A 5-day journey through Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi, using the comfortable, well-positioned lodges most travellers choose. 4 nights on safari, priced on request.
Queen Elizabeth/Ishasha - Bwindi - chimp tracking area
About this safari
The route opens in Queen Elizabeth — kazinga Channel hippos and the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha — and works through 1 further destination over 5 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
This planning outline starts in Entebbe and continues into western Uganda; the collection point, timing and any permit arrangements are confirmed in the final proposal. The drive to Queen Elizabeth crosses the equator, marked by a pair of concrete circles beside the road, and descends towards the lakes. The park occupies the low ground between them, with the Kazinga Channel linking the two and the crater field rising to the north, and game begins appearing along the road well before the boundary. 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. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Queen Elizabeth
Day 2
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. The southern Ishasha sector is where the tree-climbing lions are. They rest through the heat of the day in the branches of large fig trees, which is genuinely unusual behaviour seen in only a handful of places in Africa. It is never a certainty — the sector is large and the lions move — but a drive through the fig country in the middle of the day is the way to look. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Queen Elizabeth
Day 3
This activity is a planning option and only forms part of the day when it appears in the written quotation. The next section of the circuit moves on, today's journey ends at one of the most biologically rich forests in Africa. The roads through the highlands are winding and slow, but the country they cross is spectacular — terraced hills, crater lakes and distant views towards the Virunga volcanoes — and the arrival at the forest edge, with the canopy rising in front of you, justifies the hours it took. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Bwindi
Day 4
You are at the park headquarters by half past seven for the briefing, where the current visitor and health rules are explained before groups set out. Advance trackers have been in the forest since first light. The trek itself is genuinely hard work — steep ground, thick undergrowth, and altitude — but the moment the trackers stop and point, and a silverback is sitting fifteen feet away entirely unbothered, the climb stops mattering. Porters are available and worth every shilling. 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. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Bwindi
Day 5
The final day's exact pace depends on the confirmed transfer and onward travel arrangements. The forest presses right up against the lodges here, and the soundscape is part of the stay — turaco calling across the valley, insects building through the evening, and rain moving audibly through the canopy before it reaches you. Mornings often start under mist that burns off to reveal ridge after ridge of unbroken forest. The planning route returns to Entebbe; the final drop-off and timing will be agreed around the confirmed onward arrangements.
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
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
Before 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.