This 8-day route links Murchison Falls, Ziwa and Kibale, with proper beds, good food and lodges that sit where the wildlife is. 7 nights on safari, priced on request.
Murchison Falls - Kibale - Queen Elizabeth - Bwindi - Lake Bunyonyi
About this safari
The route opens in Murchison Falls — the Nile forced through an eight-metre-wide gorge — and works through 5 further destinations over 8 days. It stays within Uganda; the final proposal will confirm transfer times and the balance between travel and game viewing. Accommodation is at the mid-range standard: comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges. The balance most travellers settle on — proper beds, en-suite bathrooms and well-run lodges in good positions, without the premium that the top end of the market commands. Like every safari in this catalogue, it is priced on request rather than sold at a published rate, because park fees, permits, group size and contracted accommodation all change the figure.
Day by day
Written out in full before you book, so you can see exactly how the days are paced and where each night is spent.
Day 1
Entebbe is the working gateway for this route. Citrus will set out the actual meeting and transfer arrangements in writing. Today's drive heads north to the Victoria Nile. The road is long and the country changes steadily — cultivated land giving way to woodland and then to the open borassus palm savannah of the park's northern bank, where the game drives are. The Paraa ferry links the two halves of the park and runs to a fixed timetable. The Albert delta, where the Nile spreads out before entering Lake Albert, is one of the more reliable places in Uganda to look for the shoebill — a prehistoric-looking, metre-tall bird that stands motionless in papyrus for long periods. A specialist boat trip downstream is usually needed to reach the right water, and is arranged separately. Beyond the rhino, the sanctuary holds Uganda kob, oribi, bushbuck and waterbuck across grassland and light woodland, and its wetland areas are among the more accessible places in the country to look for the shoebill. Guided nature walks and night walks are both offered, and the staff are candid about the economics and politics of rhino reintroduction. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Murchison Falls
Day 2
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, the launch cruise upstream from Paraa to the base of the falls is the park's signature activity and the best way to see its wildlife concentrated. The boat runs slowly along the banks past dense hippo pods, some of the largest Nile crocodile in Africa lying open-mouthed on the sand, and elephant and buffalo coming down to drink. The trip finishes in the spray at the foot of the falls, with the whole Nile coming down in front of you. The Albert delta, where the Nile spreads out before entering Lake Albert, is one of the more reliable places in Uganda to look for the shoebill — a prehistoric-looking, metre-tall bird that stands motionless in papyrus for long periods. A specialist boat trip downstream is usually needed to reach the right water, and is arranged separately. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Murchison Falls
Day 3
The route then continues onward, today's drive brings you to the forest with the highest primate density in East Africa. The route passes through Fort Portal and the crater lake fields around it, where dozens of near-perfect volcanic craters hold green water, before the cultivated land gives way to the tall closed canopy of Kibale. The crater lake country around Fort Portal, just outside the forest, is worth the short detour — dozens of near-perfect volcanic craters holding deep green water, with viewpoints over the tea estates and, on a clear day, the Rwenzori Mountains standing to the west. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Kibale
Day 4
Kyambura Gorge cuts a forested trench into the savannah, and tracking its chimpanzee community means descending into a completely different world — humid, green and loud — a hundred metres below the open plain above. The group here is small and habituation is less complete than at Kibale, so sightings are less certain, but the setting is dramatic and the descent alone is worth the morning. This travel day carries the route onward, the road drops out of the highlands onto the floor of the western Rift, and Queen Elizabeth spreads out between Lake Edward and Lake George with the Rwenzori Mountains standing behind — snow-capped when the cloud clears, which is not often. Explosion craters pock the northern sector, and the grass runs green after rain in a way the Kenyan and Tanzanian parks rarely do. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Queen Elizabeth
Day 5
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, the afternoon launch cruise along the Kazinga Channel is the best two hours in the park. The boat runs slowly along the shoreline past hippo pods packed so tightly they overlap, buffalo standing chest-deep, and elephant families coming down to drink and bathe. Crocodile lie motionless on the banks, and the bird concentrations along the water are among the densest in Africa. The cruise is normally an optional extra rather than an automatic inclusion. The Kazinga Channel is the centrepiece of the park — a natural thirty-kilometre waterway between Lake Edward and Lake George, holding one of the densest hippo populations in the world. Elephant and buffalo come down to drink along its banks, Nile crocodile lie out on the mud, and the birdlife is extraordinary: pied kingfisher hovering in numbers, African skimmer, pelican, and waders packed along the shoreline. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Queen Elizabeth
Day 6
The itinerary continues by road, the route to Bwindi climbs into the south-western highlands through country that is green, steep and densely farmed, with banana and tea covering the hillsides. As you gain height the cultivation stops abruptly at the forest edge, and the change is absolute: from open, worked hillsides into ancient montane rainforest that survived the last ice age. Time in Bwindi outside the trek itself is worth having. Forest walks follow the Munyaga river to a series of waterfalls, birding trails work the Mubwindi swamp for Albertine Rift specials, and the community walks in Buhoma give a clear picture of how villages living against the forest boundary relate to it. The altitude keeps the air cool and the evenings genuinely cold. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Bwindi
Day 7
Leaving the previous stop behind, today's transfer is short and the destination is deliberately undemanding. Lake Bunyonyi — the place of many little birds — is where most Uganda itineraries put their recovery day, and after a gorilla trek that is exactly what is needed. The days here are gentle by design. A dugout canoe among the islands, a walk up through the terraces for the view back over the lake, and time with a book covers most of it. Each of the twenty-nine islands has its own history, and the local guides tell those stories well — including the difficult ones, such as Punishment Island. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Lake Bunyonyi
Day 8
This outline leaves the final morning available for the confirmed transfer plan. The days here are gentle by design. A dugout canoe among the islands, a walk up through the terraces for the view back over the lake, and time with a book covers most of it. Each of the twenty-nine islands has its own history, and the local guides tell those stories well — including the difficult ones, such as Punishment Island. The final road section is planned towards Entebbe. Citrus will confirm the exact end point and time.
Safari ends
Where you stay
Accommodation below is the suggested standard for this package, taken from the Citrus catalogue. Where an entry describes a standard rather than a named property, we confirm the exact camp or lodge with your quotation. Named properties are suggestions and are substituted with comparable alternatives if they are unavailable for your dates.
Source catalogue listing
Pakuba Safari Lodge + Primate Lodge + Queen Elizabeth Bush Lodge + Engagi Lodge
This is reproduced exactly from the catalogue. The written quotation will allocate nights and confirm each available property before booking.
These are planning examples, not confirmed inclusions for this package. Your written quotation will confirm exactly what is included.
The quotation will identify every separate cost before you confirm.
Where this safari goes
Uganda
The Nile forced through an eight-metre-wide gorge
ExploreUganda
Uganda's only wild rhino, tracked on foot
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The best chimpanzee tracking in Africa
ExploreUganda
Kazinga Channel hippos and the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha
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Half the world's mountain gorillas, in genuinely impenetrable forest
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Terraced hills, twenty-nine islands and the place to recover after trekking
ExploreBefore you ask
The catalogue sets the route and travel standard, but it does not publish a fixed price or a contracted inclusion list. Citrus will prepare a written quotation for your dates, party and rooming, showing the exact transfers, activities, accommodation, meals, fees and permits before you confirm.
No. It is suggested accommodation from the source catalogue. Availability and any proposed alternative are confirmed in the written quotation before a booking is made.
Do not assume so. Permit availability and whether each permit is included or quoted separately must be stated in the written quotation.
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Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will come back with availability, honest advice on timing and a written quotation for this route.