“Lions in the morning on the Kasenyi plains. Hippos and elephants on the Kazinga Channel by afternoon. Mountain gorillas three days later in a forest so old it survived the Ice Age. Uganda does not make you choose.”

Big five savannah wildlife and mountain gorillas — in the same week

Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s most visited wildlife park for good reason. The Kasenyi and Ishasha plains hold lion prides — including the Ishasha sector’s famous tree-climbing lions, a behaviour found in only two places on earth. The Kazinga Channel that connects Lakes George and Edward provides one of East Africa’s finest boat cruises: hippos in the thousands, crocodiles on every bank, African skimmer, giant kingfisher, and the largest buffalo herds you will see outside of Tanzania’s Serengeti. Elephants walk the channel banks in the afternoon light with the Rwenzori Mountains behind them. And from Queen Elizabeth it is a four-hour drive south to Bwindi, where the mountain gorillas have been waiting for twenty-five thousand years in a forest that outlasted ice ages and everything since.

Truly Iconic Highlights

• Game drives on the Kasenyi plains — lions, elephants, Uganda kob, and topi in Uganda’s finest savannah setting
• Kazinga Channel boat cruise — hippos, crocodiles, water birds, and the full spectacle of one of Uganda’s most productive wildlife waterways
• Ishasha sector — the tree-climbing lions that rest in the fig trees and have made this corner of Queen Elizabeth famous
• Gorilla trekking in Bwindi — the encounter that resets your reference points for what a wildlife experience can be

Detailed Itinerary — 7-Day Queen Elizabeth and Gorilla Safari

Day 1: Entebbe to Queen Elizabeth National Park

Drive west from Entebbe through Fort Portal and down the western Rift Valley escarpment to Queen Elizabeth National Park — five to six hours. Afternoon arrival with time for a short game drive on the Kasenyi plains before dinner. The park announces itself immediately: Uganda kob grazing the plains in their hundreds, elephants moving toward the channel, the long evening light across the savannah that makes the first hour feel like a preview of everything to come.

Day 2: Full Day Game Drives and Kazinga Channel Cruise

Full morning game drive across the Kasenyi sector. Lion sightings are reliable here — the resident prides are well-tracked and the flat, open terrain makes location and observation straightforward compared to denser bush environments. Leopard, hyena, and the full range of antelope species including Uganda kob, bushbuck, and waterbuck are regular. The afternoon launch trip on the Kazinga Channel departs at 3pm — two hours by boat between the hippo pods and crocodile banks, with the channel’s extraordinary birdlife including shoebill stork possible on the northern bank if you are fortunate and patient.

Day 3: Ishasha Sector — Tree-Climbing Lions

Drive south to the Ishasha sector — a three-hour journey through the park to the southern section that borders DRC’s Virunga National Park. The tree-climbing lions of Ishasha rest in the flat-topped fig trees above the Ntungwe River floodplain, visible from below in the branches in a behaviour that has never been satisfactorily explained and is found only here and in Tanzania’s Lake Manyara. Afternoon game drive through Ishasha’s less-visited plains where the wildlife is present without the vehicle concentration of the northern circuit.

Day 4: Drive to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

From Ishasha the drive to Bwindi is short — two hours through the Kigezi highlands, climbing from the Rift Valley floor to the forest altitude. This is the transition day between two completely different Uganda ecosystems: the open savannah of Queen Elizabeth and the ancient closed-canopy forest of Bwindi. Afternoon free at your lodge. Gorilla trek briefing after dinner.

Day 5: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi

The morning briefing assigns your group to a habituated gorilla family. You have spent two and a half days watching Uganda’s savannah wildlife — the lions, the elephants, the channel’s teeming birdlife. Bwindi is the opposite of all of it: dense, dark, quiet, enclosed. The gorilla encounter in this setting has a different character than it does for visitors who arrive with no savannah experience behind them. You understand by this point what a great wildlife encounter means — the patience, the reading of the environment, the specific nature of wild animal presence. The gorilla hour adds a dimension to that understanding that the savannah cannot provide.

Day 6: Batwa Walk and Lake Bunyonyi

Morning Batwa cultural experience in the Bwindi buffer zone, then drive to Lake Bunyonyi for the afternoon. Canoe on the lake in the evening light. Overnight at the lake — the deepest point of stillness on the entire safari.

Day 7: Return to Entebbe

Full day return drive through western Uganda to Entebbe. Seven days — savannah to forest, lions to gorillas, the Kazinga Channel to Lake Bunyonyi — constitutes the full southern Uganda circuit, the one that most clearly demonstrates why this country rewards visitors who give it a week.

Tour Includes

Gorilla trekking permit ($800), all accommodation, all meals, professional guide, all park fees, game drives, Kazinga Channel boat cruise, Batwa walk, road transfers Entebbe return, drinking water.

Tour Excludes

International flights, Uganda visa, tips, travel insurance, personal items, any government fee increases after booking.

Accommodation Options

Luxury

Mweya Safari Lodge at Queen Elizabeth occupies the peninsula between the Kazinga Channel and Lake Edward — the finest position in the park, with hippos visible from the lodge terrace and the Rwenzori Mountains on clear days. Ishasha Wilderness Camp in the Ishasha sector provides tented luxury in the tree-climbing lion territory. At Bwindi, Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge or Mahogany Springs.

Mid-Range

Jacana Safari Lodge and Pumba Safari Cottages at Queen Elizabeth offer well-run mid-range accommodation with park access and reliable food. Ishasha Jungle Lodge provides clean tented accommodation in the southern sector. Gorilla Safari Lodge or Bwindi View Bandas at Bwindi.