Western Uganda Tour

Today you’ll be setting out from your lodgings in Kampala for Fort Portal. This town is known as the tourism hub of Western Uganda, a land of splendor and rich culture, beautiful and with lots of natural resources including but not limited to the amalgamates and crater lakes. It is also the home of Toro culture and will give you a glimpse of this unique kingdom that is part of but still separate from the rest of Uganda.

You’ll start the day bright and early with a sunrise continental breakfast before departing for the Toro Kingdom, one of five traditional kingdoms within the borders of Uganda. The 5-hour drive takes you through amazing scenery and your guide will offer great insight on the passing scenery as well as prepping you with information on the adventures to come.

You’ll arrive in Fort Portal, the traditional homeland of Toro just in time for lunch. After a lunch of traditional foods, you’ll head out to the amalgamates hike where you’ll learn about the historical and cultural experience of the Toro people dating back to prehistoric times. This hike into these caves takes you all the way into early evening, and after a hearty dinner, you’ll retire to relax with an evening of storytelling and cultural exchanges with the locals.

Depending on what activity is chosen, you’ll start this day right after breakfast by heading to either Bwindi or Queen Elizabeth National Park.
For those who will track gorillas, you’ll embark on a mini-game drive through the Ishasha sector and head to Bwindi. Ishasha sector is popularly known for the tree-climbing lions and you’re likely to get a glimpse of them along the way.

For those not tracking gorillas but staying in Queen Elizabeth National Park, you will also leave immediately after breakfast and head to the park in time for a mid-morning game drive. After lunch you’ll enjoy a nature walk to the Katwe salt mines and spend the evening in the salt mining community before returning home for an early dinner and bed.

This day is dedicated to gorilla tracking, so after an early breakfast, you’ll report to the trailing points to be briefed by the park authorities before tracking families are selected. The tracking time ranges from 1 hour to a maximum 8 hours so wear your comfy boots! Armed with a packed lunch and rain gear, you’ll embark on the day-long tracking activity, only returning to your accommodation after a successful gorilla viewing.

If you are on the game drive instead, at dawn you’ll embark on a full game drive to hunt for predators and other game. You’ll return in time for lunch, then a boat launch right after lunch and on to a mini-game drive in the evening to search for the early nocturnal animals. With any luck, you’ll have some great sightings that will satisfy your curiosity about these rare and majestic animals while bringing no harm to them whatsoever.

Both the gorilla-tracking group and the Queen Elizabeth National Park group will leave right after breakfast and transfer to Kabale before heading on to Bunyonyi. Along the way, you will stop to visit with various women’s support groups and participate in their local activities, including preparing local meals, visiting local traditional leaders and checking out the craft-making businesses they’ve created.

On this day you’ll start out with some Batwa community visits where you will learn about their culture and needs as they showcase their style of housing, food, and way of life. You will also learn how fire was made in the medieval ages as well as getting to join them in singing and dancing while at the campfire on the edge of the forest.

In the afternoon there will also be an option to do some Lake Bunyonyi water activities and go for a dip!

Today your group will get a chance to volunteer at a school or hospital, learn about the unique health challenges they face here, and engage in cross-cultural exchange.

After you transfer back to Kampala, you’ll get to spend the evening at the Ndere Cultural Center as well as visit the local crafts market in town. Wrap up your incredible trip by relaxing on the shores of Lake Victoria chatting about all the amazing things you saw and prepare for tomorrow’s flight with indelible images of life in Uganda to take home with you.