DESTINATIONS UGANDA AFRICA There are four main gorilla-tracking
SAMPLE PRODUCT
Explore has an 11-day Gorilla & Chimp Safari group trip,
including time in Bwindi National Park, Kibale
National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park,
from £3,865 per person (excluding flights).
explore.co.uk
Distinctive Africa has a 13-night Distinctive
Uganda tour, taking in all
the key wildlife highlights as well as time in Murchison Falls National
Park and hot-air ballooning over Queen Elizabeth National Park,
from £6,895 per person including accommodation, most meals, activities and flights from Heathrow to Entebbe.
distinctiveafrica.
co.uk
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travelweekly.co.uk 25 October 2018
trailheads on the outskirts of the park: Buhoma, which is the longest established and most popular (although the gorilla experiences it offers are ostensibly no different from elsewhere), Nkuringo, Ruhija and Rushaga. They’re all located significant distances away from each other, and each of the four gives access to the territories of specific gorilla groups. Tourists booking independently sometimes make the mistake of staying in one trailhead but inadvertently booking a tracking experience from another, so this is something to double-check. The forest itself is beautiful – shaggy, huge and primordial, with a sea of green hills – and there’s plenty to warrant staying around for a few days. I was based around Nkuringo, and enjoyed a series of other walks, both inside the jungle and through the often spectacularly located villages of the wider community. The area is an excellent birding destination too, as well as being home to wildlife such as chameleons and monkeys.
w PARK LIFE After Bwindi, tourist attention generally falls on Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is known for its tree-climbing lions among other wildlife, and Kibale National Park, which is famed for its chimps. Chimp-tracking permits are $150 for a standard trek and $200 for a habituation experience. And seeing chimpanzees up close – charging up
See chimps up close – charging up trunks, scampering through the bush and hooting from the treetops
trunks, scampering through the bush, hooting from the treetops – can be no less thrilling than witnessing their larger Bwindi counterparts. Bwindi, Queen Elizabeth and Kibale all sit in the southwest of the country, making a combined trip eminently manageable. Bear in mind, however, that even distances that look short
on the map can be extremely time- consuming, due to the poor condition of some of the roads. But it’s a well- travelled region, and experienced local destination management companies such as Great Lakes Safaris (
greatlakessafaris.com) help UK operators to tailor itineraries that are workable, sorting out everything from airport pick-ups to accommodation and park fees. Close to Kibale, the Rwenzori Mountains National Park draws adventurous types with its snow- capped peaks – the highest of them reaching well over 5,000 metres – while further north, Murchison Falls National Park also attracts a lot of attention, largely thanks to its Nile gorge and thunderous whitewater falls. The sprawling capital city, Kampala, doesn’t figure on too many visitors’ lists, chiefly because international flights arrive into quieter Entebbe, 25 miles away.
w WHERE TO STAY Accommodation options range from full-on luxury to basic guesthouses, with new openings still commonplace. Properties on touring itineraries are often of a high standard, with plenty of character. A new option worth knowing about is Elephant Plains, a luxury lodge in Queen Elizabeth National Park, which opened this year. All told, Churchill’s ‘Pearl of Africa’
ABOVE: Great Lakes
LEFT: Chimps
is a destination with huge potential, plenty of cultural interest and a genuinely world-class wildlife offering.
PICTURES: SHUTTERSTOCK; JAVIER GONZALEZ MANSO
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