Entebbe to Fort Portal
The drive west climbs gradually towards Fort Portal, passing several of the region’s volcanic crater lakes along the way, their still water set against a backdrop of tea plantations and forest patches.
The Albertine Rift cuts through western Uganda as a dramatic escarpment on one side and a low, hot valley floor on the other. This nine-day route crosses both, from the crater lakes around Fort Portal down to Semliki’s hot springs and back up into the highlands around Bwindi.
It suits travellers who have done a standard western circuit before and want the quieter parks, Semliki sees a fraction of Kibale’s visitor numbers, alongside a return to gorilla trekking in the south-west.
The drive west climbs gradually towards Fort Portal, passing several of the region’s volcanic crater lakes along the way, their still water set against a backdrop of tea plantations and forest patches.
A morning trek through Kibale Forest follows one of its habituated chimpanzee communities, tracking calls through dense canopy until the group is located and observed for around an hour.
The road descends off the rift escarpment onto the valley floor, dropping in altitude and rising in temperature as it reaches Semliki, one of Uganda’s least-visited parks and its oldest forest reserve.
A morning walk to the Sempaya hot springs, where boiling water forces its way up through the forest floor, precedes the drive south to Queen Elizabeth National Park along the base of the rift valley.
A launch trip along the Kazinga Channel covers the water separating Lakes George and Edward, with hippo, buffalo and a broad range of waterbirds gathered along both banks.
A short trek into Kyambura Gorge, a steep rift valley tributary lined with dense forest, offers a second chance at chimpanzees before the drive south to Ishasha, known for lions that rest in the branches of fig trees.
The drive climbs back up onto the rift escarpment, leaving the valley floor behind as the road enters the forested hills of Bwindi’s southern Rushaga sector.
A guided trek into steep forest terrain follows a habituated gorilla family, with the group’s location on any given day shaping both the length of the walk and the difficulty of the terrain.
A flight from Kihihi or a drive north returns you towards Entebbe, completing a route that has run from crater lakes to hot valley floor to the gorilla highlands.
Tell us roughly when you would like to travel and what draws you here, and we will take it from there.
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