc Via Via or its equivalent.
Day 2: Kampala City Tour
Continues to experience Uganda on your own by going for Kampala city tour, visit the Kings palace, Uganda Museum, Nakasero Market or Owino market and then call it a day.
Day3: Chose to take a rest at you hotel in Entebbe as you go through your Photos or go for some fishing activities on lake Victoria (overnight at Via Via .
Day 4: Drive To L Mburo NP
Have an early morning brakefast and prepare for a long drive to Lake Mburo National park via the Masaka for equator experiments, Have lunch at you choice along the way (overnight at Leopard camp or Rwakobo Rock or Acadia cottages mburo.
Day 5: Morning Game Drive
Prepare for an early morning breakfast and the head straight for fascinating game drive in Lake for animals like Leopards, antelopes of different pieces( Elands, Impalas, Topis, Water backs, and many more, enjoy the zebra nation, giraffes, and buffaloes, don’t miss bird watching, for there are lots of birds in the park.
In the evening you will visit nomadic pastoralists (herds men, test the life of a cow boy, don’t forget you 2k mm lenses for nice shots of Ankole long honed cattle majestically walking in the cattle corridor to their kraal.
( Acc, Rwakobo Rock or Acadia cottages mburo or the equivalent)
Day 6: Birding and Boat Ride
Set off for early active birds with a beautiful sun rise in the middle of nowhere, set your lenses for nice shots, choose to go back lunch or continues the day with a an afternoon boat ride on lake mburo.( Rwakobo Rock or Acadia cottages mburo.
Day 7: It’s a thrilling activity today, you have been enjoying the Kombi bus for 5 year, and it’s now time to ride a horse and keep the memory for the rest of your life, prepare to go galloping in the wild, feel the challenge for more than 2 hours.
As you take a rest in the afternoon, arrange for the magical night game drive for nocturnal animals in the savannah.
Day 8: Have a full day rest today, chill at the lodge and possible for a massage or listen to Bruno Mars lazy song.( Rwakobo Rock or Acadia cottages mburo or the equivalent)
Day 9: Lake Bunyonyi: This is the day to transfer to the Switzerland of Africa, the region with magnificent rolling hill with tidy photogenic land scrapes along the way. Have you cameras reserved to this great epitome. Relax at, Bunyonyi overland, Bunyonyi Rock Resort, Arcadia Cottages, Bird nest, Bunyonyi eco Resort.
Day 10: On this day, you will wake up as usual to catch a glimpse on the beautiful sun rise with misty mountains, enjoy the beautiful views of the lake islands with calm waters, and enjoy the lake bliss at leisure. Take a banana boat to visit the islands on Uganda’s deepest lake. Bunyonyi overland, Bunyonyi Rock Resort, Arcadia Cottages, Bird nest, Bunyonyi eco Resort.
Day 11: Take a drive and visit the rare traditional black smith in bukola village no far away from Lake Bunyonyi, keep enjoying the scenery as photography is due to time and weather. Bunyonyi overland, Bunyonyi Rock Resort, Arcadia Cottages, Bird nest, Bunyonyi eco Resort.
Day 12: Visit the Black Smith
You can take a rest at the lodges to enjoy the views in peace, sort out your pictures, make edits and charge the butteries. Bunyonyi overland, Bunyonyi Rock Resort, Arcadia Cottages, Bird nest, Bunyonyi eco Resort.
Day 13: Drive to Kisoro
Start your day with a heavy breakfast, checkout from your lodge and the set off to the continuous highland with volcano over views of Kisoro, enjoy numerous stopovers for outdoor photography on the way. Acc: Lake Mulehe, Amajambere camp, Mucha lodge.
Day 14: One Day Volcanic Hike
Take a drive early in the morning to the slopes of the Virunga massif, check in to register for Muhabura climbing, alternative you can climb mt Sabinyo the peak of boundaries for 3 countries Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. You will descend and drive to your lodge. Lake Mulehe, Amajambere camp, Mucha lodge.
Day 15: Golden Monkeys
On this day you again hike in the same region to catch up with beautiful primates, golden monkeys, you arrive at the park head quarter and be briefed about the does and donts to the golden monkeys, you are given an hour once you come across them for pictures and interactions. You will get back to the lodge after the activity. Lake Mulehe, Amajambere camp, Mucha lodge.
Day 16: Visit the Batwa
In the same region, you will take a batwa walk experience in the morning, this one of the oldest Ugandan tribe that used to live the jungles bwindi and Mghinga, but they were evicted by the government in 1991 when the parks where declared UNESCO heritage sites. Acc , Lake Mulehe
Day 17: Community walk and Transfer to Bwindi
Take an active hike to the top of the world to view both lake Mutanda and Lake Mulehe at one viewing point, with clear visibility you can have a better focus of all the five volcanoes in a row. Muhabura, mt Gahinga, Sabinyo, Bisoke Karisimbi, for nice land scape photography. Overnight at Rushaga Gorilla Camp, Ichumbi, 4 Gorilla Lodge, Gorilla Valley.
Day 18: Gorilla trekking.
The beautiful moment is here for you today. Prepare for the long awaited jungle experience in Bwindi, have enough breakfast as the routine, and with a lot of vibes, drive to the park headquarters for a briefing from the ranger on duty.
What to know about gorilla trekking
Briefings about mountain gorillas normally start at 7:30 a.m., and by 8:30 a.m. you will either drive to the starting point or start trekking from the briefing center.
The group allocation of gorillas will always dictate where you start your trek.
There is a group of gorilla trackers who enter the forest very early in the morning before anybody else to trace the location of every gorilla family in Bwindi.
This tries to make the activity a little easier because trackers send information to the headquarter about every group’s sighting, in that case, some of the groups are closer and others may be further from the briefing point.
Every gorilla family or group is entitled to 8 visitors, a ranger guide, one policeman, and two armed security guards and these are not going on a battle front but to protect you from other wild animals that are not habituated like gorillas, like the forest elephant, Security will scare shoot in the air just to disperse the elephants.
Before grouping visitors, everyone is mandated to have a gorilla tracking permit reading the current date. Meet the clerk with your passport for registration.
The jungle is very active, and sometimes the trekking may take longer than we anticipated. It is recommended that you have a packed lunch and take a bite after viewing the gorillas.
By far, the conservation time allocated for visitors is 1 hour if you find them; otherwise, the estimated time of the entire trip is between 2 – 8 hours. This can be ridden by different factors; they are wild animals, so expect to walk on foot in the jungle to find them.
Food is a factor too; sometimes scarcity of food may lead gorillas to feed from far away, and this may cause a delay in finding them, especially in the dry season when some trees shade off their leaves.
Bwindi National Park is impenetrable, so it’s not a passable forest. There needs to be ample time to create the pathways to find the gorillas, hence the jungle memories.
Bwindi is geographically located in rough terrain mountains, so you are subjected to good tracking boots with gators and long pants, rain gear to protect you from rain because Bwindi is a tropical rain forest and it can rain unpredictably.
Hire potters or a gorilla helpers: It is advisable for visitors to hire a potter who is only $20 USD at the moment. He /she will help you with your language and cameras, and they will also give you a hand in case you get stuck during the gorilla trek.
At the viewing point for gentle giants, you are advised to stay calm and silent, turn off the flash of our cameras so as not to disturb the gentle giants in their natural habitat. Otherwise, feel the thrill by taking your dream gorilla photos.
Interact with the gorilla peacefully, watch the mothers nurse their young ones like humans do, the juveniles will give you a joyous day because they do swing in the branches like circus in the jungle.
After gorilla trekking, you will head back or have a place to sit and interact, and you will also receive gorilla certificates from your ranger guide as conservation policy. You will be branded the gorilla ambassador when you go back home. Overnight at Rushaga Gorilla Camp, Ichumbi, 4 Gorilla Lodge, Gorilla Valley.
Day 19: Nature walk and Birding
On this day still in Bwindi impenetrable National park, you will take a nature walk and also get ready for rare forest, have your lenses ready for nice photography.
Overnight at Rushaga Gorilla Camp, Ichumbi, 4 Gorilla Lodge, Gorilla Valley.
Day 20: Drive to Buhoma, the Southern section of Bwindi NP and also the head quarter of the park. Rest at Buhoma Camp, Buhoma haven, Ride for a woman,
Day 21: Gorilla Trekking
Second Gorilla trekking and experience the life of Batwa community in Bwindi under BDP ( Batwa Development Project) Rest at Buhoma Camp, Buhoma haven, Ride for a woman.
Day 22: It’s a Full Day rest today or still you take free walks, visit communities around.
Day 23: Transfer to Ishasha for tree climbing Lions.
Breakfast, thereafter, go enjoy Ishasha Guided Game drive for 2-3 hours. The Ishasha sector is in the southern side of Queen Elizabeth and you will be exposed to diversity of species but most importantly, see the tree climbing lions, birds and other mammal species. Overnight at Ishasha jungle lodge, Enjojo Lodge.
Day 24: Sundowner in Paradise.
Enjoy an evening game drive with a sundowner in the bush; there are beautiful savanna landscapes, with luck you can view rare mammals like Leopards, Hynas coming out of their dens.
Day 25: Drive to Queen Elizabeth
Check out of your lodge and set off to the north of the park, the drive takes to an approximate of 2 hours but it may exceed due to some epic stopovers. Acc at Twin Lakes lodge, Enganzi Lodge, Bush Lodge.
Day 26: Morning Game drive and boat Ride on the channel.
Wake early in the morning breakfast and the head direct to KAsenyi Plains for a complete circuit game drive with numerous mammals and early morning risers on a glimpse for nice photography.
Traverse for a boat ride along the Kazinga Channel docking at Mweya peninsula in the afternoon for beautiful for both flora and fauna respectively.
Acc at Twin Lakes lodge, Enganzi Lodge, Bush Lodge.
27: Drive to Rwenzori National Park.
At leisure, start your day drive to reach Rubona very close to rwenzori mountains, you can have chances of sharing the dancing and Bakonjo cultural experience also visit the coffee farmers in Ruboni community. Acc Rubona Camp, RWenzori Base Camp
28: Climbing Rwenzori Mountain
It is better to start by 8.30am but can leave not later than 10:00am. After meeting your guides and briefing,
you will walk for 2.2km to the Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers post at 1,727 meters.
Here, the rangers brief you on the day’s activities and rules of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park.
Today’s walk of about 8.6km is expected to take between 5 to 6 hours, starting at the height of 1,667 meters, and then climbing to 3,171 meters.
The first few kilometres climb steadily crossing several small streams
and rivers then you will start climbing the ridge. As you climb, the trees become taller and straighter.
At this point it is common to see and hear many types of primates, most especially troupes of chimpanzees echoing around the valleys. Samalira Camp
Day 29: Second day of Mt climbing.
After a hearty breakfast you will commence today’s walking at about 8:15am. You will initially climb steadily then cross a small stream,where the climb becomes steep for about 200 metres up a narrow moss covered ridge.
The thick moss covering the ground and rocks under thegiant heather trees is spectacular, so we ask you to help preserve this pristine environment by keeping to the pathway.
After a relatively short climb the trail becomes less steep as we reach/‘Chavumba’/ which means heaven, at 3,316m.
You will then walk down to a small valley where you may see Giant lobelias (‘/lobelia gibberoa/‘).
From here, you will continue climbing passing through trees covered with deep green moss and a host of plants which thrive in the ever misty environment at 3,515 metres. Take a left turn on a path leading to trail to Kalalama.
At Kalalama Camp you will prepare your evening meals while overlooking Kasese and Lake George from a different perspective.
To the south is the rugged cliff faces of Rwatamaguta and Karasimbi rising far above and creating the wonder of the diversity of the Rwenzori Mountains
Day 30: Descend from the mountain
On the fourth day you will slowly descend down through the bamboo forests. Here, the bamboo zone is much wetter than the climb up to Samalira Camp because the trail is on the southern windward side of the mountain that gets much more rain.
When you reach the bottom of the ridge you will cross a rather large fast flowing stem on Musenge rock shelter.
Here, you will have lunch and a short break before you walk your final 6km through thick mountain montane forest to the rangers post.
On reaching the final point, you will be debriefed and the emback on your drive or rest at the camp.
Not to miss: A climber should be capable to walk for 8 km a days in the muddy trails.
Every climber should pack their own gear.
Potters only curry luggage of 8kg.
A gorilla Permit costs $800 USD per person
Park entrance is $40 per day
Car Hire ( Customised Land Cruiser TX) is $65 USD for long term rental.