Gorilla Trekking and Ngamba Island Chimps: Complete 5-Day Uganda Itinerary What Ngamba Island is Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary opened in 1998 and is run by the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust. Five days is enough to combine a gorilla trek in Bwindi with a half-day visit to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Lake Victoria. The usual plan is Ngamba on arrival day, two days on the road to and from Bwindi with the trek in between, and a final day back to Entebbe for your flight. Ngamba sits about 23 km from Entebbe and is reached by boat in roughly 45 minutes by speedboat, so it fits neatly at the start or end of the trip.

It does not replace chimpanzee tracking in the wild in Kibale, but it is the easiest way to see chimps on a short gorilla trip.

Gorilla Trekking and Ngamba Island Chimps: Complete 5-Day Uganda Itinerary

What Ngamba Island is

Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary opened in 1998 and is run by the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust. It cares for around 50 orphaned chimpanzees, most of them rescued from the illegal pet and bushmeat trade, which cannot be returned to the wild. They live in the island’s forest and come to the edge for supplementary feeds, which visitors watch from a raised platform behind a fence. Day visitors usually time their trip for a feeding session, and the sanctuary staff explain each chimp’s history and the group’s social life.

This is a sanctuary, not a wild encounter: the chimps are cared for, the viewing is from a fixed point, and the group does not breed. That is exactly why it complements gorilla trekking, where you walk into the forest to visit a wild family on its own terms. Our guide to visiting Ngamba Island covers boat options, feeding times and overnight stays on the island.

The five-day itinerary

Day 1: Entebbe and Ngamba Island. If you land early or arrived the night before, take a morning or midday boat from Entebbe to Ngamba, watch a feeding and walk the visitor area before returning in the afternoon. Spend the night in Entebbe by the lake. If your flight lands in the afternoon or evening, move the Ngamba visit to day 5 instead.

Day 2: drive to Bwindi. Leave Entebbe at about 6:30 am for a long day of 8–10 hours through Masaka and Mbarara, with stops at the equator and for lunch. Arrive at a lodge in the same sector as your permit by late afternoon. If you would rather not drive, scheduled flights from Entebbe reach Kihihi, for Buhoma, or Kisoro, for the southern sectors, in about 1.5–2 hours; see our guide to domestic flights to Bwindi.

Day 3: gorilla trek. The briefing at the park office starts at about 7:30 am. The trek can take anywhere from under an hour to five or six hours to reach the family, followed by one hour with the gorillas. Hire a porter for about US$15–20. In the afternoon, rest or join a community walk; in Buhoma, Rushaga and Mgahinga, Batwa-led experiences show how the forest’s original inhabitants lived. Read about Batwa cultural experiences.

Day 4: start the return. Drive towards Entebbe and break the journey at Lake Mburo National Park for an evening game drive with zebras and impala, or at Mbarara. From the southern sectors, a morning at Lake Bunyonyi is an easy detour; see our Lake Bunyonyi guide.

Day 5: Entebbe and departure. The drive from Lake Mburo to Entebbe takes about 4–5 hours. Many flights to Europe and the Gulf leave late in the evening, which leaves time for the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre, or Ngamba if you did not go on day 1. If you are fitting Ngamba in on this day, flying back from Kihihi or Kisoro in the morning is the safer option.

What it costs

The gorilla permit is the largest single cost: US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November, including park entry. The Ngamba visit costs a sanctuary fee plus the boat, which is much cheaper per person in a group than for a couple chartering a speedboat on their own, so ask your operator to include it. Add four nights of accommodation, a private vehicle and driver-guide for five days, meals, porters and tips.

For two people sharing at mid-range lodges, the total on the ground typically comes to roughly US$2,000–3,000 per person; solo travellers pay more, as do those flying to Bwindi. Book the gorilla permit first and build the dates around it; our guide to booking a gorilla permit explains how.

Ngamba or Kibale?

If you have more than five days, chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest National Park is the better chimp experience: you follow a wild, habituated community through the forest, and it costs US$250, rising to US$300 from 1 January 2027. Kibale is a full day’s drive from Bwindi, so a gorilla-and-chimp trip with Kibale needs about seven to eight days.

Ngamba suits short trips, travellers with limited mobility, families with children under 15 who cannot trek, and anyone with a few hours to fill in Entebbe. See our guide to chimpanzee tracking in Kibale.

Frequently asked questions