Book this 4 Days Chimpanzee Trekking and Bird Watching in Uganda for a remarkable experience of your Uganda discoveries. The major destinations for this tour are Kibale forest and Semuliki national parks. Bird watching in Semuliki is extremely interesting as you meet a number of bird species out of about 440 bird species in this area. Semuliki National Park, the birder’s haven that features wondrous attractions including the Sempaya hot springs and a lot more of wildlife.A combination of a bird watching experience and trekking for chimps in Kibale forest national park is delightful for adventure. Kibale has over 1,000 chimps and it gives the best treat for watching chimps in their natural homeland. Enjoy the beautiful views of the Rwenzori Mountains in the region while on the safari.
Safari highlights
- Day 1: Transfer from Kampala to Semuliki National Park
- Day 2: Game drive, transfer to Kibale National Park
- Day 3: Chimp trekking and community walk
- Day 4: Return to Kampala
Detailed itinerary
Day 1:Transfer from Kampala to Semuliki
Starting the trip in Kampala or Entebbe airport, drive westwards on a well paved road that takes you through the busy towns closest to Kampala. The journey is quite long but very entertaining with numerous scenic landscapes throughout the trip along Mityana-Kyenjojo until you arrive at Fort Portal town, a major tourism city with great attractions like the Amabere Ga Nyina Mwiru caves. These caves have interesting traditional folk tales attached to them by the Batooro. The site guide at the caves perfectly narrates these stories and you can spare a few minutes and pass by.
Fort Portal town is a beautiful town with beautiful, soft hearted and kind people.From Fort Portal to SemulikiPark, it takes about one hour and a half. You may spend the night in Fort Portal or proceed to Semuliki for the overnight.
Meal Plan: lunch and dinner
Day 2: Birding and visit to the Sempaya Hot Springs
Since this place is normally cold in the morning, make sure to carry a sweater and be prepared for such mornings that start early. Enjoy your breakfast and head out for bird watching in the park. While moving around this birder’s haven, some of the birds that you could spot are the red-bille hornbill, African piculet, yellow- throated cuckoo, red-billed helmet shrike, red-eyed puff, black-wattled hornbill and black-dwarf hornbill among others. Other animals seen include monkeys, Uganda kobs and other game.
Have a lunch break and later on hit the trails that lead to the Sempaya hot springs. There are two hot springs; the male hot spring and female hot spring with hotter water of up to 106o c.the hot springs also have traditional folks told by the site guides. Transfer to Kibale national park in the evening.
Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight at Chimpanzee nest lodge
Day 3: Chimpanzee trekking and community walk
Enjoy an early morning breakfast at your lodge and then transfer to Kanyanchu Visitor Information Centre for briefing about the rules and regulations of the park and chimp trekking. The guide presents your permit before you enter the forest to search for the chimps. In case there are other trekkers at the center, you converge to make a group of only 8 people and move in company of a ranger guide who takes you through the whole adventure.Trekking for chimps in Kibale is almost a guarantee to meet these amazing apes. Hike through the designated trails to locations where they are expected to be roaming. Meet them and enjoy what they have to show for the day. On some days, they are very playful, ready to show all the swinging tactics and sometimes very calm. You have an hour to watch how these primates that share 98% DNA with humans behave. Take as much pictures as the camera can accommodate for great memories of this moment.
When it’s time to leave the forest, you transfer back to the visitor information center and proceed to your lodge. Relax, later on have lunch and head out for a walk in Bigodi swamp for yet another birding experience. The swamp is near Kibale Forest National Park and supports over 200 bird species including Papyrus gonolek, the African pitta, Western nictor and Blue breasted kingfisher among others. It’s also home to a variety of primates. You can also opt to have a village walk to encounter the local people doing their daily chores and see some of the projects that have developed due to tourism activities in the park and Bigodi swamp.
Return to the lodge for the overnight.
Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight at Chimpanzee Nest lodge
Day 4: Return to Kampala
The final day of the 4-day safari has few activities and allows us to have enough rest upto sunrise. After breakfast, we check out and have an exploration of the tea plantationsatMpangatea estate. Drive through more tea plantations on the highway from Fort Portal to Kampala. 5 hours on the roadback to the capital, Entebbe international airport or the preferred hotel.
Meal plan: breakfast and lunch
End of the trip.
The package includes;
- Transfer from and back to the starting point agreed up on
- Professional safari guide
- Safari van
- Bottled water
- Park entrance fees
- Permits for activities indicated on the package
- Accommodation per itinerary
- Meals
The package excludes;
- Tips
- Extra meals and alcoholic drinks
- Extra activities
- Air ticket and visa