Gorillas And Lake Bunyonyi

Go mountain gorillas tracking and canoeing on Lake Bunyonyi

4 Days Gorillas And Lake Bunyonyi

This 4 days gorillas and Lake Bunyonyi safari takes you to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park to spend some good time with the mountain gorillas in their natural habitats and conclude by relaxing and enjoying the cool breeze and outstanding sights of Lake Bunyonyi in southwestern Uganda.

4 Days Gorillas And Lake Bunyonyi Safari highlights

Day 1: Arrival and transfer to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park

Day 2: Gorilla tracking and cultural encounters in Bwindi

Day 3: Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi and evening boat cruise

Day 4: Return to Kampala

Detailed itinerary 

Day 1: Arrival and transfer to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park

Depending on your location, you will be picked by our safari guide who will first brief you about the safari. Thereafter start on your journey to the southwestern part of Uganda. You will have a stopover at the equator crossing at Kayabwe to take photographs and buy souvenirs. You proceed with your journey and have another stopover at Igongo Cultural Centre in Mbarara for lunch. later proceed with your journey with great views of banana plantations, rolling Kigezi hills, homesteads among others. Upon arrival at the park, you will proceed to your booked lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

Meal plan: Lunch and breakfast

Accommodation 

Buhoma Lodge – luxury, Buhoma Haven Lodge – mid-range and Buhoma Community Rest Camp – budget

Day 2: Gorilla tracking and cultural encounters in Bwindi

On the second day after breakfast, you will get your packed lunch with you and other things you might need to have the best gorilla trekking in Africa, meet your safari guide and transfer to the park headquarters for a briefing which includes the rules and regulations of gorilla trekking. After the briefing, you will be grouped into 8 and a ranger guide will lead you into the forest in search of mountain gorillas. The time taken to find these gorillas depends on their location as they move from one place to another so it can take 2 hours to several hours. During the trekking, you will meet different park wildlife like birds, primates, trees among others. When you find the gorillas you will be given an hour to spend with habituated mountain gorillas which will allow you to learn about their habits, behaviors, watch them play, feed, breastfeed, hunt, patrol, take photos, and record videos. You will later trek back to the starting point go to the park headquarters for your gorilla trekking certificate and later meet your driver for a transfer back to the lodge for relaxation.

In the evening you will meet up with your driver-guide who will take you for a cultural tour. During the cultural tour, you will meet the Batwa group of people who are the shortest in Uganda as they demonstrate for you their earliest life in the jungle and how they used to get food from the forest through hunting and gathering. You will be entertained by the Batwa people as they dance and sing for you their local traditional songs. After the cultural tour, you will return to the lodge for dinner and n overnight stay.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Buhoma Lodge – luxury, Buhoma Haven Lodge – mid-range and Buhoma Community Rest Camp – budget

Day 3: Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi and evening boat cruise

After morning breakfast, you will meet your driver-guide board your safari vehicle and drive to Lake Bunyonyi located in Kabale which is the deepest lake in Uganda and the best birders parasite. Upon reaching Lake Bunyonyi you will be welcomed by sounds of different birds for the word Bunyonyi means small birds. you will check in your lodge have some lunch s you wait for a boat cruise.

In the afternoon you will go for a boat cruise along Lake Bunyonyi where you will visit some of the 29 islands on the lake among which include Akampene knowns as the punishment island Where girls who were found pregnant before marriage were taken and left to die. You will also spot different birds such as slender-billed baglafetch, egrets, African harrier, grey crowned crane, Africa kingfisher, cardinal woodpecker among others.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Accommodation: Bird nest – luxury, Acadia cottages – mid-range and Lake Bunyonyi overland camp – mid-range

Day 4: Return to Kampala

On the last day of your safari, you will have a relaxed breakfast after check out of your lodge and meet your driver for a transfer back to Kampala. You will have a stopover in Mbarara for lunch after which proceed with your journey to Kampala. You will stop at the equator for the second time to take more photos or buy souvenirs. Your driver-guide will drop you off at your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe international airport to end your 4 Days Gorillas And Lake Bunyonyi

Meal plan: Breakfast and lunch

Tour includes

Gorilla trekking permit

Boat cruise

Cultural tour

Service of an English-speaking guide

Transport’

Accommodation and meals

Drinking water

Tour excludes

International flights

Personal expenses

Tips

Life insurance

Optional activities

After reachin Bunyonyi on your 4 Days Gorillas And Lake Bunyonyi safari tour, you can engage in a number of interesting activities ie;

Relaxing and chilling with loved ones: the beautiful scenery and cool weather are suitable for relaxation after tiresome activities such as gorilla trekking in Bwindi, mountain hiking as well as game drives in Queen Elizabeth national park or any other of Uganda’s national parks. The lake has Quiet Island favoring book readers with a serene environment. There is a lot of food consisting of local vegetables and fruits and also international dishes. The best moment is watching the sunset at Lake Bunyonyi which provides an opportunity to take beautiful photos of the sun rays while reflecting on the waters.

Swimming: lake bunyonyi is a clean water lake with waters free from pollution because of absence of fishing sites on the lake shores. Lake Bunyonyi waters don’t have crocodiles, hippos and other parasites which can cause bilharzia which is a common disease in some water bodies of east Africa. The lake has only one disadvantage and that’s the depth as it’s believed to be second deepest lake in Africa. People who are not good at swimming should not risk in these waters but should instead use hotel swimming pools.

Canoeing. Canoes are the only way of exploring the lake and islands. The local people make these canoes digging big trees to create a whole using axes. Canoes are moved using sticks are motor engines.  Canoes can be rented from local people at a fee of 60,000 shillings and ones with engines at 120,000 Ugandan shillings. Using these canoes is another unique experience that adds magic to the lake. Canoeing is best done in the morning when the lake is covered with mist. The lake is a best site for natural lovers and adventures. Night canoes is also done to experience the cool night breeze and sounds of frog and birds.

Island hopping: canoeing allows you to hop from one island to another as you earn about their history. Visiting the akempene islands where girls who got pregnant before marriage were taken to starve and dyeing way a must. You can visit Bwama Island and know about the history of hosting lepers. These lepers are no longer taken to Bwama Island because the permanent cure of leprosy was discovered. The leper now has been turned into a school for children.

Community and cultural visits: these are one of the done activities is taking a walk around local communities to see how local people got about their daily activities near the lake shoes. It’s great to mix with local people and try out tasks such as digging using hoes or visiting nearby schools to interact with students. The best drink for bakiga is taking mwarwa or bushera which are made from banana or sorghum.

Another alternative is going to visit batwa people. The batwa were evicted out of Echuya Forest and are now living near the lake just like their relatives near Bwindi impenetrable national park, Mgahinga Gorilla Park and Virunga national park. The batwa people are still failing to adopt the life outside the forest but the struggle to make ends meet since they are former hunters and fruit gatherers. Batwa earn a living by entertaining tourists, demonstrating cultural heritage through dance, songs, storytelling and they also sell crops in the markets.

Nature walk: if visitors are not interested in nature walks, they can do hiking through well-established trails that are accompanied by a guide to tour the terraced hills which give clear views of the lake and towering landscape. Visitors can also tour the bamboo forest of Echuya and see small primates and zebras

Mountain hiking: one of the best ways of exploring the lake is by hiking a mountain bike or taking a ride to see the beautiful landscape as you pass through human settlements. The tour company can arrange for you a bike because most of the hotels don’t have bike rental services.

Visit the local market: the local market here is called Rutindo and it attracts residents of the island every Monday and Friday. On these days the market is full of people and it’s the best area to see how local people go about their daily life as you also buy any items you want.

Bird watching: lake bunyonyi is a good place for birding for bird lovers in Uganda. The name bunyonyi means a place for birds. There are over 205 bird species that can be seen on Lake Bunyonyi. This place acts as a breeding area for many water birds. The birds include residents and those that migrate from Europe in harsh winter times. Nyombi is one of the best spotting area in Lake Bunyonyi and the only best way to see a number of birds is by getting a boat and binoculars with a birding guide. Some of the bird species in Lake Bunyonyi include egrets, weaverbirds, slender baglafetch, herons, levillant cuckoo and grey crested crane among others

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