There are however several opportunities to see great wildlife in the country, so you can keep yourself busy for at least 7-8 days of trip in Uganda (if you consider 2-3 days for Gorilla tracking)

Kibale Forest National Park

Without leaving the primates family, an exceptional experience is seeing che chimpanzees, that are actually our closest cousins.

The main chimp tracking in the country is done in the Kibale Forest National Park, that is also where I strongly recommend you to book. Main reasons are the easiness of trekking, concentration of families and closeness to them. There are other tracking in Uganda (such as in Queen Elizabeth National Park), but nowhere else you will get such an high probability to see chimpanzees like in Kibale Forest.

You could either choose to do a chimpanzee tracking experience (the shorter one, around one hour with them) or a chimpanzee habituation, where you can spend around half a day with them. Obviously I recommend you the latter.

Keep in mind that chimpanzee families in the habituation experience (as the word suggest) has to be habituated yes to human presence, so it might be harder to see them up close, like it happened with my group.

But no worries since the guides are there to make the best experience for you: after spending few hours watching a chimp family really up in the trees, we moved to a more habituated one (where other groups doing the tracking were staying), and we got to see them really, really close.

I don’t usually recommend specific accommodations, but I have to make an exception for Isunga Lodge, a beautiful lodge placed on a hill, overlooking a mesmerizing valley. But more than the beauty of the place, the cleanliness, the good food is the outstanding service provided by the owners and the staff. By the way, I shot this photos from the lounge:

The second best spot for wildlife is the Queen Elizabeth National Park, the main and biggest national park in Uganda, that can be divided in two different parts: Ishasha sector and Kazinga Channel.

Queen Elizabeth NP: Ishasha Sector

There is one and very good reason to come to the far-west side of Queen Elizabeth National Park: the tree climbing lions.

This population of lions has the habit to climb up fig trees to escape the extreme heat on the ground, especially during midday hours (from 11am to 3pm).

They are not the only ones in the world, but surely the most famous ones!

You have to remember anyway that the number of lions is actually very low and sometimes the cross the border to Congo, so you have to be lucky.

If they are within the park, is very easy to spot them, just look for fig trees, within the branches.

You can spend 1-2 days here looking and shooting lions, but beware that the concentration of wildlife in the area is actually pretty low: we just saw some impalas, buffalos and hear hippos near the river. So don’t spend more than 1-2 days around here.

Queen Elizabeth NP Kazinga Channel

Kazinga channel is a 40 km stream of water that connects Lake Georgia and Lake Victoria, and home to an amazing concentration of safari wildlife, that is why is the top 1 spot for wildlife spotting and photography.

My recommendation is to do 1 or 2 boat tours, 1 during midday (where the thirsty animals come to drink water) and 1 in the sunset-early morning, to get a better light for photography.

There are the official national park safari boat, that departure near the mweya safari lodge (the most expensive lodge in the area), and the community boat tours, organized by local villagers. These are a good addition to the experience, plus you will help the local communities (you can book them through here).

Queen Elizabeth National Park game drives

Around the Kazinga Channel, there are many tracks for game drives. As wildlife, you can expect to see herbivores (like gazelles and antelopes), elephants (some big herds here), lions (more difficult), leopard (we spotted one, very rare), hyenas, hippos, buffalos.

There are no giraffes and no cheetah.

There is also the possibility to do night game drives, where a ranger comes with you on your vehicle (if you have one, otherwise you can rent it) equipped with a huge torch. It was among the highlight of the experience, especially when we follow a pack of lions beginning the hunt. Don’t miss this experience.

The post Wildlife safari in Uganda: where to go? appeared first on Enrico Pescantini Travel Photographer.

Made famous by american zoologist Diane Fossey (please do yourself a favour and at least watch the movie with Sigourney Weaver), these primates will be once of the best wildlife encounters of your life.

Here some quick FAQ after I visited Uganda, with some of my photos.

What is gorilla tracking?

Gorilla tracking is a day activity for tracking wild mountain gorillas and, once you find them, spend some time with them for usually one hour of time

Where can you do gorilla tracking in Africa?

Mountain gorillas can be found in Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, nowhere else in the world.

Why chose Uganda and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest?

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest has roughly half the world population of mountain gorillas (around 1,000 gorillas), so it is the place with the best chances to see the mountain gorillas.

How much cost a permit for Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi?

1 day permit in Uganda costs 700 usd (in 2020), while in Rwanda the same costs 1500 usd. Congo is cheaper (around 450 usd), but not safe for tourists.

All costs are for the peak season.

Where do I get the permit?

Ask a local travel agency, or better your hotel. Is the safest bet.

How much time before should I get the permit?

If you plan to visit on peak season, book the permit 10 months before to be safe. So February for visiting on New Years’ Eve

When is the peak season?

Peak season is in european winter time, so january-april, that is the dry season.

Are there any downside in choosing Bwindi?

Bwindi is literally an IMPENETRABLE FOREST, meaning that the forest is thick and lush, and on steep mountains.

So you could see the gorillas through the bushes, and not in an open environment, meaning that could be not ideal for photography, but largely depends on your luck.

Should I choose 1 day or 2 day tracking?

If you can afford it, do two separate day tracking: these increase your chances to see the gorillas in different settings and do more photography.

How long is gorilla tracking?

You will gather with all the visitors around 7.30 am, do a general briefing and leave with your 8-people group around 9.00 am.

The hiking for finding the gorilla could be from 1 hour to 4 hours: once you find them, you will stay with them 1 hour and then go back.

Usually how much long is the hiking?

Expect an average of two hours, at least.

You can be VERY LUCKY and find the after one hour (a group did), or not so lucky and walk for 3-4 hours.

Let’s be honest: how tough is the hiking?

Let’s start assessing your physical condition.

If you do regularly sport, running or generally physical activity it is an hard hiking.

Not only for the steep ground, but for the VERY THICK jungle and other perils (like red ants crawling your legs).

If you, like me, are a healthy guy, like to walk around cities and stuff, but not used to regular and intense activity IT IS A VERY, VERY HARD HIKING.

If I did it, mostly everybody can do it, but it has been very challenging, and honestly I couldn’t do it for consequent days.

Should I get a porter?

Please do yourself and the community a favor and hire a porter (for 20-25 usd): it will carry your bag and help you along the path.

You will get also a walking stick, EXTREMELY USEFUL

How far will be the gorillas from me?

Expect to be from very close like 3 meters to 15 – 20 meters.

Remember the VERY THICK VEGETATION, the far they are, the almost impossible will be to do photos

Which focal length and lenses should I carry for gorilla tracking?

For a photographer, I believe this is the most important question, that I have tried to explore before going in Uganda.

Here some very useful tips:

• once you find the family of gorillas, the porter will stay back, so you need to get all the lenses and equipment you need for the hour of staying with them. Don’t forget anything, otherwise you will have to go back and find the porter, and waste time

An angry silverback

• remember the VERY STEEP TERRAIN, using a tripod will be very difficult, for me it was impossible; you could try with a monopod, but it will be difficult to use

• remember the THICK VEGETATION, expect a low light condition, so pump up your ISO

• if you have two cameras (which I hadn’t), have one with a midrange zoom (24-70mm) and one with a telezoom (70-200mm or up)

the only quiet moment, I used a 24-70 2.8

• Using a super telezoom (like mine Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS) will be very very difficult for the low light, thick vegetation and difficulty in placing a tripod on the steep grounds. This is the ONLY photo I managed to take on the super tele zoom

• I know it sounds bad, but try to be in front of your group: being in the back means missing photo opportunity.

If you need any tips, just drop me an email of a private message on my instagram!

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