If you have ever been to any part of Africa or on a low budget, you may want to visit Uganda on your own probably on a Self-drive adventure.
If, however, you’re looking to sit back and pack in as much of the country as possible, try one of the guided Uganda Safaris offered by many travel services.
You’ll generally get a great deal and enjoy the Pearl of Africa on a customized Safari truck complete with an English / any other language speaking guide.
There are many ways to take guided Uganda Safaris but many of them start in Kampala and go through Murchison Falls, Fort Portal, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Forest, Lake Mburo National park and back to Kampala. Guided tours can also go to Jinja, Mbale and Kidepo Valley National park as well as to the many tourist reserves in the country.
It is exciting to know that, on a nearly year-round basis, you can take your partner, friend or family on any guided tour as may crafted by you and your tour operator.
Guided tours in Uganda can be walking tours, driving tours or a combination of both. In many cases, because most of the exciting tourist destinations are located fairway from Kampala, the country’s capital, it pays to spend most of your time on a guided driving tour.
Guided Walking Tours
Walking tours can be more exciting however as they include most of the top popular tour activities in the country. Mountain Gorilla tours in Uganda are one of the top things you shouldn’t miss while in Africa and this is part of the walking tours. They involve trekking through the Impenetrable Forest of Bwindi in South West Uganda in search for these endangered primates. It may take even 4 hours while tracking these shy giants to find them but the one hour time of interaction that you spend in close interaction with them can be more rewarding and relieving as it assures you memories of a lifetime.
Another walking tour that is more rewarding is taking the nature walk through Kibale Forest, the so called ‘Primates Capital of East Africa’. This guided walking adventure gives you sightings of a number of popular primates including chimpanzees, different species of monkeys such as L’hoest monkeys, Blue monkeys, red tailed monkeys & black and white colobus etc, nocturnal primates including pottos & galagoes, mangabeys and olive baboons among others. Once in Kibale, you can extend you walking tour adventure to the Bigodi wetland, a stunning bird sanctuary in the area.
Hiking is also part of the walking tours and this is more popular with Mountain Rwenzori if you are looking for a truly challenging adventure. Climbing Rwenzori can be done for any period that you would prefer from a day hiking but the total time taken to reach the peak and back down is 9 days.
Perhaps you can start your guided tour with a city tour in some places in the Capital, Kampala. It’s a busy place where you may be able to see cultural, historical and administration sites. A guided walking tour through the down town can give you an experience you have never imagined before. Shopping in St Balikuddembe and Nakasero markets and taking a Kampala city & slum tour in areas of Katanga, Kisenyi, Namuwongo and Katwe to see how people survive even in the worst economic and hygienic conditions is a must try out.
Guided Driving Tours
All exciting guided Uganda tours that have a driving component must take you for a game drive to see the wild animals in their National Parks. The most popular game drives in Uganda are those through the Isasha sector and Kasenyi trail in Queen Elizabeth National Park, morning and evening game drives in Murchison Falls National Park, Lake Mburo National and Kidepo Valley National Park among others. These gives you great sightings of large herds of Buffaloes and Elephants, over 15 species of Antelopes and Zebras among others. If your tour guide has enough experience it would be a very good opportunity to spot the big cats easily that would include the rare tree climbing lions of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Driving tours would also take you to see beautiful sceneries in Western Uganda including the explosive craters in areas around Kasese, lava dammed lakes of Bunyonyi & Mutanda etc.
Driving guided tours can also encompass boat launches to see exciting features such as the aquatic life and animals taking water along the banks and shores of lakes etc. Boat rides are conducted at Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park, River Nile just below the Murchison Falls, Lake Mburo in Lake Mburo National Park and Lake Bunyonyi – a scenic beauty with over 30 islands among others.
