The best of both worlds: chimpanzees, savannah and mountain gorillas in Uganda, then a short flight to Kenya for three nights among the big cats and great herds of the Masai Mara.
This ten-day safari pairs Uganda’s primates with Kenya’s most famous savannah reserve. In Uganda you track chimpanzees in Kibale, cruise the Kazinga Channel, pass through Ishasha and trek mountain gorillas in Bwindi. Then a short flight takes you to Nairobi and on to the Masai Mara for three nights of big cats and, from July to October, the Great Migration.
Comfortable lodges in Uganda, a camp in the Masai Mara and a hotel in Nairobi for your last night.
After trekking in Bwindi, a domestic flight from Kihihi takes you back to Entebbe, and a one-hour regional flight connects Entebbe with Nairobi. From Nairobi’s Wilson Airport, light aircraft fly to the Masai Mara in about 45 minutes. The East Africa Tourist Visa covers both countries with multiple entries.
Travellers who want gorillas and big cats on one trip, first-time visitors to East Africa, and photographers who want both forest primates and classic savannah.
Your driver-guide collects you from Entebbe or Kampala in the morning and heads west on the Mubende road through farmland, tea estates and small trading towns. Lunch is taken on the way, and by mid-afternoon you reach Fort Portal, set against the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains. A short drive brings you to your lodge on the edge of Kibale Forest, where black-and-white colobus often feed in the trees around the grounds.
In the afternoon, walk the boardwalk and trails of the community-run Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary with a local guide. It is one of the best places in Uganda to see the great blue turaco, and you may also find red colobus, L’Hoest’s monkeys and a wealth of swamp birds. Fees support the local community’s schools and health projects.
Arrive at the Kanyanchu visitor centre for the 8:00am briefing, then set off into the forest in a group of up to eight with a Uganda Wildlife Authority ranger. Kibale’s habituated chimpanzees are usually found within one to three hours, often calling loudly or feeding in fig trees. You spend one hour with them, watching grooming, squabbles and youngsters at play, while red colobus and grey-cheeked mangabeys move through the canopy around you.
In the afternoon, drive south to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Take a morning cruise on the Kazinga Channel among hippos and elephants.
Drive south through the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, where lions often rest in the branches of large fig trees. Your guide checks their favourite trees as you look for topi, buffalo and elephants on the open plains, then you continue through the hills to Bwindi.
After an early breakfast you report to the park office for the 7:30–8:00am briefing, where Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers explain the rules and assign each visitor to a gorilla family; no more than eight people visit a family each day.
You then follow your ranger guide into the forest while trackers radio the family’s position. Treks take anywhere from one to six hours over steep, muddy ground. When you reach the gorillas you leave bags and sticks with the porters, put on a face mask and spend one hour watching them feed, groom and play from at least 10 metres away, before walking back out and receiving your trekking certificate.
Fly from Kihihi back to Entebbe, about 1.5–2 hours. Spend the afternoon relaxing by Lake Victoria, visiting the Entebbe Botanical Gardens for turacos and colobus monkeys, or the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, where rescued animals, including a shoebill, can be seen up close.
Fly from Entebbe to Nairobi, about an hour, and connect at Wilson Airport to a light aircraft to the Masai Mara, arriving in time for an afternoon game drive.
Spend a full day exploring the reserve with a picnic lunch. Leave at sunrise, when lions and cheetahs are most active, and follow your guide’s knowledge of the prides and their territories across the open plains. Look for elephants and buffalo along the rivers, topi standing sentry on termite mounds, and leopards resting in the riverine forest. In migration season (usually July to October) you head for the Mara River, where great herds of wildebeest and zebra gather and, if you are patient, plunge across the crocodile-filled water. Return to camp at sunset.
Start with an optional sunrise balloon flight, or a dawn game drive following the lions and cheetahs. Spend the afternoon on another drive or visiting a Maasai village.
Take a final early game drive, then fly back to Nairobi’s Wilson Airport, about 45 minutes. In the afternoon, visit the Giraffe Centre to feed endangered Rothschild’s giraffes and the Karen Blixen Museum, the farmhouse of the Out of Africa author, before an evening at your hotel.
Transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your flight home.
Lodges shown match the quoted price. Ask us about mid-range and luxury upgrades.
By a one-hour flight from Entebbe to Nairobi, then a 45-minute light aircraft to the Masai Mara.
The East Africa Tourist Visa (US$100) covers Uganda and Kenya with multiple entries.
Uganda offers primates and forests; the Mara offers classic savannah with big cats and, in season, the migration. Together they make a complete East African safari.
July to October for the migration in the Mara and dry trekking in Uganda.
Yes, from Entebbe to Kihihi, which shortens the Uganda section.
Yes. Add a night in Bwindi and a second permit; it is a rewarding way to see a different family.
Adventure 6 daysAfrica’s second-highest mountain, with far fewer people than Kilimanjaro: up through the Mackinder Valley to the foot of the jagged peaks, sunrise on Point Lenana, and down the dramatic lakes and gorges of the Chogoria side.
Wildlife 5 daysRhinos on the Laikipia plateau, then the dry, beautiful north where reticulated giraffes, Grevy’s zebras and gerenuks gather along a palm-lined river: Kenya beyond the Mara, in five days.
Wildlife 7 daysTwo of Uganda’s greatest wildernesses in one journey: the thundering Nile at Murchison Falls, then the wide, wild plains of Kidepo Valley in the far north-east.
Change the dates, add a night, upgrade a lodge or combine it with Rwanda or Kenya. Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll send a revised plan and price.
