Primates and Wildlife Cycling Adventure

Day 1: Arrival @ Entebbe International Airport

Adventure Consults staff will meet you upon arrival at Entebbe Airport, assist you through customs, fetch your checked bags and hand you over to a safari guide for transfer to your hotel. Depending on arrival time, you have the option of an escorted cycling experience around the Entebbe area including the slope down to the golf course, botanical gardens and a meander near the shore of Lake Victoria. Entebbe is far more laidback than Kampala and much of the area is still green with lots of monkeys, birds and butterflies. After your ride, return to your hotel in Entebbe for an overnight on bed & breakfast basis.

Day 2: Entebbe – Kibale Forest National Park

Meet your guide in the lobby for detailed briefing of the day’s adventure and start the journey to western Uganda via Kampala. The drive goes through verdant countryside, traditional homesteads and farmlands before arriving at Fort Portal in time for lunch.

In the afternoon, start cycling with your guide to the Kibale Forest along a road that rambles in the shadow of the fabled “Mountains of the Moon.” It’s a 40-km (24-mile) stretch, but you don’t have to cycle the entire distance. Your guide will point out interesting places along the way, including the lush tea plantations. Our support vehicle will follow at an agreed/reasonable distance. Proceed straight to your overnight lodge upon arriving at Kibale in the late afternoon. Meals and accommodation included.

Day 3: Chimpanzee Tracking — Kibale Forest

After an early morning breakfast, drive to Kibale Forest National Park headquarters for a briefing then head out for primate viewing along a jungle trail. Your guide will help you search for chimps and other animals that inhabit a park that hosts 13 species of primate. Making sure the trek is both enjoyable and informative, your guide is a fountain of information, and not just on primates, but all the fauna and flora one finds in Kibale Forest. The walk is excellent for viewing bird life and primates at close quarters.

You can relax at the lodge after lunch before undertaking an hour-long cycling experience in the Kibale/Bigodi area. Along the way you may encounter baboons, black-and-white colobus monkeys, birds and lots more! You return to the lodge around the same time the sun is disappearing over the forest canopy. Meals and overnight accommodation included.

Day 4: Kibale — Queen Elizabeth National Park

After a short briefing by the guides, we start the three-hour drive from Kibale to Queen Elizabeth National Park, cruising beside the mystical Rwenzori Mountains for most of the journey.

Along the way there’s a 21-km (13-mile) cycle through an area dotted with volcanic craters, farms and homesteads. Upon reaching the Kasese-Fort Portal Highway, we hop back into the jeeps and proceed to Queen Elizabeth National Park and lunch at the lodge.

Following an afternoon siesta, it’s time for a game drive through a park that harbors hundreds of animal species including waterbuck, elephant, leopard, buffalo, hyena and a variety of antelope. Meals and overnight at the lodge.

Day 5: Game Viewing & Boat Ride

Today starts with an early morning rise and a cup of your favorite beverage before embarking on a morning game drive along Kasenyi Track and the Queens’s Mile. Keep a look out for lion, elephant, buffalo, warthog, leopard, hyena, mongoose, waterbuck and Ugandan kob, as well as many small animals and birds.

After lunch, enjoy a unique boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel and into Lake Edward. This trip passes many hippo groups and a wide variety of animals drinking at the water’s edge. The cruise offers an excellent platform for photography, bird watching and game viewing. The prolific bird life along the channel is both colorful and remarkable, with well over 600 recorded species. Meals and overnight at the lodge.

Day 6: Queen Elizabeth — Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

After an early morning breakfast, we start the journey to Bwindi via the remote Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. As you drive through the area, keep an eye out for Ishasha’s famous tree-climbing lions.

Upon arrival in Bwindi in the afternoon, you have an option to simply relax and enjoy a presentation by a Bwindi orphanage group. Alternatively, you can embark on an escorted bike ride through villages around the fringe of the national park. Expect lots of waves, smiles and local people greeting you with the phrase “Hello Mzungu!”  Meals and overnight accommodation included at the lodge.

Day 7: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. 10 hours.

Another early morning for a trek in the famed gorilla sanctuary. The Bwindi Forest is spectacular, a dense landscape crisscrossed by numerous animal trails that expedite to wherever the gorillas happen to be on any given day.

The amount of time on the trail — somewhere between three and ten hours — is determined by the weather, the terrain and the daily movements of the gorillas. The thrill of spending time with and observing these gentle giants is a rare and moving experience that leaves you with intense, long-lasting memories. The gorillas are shy and peaceful animals and it’s an unforgettable to watch and photograph them as they interact with each other.

Meals and overnight accommodation included at the lodge.

Day 8: Cycling in Bwindi.

Pack enough water, wear the right clothes and set off on a cycle adventure through the tropical forest and villages of the Bwindi area. Depending on the weather, the tracks might be dusty or muddy — but that’s part of the adventure!

Bwindi is renowned for its lush rainforest, great bird watching, friendly communities and cool weather. Return to the lodge in time for lunch. After a relaxing afternoon, enjoy entertainment presented by a local community or school group. Meals and overnight accommodation included at the lodge.

Day 9: Fly to Entebbe — Connect to International Flight

After breakfast, proceed to Kihihi airstrip in time for your 9:45 a.m. flight. Depending on the weather, you might have incredible views of volcanoes, villages and lakes while taking off from Kihihi. Arriving at Entebbe Airport at 11:25 a.m., connect to your onward international flight.

Please make sure your return flight from Entebbe departs after 1 p.m. Note that flight schedules are subject to change. Depending on flight schedule, you may need a day room at a hotel near the airport which we can book upon request.