The journey is about to begin! You will land at Entebbe International Airport where I will personally welcome you. Together with our local driver guide, we will drive in 15 minutes to a cozy guesthouse where you will sleep the first night.

Note that most arrivals in Entebbe are late in the evening, between 22.00-23.00. This means, a short night and an early start. If you would love to have a more relaxed start, you are welcome to arrive a day earlier. I’m there too and I’m happy to assist.

Accommodation: Horizon hotel Entebbe or Airport Guesthouse

After a lovely breakfast, we will embark on a journey to the Eastern part of this beautiful country. Today is a long driving day, but with stunning views along the way, you will not get bored. We have lunch along the way, and after settling into our lodge in Sipi, a local guide will take you to a special sunset spot to view and take photos of sunset over the stunning Karamoja landscapes.

Accommodation: Rafiki Lodge Sipi or Sipi Falls Lodge (both having great views of the main falls)

With a local guide, you will go on a hike to Sipi Falls, consisting of a series of three prominent waterfalls, with the longest dropping of about 100 meters. You will have a chance to take photos of the falls and the beautiful lush green landscape. The area is favoured by the “three-horned chameleon”, so we’ll keep our eyes open for this photogenic creature.

Later that day, you will experience a complete Arabic coffee brewing process at a nearby rural family farm. You will pick the coffee berries, deshell, pound them and grind them with a traditional mortar and pestle. You will roast the coffee on an open wood fire, before tasting your own locally made coffee. After the coffee tour, we head back to the lodge.

Today we leave for Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. This is the only place in Uganda where you can see and photograph the endangered white rhino. This afternoon you will walk together with a ranger to track Rhinos on foot on a so-called walking safari.

For 1 night, we will sleep at this special Rhino Sanctuary in a recently renovated guesthouse. This place offers chances of seeing and photographing bushbuck, warthogs & Rhinos as they roam around the Ziwa Rhino lodge long after tourists left.

After breakfast, we leave for Murchison Falls National Park Uganda. In the morning, we’ll go for a game drive and we’ll have lunch on a very special private spot near the falls. After lunch, we have time to explore the top-of-Murchison falls where you can admire the River Nile, forced through a narrow 7m gorge, dropping 40 meters. With several amazing viewpoints, a walk to the Top of the Falls is perfect to photograph the falls from above.

After this breathtaking experience, we will check into our lodge for 2 nights on a beautiful river side location. On our way to the lodge we have chances of spotting Uganda’s iconic wildlife roaming the savannah plains, including elephants, giraffes, lions, hippos, crocodiles, buffaloes and maybe the elusive leopard.

Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge or similar

We start the day with a nice early morning game drive in Murchison Falls National Park, taking photos of wildlife or just admiring the scenes.

After our safari game drive, we take an exciting boat trip on the Victoria Nile to the bottom of the falls. This boat safari is an excellent platform to see and photograph many different bird species including bee-eaters, African fish eagle, Kingfishers and African Jacana. You sail 3 hours to the bottom of Murchison Falls. After the boat trip, you have another beautiful safari game drive along the way and we’re back at the lodge in time for a sundowner and watching the sunset on the river Nile.

We planned 1 night in Lake Albert Safari Lodge because of the amazing views of Lake Albert and the Blue Mountains in Congo. Located in the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve, you have chances to spot wildlife like the Ugandan Kob (Uganda’s national animal), duiker, oribi, warthog, and bushbuck.

At the end of your safari day, you can relax with a few drinks enjoying the sunset over Lake Albert. For the photography enthusiasts, we can take our tripods and capture a unique sunset while the fishermen are night fishing on their boats. This is a perfect way to learn how to take evening/night photos.

Accommodation: Lake Albert safari lodge

Today we drive in approximately 5 hours to Kibale Forest, the primate centre of Uganda. On the way we have lunch in Fort Portal. The lodge where we will sleep for the next 2 days, is steps away from Kibale National Park. Kibale Forest hosts 13 primate species, including chimpanzees, baboons, black and white colobus, red colobus, grey cheeked mangabey and L’Hoest monkey.

After checking into our lodge, this afternoon we have the possibility to drive up to “the top of the world” viewpoint with amazing views of the surrounding crater lakes. Weather permitting, this is a nice spot to take photos. The panoramic view will give you, one of my best-selling images.

Accommodation: Isunga Lodge or similar

Today we go for Chimpanzee Tracking in Kibale Forest. Either in the morning or in the afternoon; this depends on the available permits. Under the guidance of rangers, you will look for one of our closest relatives, namely the

chimpanzee. Once we located the chimpanzees we can spend one hour in their presence, giving us the chance to observe their behaviour and photograph the chimpanzees in their natural habitat. The chimps live in a thick rainforest and they can move quickly, so the conditions for photographing this great ape species can be challenging, but I’m happy to assist with camera settings.

Before or after the chimpanzee trekking in Kibale, we will go on a swamp walk in the Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary. This is a nice walk through a papyrus swamp and agricultural area. On this swamp walk, there is good chance to see and photograph many different monkey species and birds Including the Great Blue Turaco; one of my favourite birds to see.

It’s time to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park, one of the highlights on this Uganda trip. We’ll have photo stops around the crater lakes region and on the way, we cross the equator. In the afternoon, at 4pm, we have our first safari game drive inside Queen Elizabeth Uganda where we’ll search for wildlife. We’ll most likely spot Buffalo, Elephant, and various antelope species but there’s also a chance to spot lions.

Accommodation: Twin Lakes Safari Lodge or similar lodge with magical views over the savannah plains of Queen Elizabeth Uganda. These lodges also have a pool.

We start with an early morning game drive and in the afternoon (at 2pm) we’ll take a boat cruise safari on the Kazinga Channel; one of the highlights in Queen Elizabeth with chances of spotting many buffalo, hippos, and elephants in or at the water.

Today Ishasha is on the program, which is known for the tree-climbing lions. Ishasha is part of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Here, you can see lions that climb huge fig trees. In addition, they use these trees as a lookout to look for prey. We try our luck of finding them and taking photos of the lions.

Accommodation: Topi Lodge

It’s time to leave Queen Elizabeth National Park and travel on to Bwindi. On our way, we’ll enjoy magnificent views of the Virunga massif. This is a chain of volcanoes located in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and can be viewed along the way to Bwindi. When the weather is clear, we can photograph all volcanoes including their tops. After arriving in Bwindi Forest, we settle in our Gorilla Lodge for 2 nights, only a few minutes drive to the gate from where our gorilla trekking starts. The lodge is in the middle of the forest. Being in the rainforest is very peaceful. Note that the weather conditions can change quickly. Rain showers are common but they don’t last long.

Accommodation: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge

This is the day you have probably been waiting for: gorilla tracking to see the endangered mountain gorillas in the wild. In small groups of max 8 people, we will search for these gentle great apes. Of course, under the guidance of experienced rangers and porters. Once we have found the mountain gorillas, you can enjoy their presence for an hour. Unlike the chimpanzees, the Gorillas are a bit easier to photograph because they usually don’t move around a lot. We’ll provide all the info you need to prepare for your gorilla trekking adventure, including what to expect, what to pack for the trekking, clothing to wear and important rules.

After the gorilla trekking, we drive back to our lodge and depending on the time we arrive back from our trekking, we’ll have a peaceful village walk in the Rushaga area where we’ll meet the villagers, including the Batwa pygmies, also known as ‘keepers of the forest’ who once lived inside the forest, together with the Gorillas. The Batwa now live in small settlements near the forest and they can teach us some incredible hunting techniques, or how to make fire.

Today it’s time to trek in the Bamboo zones in search for the rare Golden monkeys as they forage on the bamboo shoots. Later we will transfer to lake Bunyonyi to relax and to enjoy sweeping views of Lake Bunyonyi, the Switzerland of Africa, and have a light snack. Lake Bunyonyi is known for the many small islands on the lake, including Punishment Island, were unmarried pregnant girls were sent to starve to death.

Accommodation: Arcadia Lodge Bunyonyi or similar, including with views over the 29 islands.

Early after our cozy breakfast, we drive to lake Mburo known as the whispers of the wild, for a walking safari.

Walking safari in Lake Mburo National Park and the rest of the day you can relax at the swimming pool or participate in a photography workshop, if you wish. I’m happy to help with all questions you have and we can also look into an editing class for editing your images in Lightroom.

Today we drive on to Entebbe via Mabamba Swamp. On the way, we stop at the equator; a nice photo opportunity. Here, you can also buy souvenirs. We continue to Mabamba Swamp, one of the best places in Uganda to see the Shoebill; one of Uganda’s most sought-after bird species.

Accommodation: Hotel Horizon Entebbe or Airport guesthouse.

Unfortunately, this is the last day of our memorable trip. As most flights out of Entebbe are later in the evening, we have another optional chance to find the shoebill in Uganda’s Mabamba Swamp (if we couldn’t find it the day before). Later, our driver will transfer you to Entebbe Airport for your return flight.

If you’d like to extend your stay, we are happy to help and advice accordingly.