CORE EXPERIENCES
Standard Permit — $1,500 Exclusive Experience — $15,000 Behind the Scene Package Uganda Habituation Experience Photography & Film PermitsPOPULAR PARKS
Volcanoes National Park Nyungwe National Park Akagera National Park Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Mgahinga Gorilla National ParkUganda’s complete wildlife circuit — gorilla trekking at Bwindi, tree-climbing lions and a boat cruise at Queen Elizabeth National Park, and chimpanzee trekking at Kibale, Uganda’s primate capital.
ENTEBBE
Arrive and transfer to your hotel, evening at leisure.
BWINDI (BUHOMA)
Light-aircraft transfer to Bwindi’s Buhoma sector, checking into Buhoma Lodge.
BWINDI (BUHOMA)
Depart the Buhoma trailhead for your gorilla trek.
QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK
Drive north to Queen Elizabeth National Park, arriving in time for an afternoon game drive.
QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK
A morning game drive for the park’s tree-climbing lions, then an afternoon boat cruise through one of Africa’s densest hippo populations.
KIBALE NATIONAL PARK
Drive north to Kibale, the primate capital of the world.
KIBALE NATIONAL PARK
A morning trek to one of East Africa’s largest habituated chimpanzee communities.
ENTEBBE
Drive or fly back to Entebbe, evening at leisure.
ENTEBBE
Private transfer to Entebbe International Airport.
From approximately $13,600 per person, double occupancy, excluding international flights.
START PLANNING ↗A non-refundable deposit covering your gorilla and chimpanzee permits confirms your dates and secures both with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, alongside your Queen Elizabeth National Park arrangements. Given this itinerary spans three parks across nine days, we recommend booking at least six months ahead for peak season (June–September, December–February). The balance is due ahead of arrival on a schedule confirmed in your written proposal.
Once confirmed, we coordinate every permit, all four lodge stays, and every transfer directly, so this three-park circuit is managed as a single private trip rather than a series of separate bookings.
WHO THIS SUITS
This itinerary suits travellers who want to see the full breadth of what Uganda offers beyond gorillas specifically — savanna game and tree-climbing lions at Queen Elizabeth, one of East Africa’s largest chimpanzee communities at Kibale, and mountain gorilla trekking at Bwindi, all within a single, well-organised nine-day circuit. It suits first-time Uganda visitors who want genuine breadth rather than a single-park focus, and travellers who find Uganda’s savanna and primate diversity as compelling as its gorillas.
Placing Kibale’s chimpanzee trekking after Queen Elizabeth’s savanna days lets the itinerary build toward its second major primate encounter without repeating the same forest environment twice in a row — Bwindi’s dense rainforest, then Queen Elizabeth’s open savanna, then Kibale’s different forest ecosystem, each genuinely distinct from the one before it. This sequencing keeps a nine-day trip feeling varied throughout rather than repetitive.
What exactly is included in the $13,600 per-person price?
The Bwindi gorilla permit, Kibale chimpanzee trekking permit, the Kazinga Channel boat cruise and game
drives, eight nights across Entebbe, Buhoma Lodge, Kyambura Gorge Lodge, and Primate Lodge Kibale on an
all-inclusive basis, your private guide and vehicle throughout, and all transfers. International flights are
not included.
Are the tree-climbing lions guaranteed?
No sighting in the wild is ever guaranteed, though Queen Elizabeth’s Ishasha sector’s specific
reputation makes a sighting reasonably likely, particularly during warmer midday hours.
Can we upgrade to the Gorilla Habituation
Experience?
Yes — we can rebuild this itinerary around the
Gorilla Habituation Experience at Rushaga sector
instead, adjusting the routing and pricing accordingly.
Is nine days enough to see all three parks
properly?
Yes, at this itinerary’s pace — each park gets at least one full activity day plus a settling-in
or transfer day, avoiding the rushed feeling a faster circuit would create.
How quickly will we hear back after
enquiring?
We respond to every enquiry within 48 hours with a bespoke written proposal covering the exact details,
pricing, and day-by-day plan for your specific dates and group size.
This nine-day structure is a flexible starting template — common adjustments include adding a Kyambura Gorge chimpanzee trek as a second, lower-cost primate encounter, extending Queen Elizabeth for additional game drives, or combining this circuit with a Rwanda extension across the border. Tell us what matters most to your group and we’ll build a final proposal around it.
A NOTE ON PRICING
This figure reflects double occupancy at the four lodges named in this itinerary during standard season. Solo travellers, larger groups, peak-season dates, and alternative lodge tiers all shift this figure. We always confirm exact, all-inclusive pricing in your written proposal before asking for any commitment.
Three parks, two separate permit systems, and four lodge changes across nine days require genuine logistical coordination to run smoothly — we manage every permit, transfer, and booking directly as a single private itinerary, so the transitions between Bwindi, Queen Elizabeth, and Kibale feel seamless rather than like three separate trips stitched together.
A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT
Buhoma’s gorilla trekking morning opens the trip with the most physically demanding day, but also the one that seems to reset everyone’s sense of what a wildlife encounter can feel like — nothing at Queen Elizabeth or Kibale quite matches the intensity of standing metres from a silverback. Queen Elizabeth’s game drives that follow feel almost restful by comparison: open savanna, a vehicle rather than your own legs doing the work, and the specific thrill of scanning fig trees at Ishasha for a dangling lion tail. The Kazinga Channel boat cruise on day nine is consistently the trip’s most relaxed few hours — hippos, elephants, and dense birdlife viewed from water level with no walking involved at all.
Kibale’s chimpanzee trekking, the trip’s third and final primate encounter, has an entirely different energy from gorilla trekking — chimpanzees move fast through the canopy, call loudly across the forest, and the trek itself often involves more walking to keep pace with a mobile group. Travellers consistently describe the contrast between Bwindi’s hushed, slow gorilla encounter and Kibale’s noisy, energetic chimpanzee forest as one of this itinerary’s most memorable pairings.
Every guide on this itinerary is licensed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, with specific experience across all three parks on this route rather than a single specialty. Given how different Bwindi’s forest trekking, Queen Elizabeth’s savanna game driving, and Kibale’s chimpanzee tracking are from each other, this breadth of experience genuinely matters for a smooth nine-day circuit.
Gorilla trekking at Bwindi is the most physically demanding element, requiring moderate fitness and genuine readiness for steep, muddy terrain at altitude. Queen Elizabeth’s game drives require no particular fitness at all, done entirely from a vehicle. Kibale’s chimpanzee trekking sits in between — shorter than gorilla trekking but often faster-paced, since chimpanzees move more than gorillas do. We can request an easier gorilla family assignment at Buhoma for less experienced trekkers without affecting the rest of the itinerary.
TRUST AND LICENSING
Both the gorilla and chimpanzee permits on this itinerary are booked directly through the Uganda Wildlife Authority, never through unofficial resellers. Buhoma Lodge, Kyambura Gorge Lodge, and Primate Lodge Kibale all hold established reputations within their respective parks. We’re glad to share references from previous three-park circuit travellers and to walk through our insurance coverage and safety protocols before any deposit is due.
Uganda requires proof of yellow fever vaccination for travellers arriving from at-risk countries, and a travel health consultation four to six weeks ahead is worth scheduling given this itinerary’s mix of high-altitude forest trekking and lower-altitude savanna time. Comprehensive travel insurance covering high-altitude trekking is essential, and typically required by the lodges themselves.
Are the tree-climbing lions genuinely reliable at
Ishasha?
No wild sighting is ever guaranteed, though Ishasha’s specific reputation for this behaviour makes a sighting
reasonably likely, particularly during warmer midday hours when lions seek shade in the fig trees.
Is nine days enough to see all three parks
properly?
Yes, at this itinerary’s pace — each park gets at least one full activity day plus a settling-in or
transfer day, avoiding the rushed feeling a faster circuit would create.
How physically different is chimpanzee trekking
from gorilla trekking?
Chimpanzees are considerably more mobile than gorillas, so trekking groups often walk further and faster to
keep pace, though the terrain at Kibale is generally less steep than Bwindi’s.
The Ugandan shilling is the local currency, though US dollars printed 2009 or later are widely accepted at lodges and for tipping. Typical guidance is $15–20 per trekking guide per trek, $10–15 for a porter, and a discretionary amount for lodge staff and game drive guides across the four properties on this itinerary. Budgeting cash for two separate treks plus multiple lodge stays is worth doing before you arrive.
Permit rules, pricing, and park-specific information cited on this page reflect current published Uganda Wildlife Authority policy. For broader context, see our Uganda Standard Gorilla Permit guide and our Queen Elizabeth National Park page.
A NOTE FROM OUR UGANDA GROUND TEAM
We deliberately sequence this itinerary with Bwindi first, Queen Elizabeth second, and Kibale last, rather than any other order, based on years of running this exact circuit. Opening with the most demanding trek while energy is highest, moving into the least demanding savanna days as a mid-trip recovery, then closing with Kibale’s faster-paced chimpanzee trekking works better than front-loading two primate encounters back to back, which travellers consistently report as feeling repetitive rather than building toward something new.
Uganda’s two dry seasons — June through September and a shorter window from December through February — bring firmer trekking trails at both Bwindi and Kibale, and easier game-viewing conditions at Queen Elizabeth. Both gorilla and chimpanzee trekking run year-round regardless of season, and Queen Elizabeth’s wildlife is genuinely rewarding at any time of year given its permanent water sources along the Kazinga Channel.
Bwindi’s dense forest calls for a fast, wide lens suited to low light and close-range gorilla encounters, Queen Elizabeth’s open savanna rewards a longer zoom for distant Big Five sightings and the Ishasha tree-climbing lions, and Kibale’s fast-moving chimpanzees demand quick, reliable autofocus over raw reach. Few single trips ask this much versatility of a camera bag — travellers serious about photography should pack a genuinely adaptable kit rather than optimising for a single environment.
HOW THIS COMPARES
A standard gorilla-only Bwindi trip typically runs three to four days centred entirely on the forest trek, with no savanna game viewing or second primate encounter included. This itinerary extends that core experience by five additional days specifically to add Queen Elizabeth’s classic safari game viewing and Kibale’s chimpanzee trekking — giving a genuinely complete picture of what Uganda offers beyond gorillas alone, at a cost that reflects considerably more park time and two additional permits rather than one.
Travellers with more time available often extend this itinerary with a second Queen Elizabeth game drive day, a Kyambura Gorge chimpanzee trek as a lower-cost second primate encounter, or a Rwanda extension across the border for a genuinely comprehensive two-country trip. Tell us your specific interests and available time when enquiring, and we’ll adjust this template into a proposal built around your group.
Three parks, two separate permit systems, and four lodge changes across nine days require genuine logistical coordination to run smoothly. We manage every permit, transfer, and booking directly as a single private itinerary, so the transitions between Bwindi, Queen Elizabeth, and Kibale feel seamless rather than like three separate trips stitched together.
This itinerary works equally well for couples, small friend groups, or solo travellers, since your guide and vehicle remain private throughout regardless of group size. Larger groups of four or more sometimes see a modest per-person efficiency in shared vehicle and guide costs across nine days, which we reflect accurately in your written proposal once we know your exact numbers and dates.
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