Uganda’s top 10 destinations great for safari include two rainforest jungles popular for primates viewing, three shoreline destinations on two massive lakes, and five savannah game parks—an impressive collection no other Africa safari destination, that size, can dream of having. From the savannah plains, rainforest jungles to hidden cultural cities, Uganda has many obscure and diverse destinations great for a private or group African safari holiday. In this little country, the size of Britain, there are 10 national parks, 12 wildlife reserves, a multi culture mix, and a bucket-load of breathtaking landscapes; it’s challenging to decide which places deserve the distinction of the best destinations to visit in Uganda.That’s why we considered a variety of factors, such as the destination’s tractions, access, bioviversity, accommodation options, as well as popularity and ratings, to determine which are best places for safari in Uganda.Uganda’s top destinations have become popular with private and small group travelers and what makes them preferred by the new and seasoned travelers is that its tourist numbers are still small and tolerable compared to its famous giant safari neighbors (Kenya and Tanzania).There’s a big chance that an ordinary traveler’s toes will not get stepped on, their lazy evenings will not be disrupted, or even they might be the only one on a game drive in the entire national park. The destination is a giant private reserve that makes private safari an affordable indulgence for an everyday traveler. Uganda has all the savannah plains, the rainforest jungles, the snow-capped mountains, and the indigenous African cultures to brag about. Having all this travel trove in one giant private reserve, I think, makes Ugandan people the most modest, welcoming, entertaining, and so much caring hosts. Take a look at our compilation of the top 10 Uganda destinations; use it for your vacation planning, and cast your vote at the end of this post to have a say in next year’s list.
Top 10 Destinations in UgandaQueen Elizabeth National ParkMurchison Falls National ParkBwindi Impenetrable National ParkEntebbe – KampalaKibale National ParkLake Mburo National ParkJinja, Source of The NileLake BunyonyiKidepo National ParkRwenzori National Park
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Entebbe Town Introducing You To Uganda
5. Kibale National Park
Kibale National Park
Stepping into Kibale Forest, you will immediately be welcomed by the dew freshness, endemic flowers’ fragrance, and primates’ musty scents. The alien sounds that bounce off your eardrums echo from distant red colobus hoots and exotic birds’ tweets.In the distance, the sound of forest elephants felling branches along its path gives you an image of what surprise inhabitants you could encounter in this ancient tropical forest. Unexpected visitors leave trails around your forest camp or cottage to inform you that someone is watching when you’re not.Guttural belches from warthogs remind you of the clumsy Pumba and Timon escapades of the ‘Hakuna Matata’ juggles. Gaze up, and a single scene might capture the iconic and unique as an olive long-tailed cuckoo flies above a small buffalo herd. The spirit of this jungle will make you feel more alive than ever before.This 795-sq-km national park just outside Fort Portal comprises dense tropical rainforests, within which dwell enormous numbers of primates. If you can’t afford the lavish cost of mountain-gorilla tracking, then visiting one of the five habituated troops of chimpanzees here is a very worthy substitute, not to mention a far less financially draining one. Also regularly seen here are the rare red colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys.Beaming with an alluring combination of exquisite landscape scenery and various remarkable tourist activities, Kibale Forest National Park, together with the nearby Ndali-Kasenda Crater Lakes, is close to being an independent traveler’s dream.Kibale Forest is highly powerfully and mysteriously attractive to nature lovers who come to view a wide range of forest birds and track chimpanzees and other twelve primate species (the highest concentration on the continent) that find refuge within the park.Kibale National Park’s scenic appeal, chimp tracking cost, and the rising number of safari lodges make it one of the top destinations in Uganda and a great alternative to the southern gorilla destination Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.The most popular activity in Kibale National Park is the guided chimpanzee tracking excursion out of Kanyanchu almost as popular is the guided walking trail through the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, which is probably better for general monkey viewing and one of the finest birding trails in the country.There is also plenty of potential for unguided exploration in the area, both along the main road through the forest and around Bigodi trading center and Kanyanchu Camp. If time is limited, it’s advisable to do the activity that most interests you in the morning — this is the best time to see chimpanzees and when birds are most active.
Guided forest walks in Kibale cost USD 30/40 Day/Night, excluding park entrance. A highlight of any visit to Kibale Forest will be the chimp tracking hike that leaves Kanyanchu at 08.00 and 14.00 daily. Chimp sightings are not guaranteed on these walks, but the odds of encountering them have significantly improved in recent years and now stand at around 96%. The chimpanzee community, whose territory centers on Kanyanchu, is well habituated, with the result that visitors can often approach within a few meters of them.While in the forest, you can expect to see at least two or three other types of primates, most probably grey-cheeked mangabey and red-tailed monkeys.You will hear plenty of birdsong, but it’s challenging to see any birds in the heart of the forest. You’re better off looking for them in the rest camp and along the road. The guides are knowledgeable and will identify various medicinal plants, bird calls, and animal spoor. For dedicated chimp enthusiasts or aspiring researchers seeking field experience, join a chimpanzee habituation experience, which involves staying with the chimps all day with habituators and taking notes on their behavior. A one-day chimpanzee habituation experience for foreign non-residents and residents costs USD 250 per person, and East African Nationals cost UGX 250,000 per person. The cost includes guide fees and park entrance but not accommodation.Kibale Forest stands out as one of the top Uganda destinations because of its exciting guided night walk with spotlights. The guided night walk runs from 19.30 to 22.00 daily, costs US$40 per person, and offers a good chance of sighting nocturnal primates such as the bushbaby and potto.
6. Lake Mburo National Park With exciting African wildlife watching in arm’s reach of the capital, the 370-sq-km Lake Mburo National Park is an increasingly common stop on the southwestern Uganda safari circuit. It’s the only one of the top 10 Uganda destinations in the southern region where you’ll see zebras, giraffe, and the only park in the country with impalas, slender mongoose, and giant bush rats.Lake Mburo is an underrated Uganda safari destination, dominated by the eponymous lake, which — with its forest-fringed shores hemmed in by rolling green hills — is scenically reminiscent of the more celebrated Lake Naivasha in the Kenyan Rift Valley.Despite its relative accessibility, Lake Mburo National Park is historically bypassed by most Uganda safari trips and independent travelers, presumably due to the low ‘big five’ count, particularly the lack of elephants and lions.Even in the absence of wildlife heavyweights, however, Lake Mburo offers some excellent safari game viewing. Stay for two or more nights, and you’re as likely to see as many different large mammal species over a day as you would in any Ugandan national park. Some recent developments have raised the profile of the park.With some desperation, safari operators have promoted Lake Mburo National Park as an ideal overnight stop along the long drive between Kampala and the other top destinations in southwestern Uganda. Amazingly, the number of travelers accepting the invitation has risen sharply since exemplary lodges opened up in the park, like the luxury Mihingo Lodge.Wild Game in Lake MburoLake Mburo is also the only protected area of the top 10 destinations in Uganda where visitors can view game animals on foot and horseback. The park harbors several species you may not see easily elsewhere in Uganda.It is the only reserve in Uganda to support a large population of impala, and one of only three protected areas countrywide where Burchell’s zebra occurs—the other two being the far less accessible Kidepo Valley and Pian Upe.Other antelope species casual visitors can spot are topi, bushbuck, common duiker, oribi, Defassa waterbuck, and Bohor reedbuck. At the same time, the lake and lush fringing vegetation support healthy populations of buffalo, warthog, bushpig, and hippopotamus.
Roan antelope, once common, are now locally extinct, but large herds of the majestic eland still move seasonally through parts of the park. The sitatunga antelope is confined to swamp interiors, and the klipspringer is occasionally observed in rocky areas. Only two diurnal primates occur at Lake Mburo: the vervet monkey and olive baboon.The eerie rising nocturnal call of the spotted hyena is often heard from the camps, and tourists less frequently observe individuals crossing the road shortly after dawn. Leopard, side-striped jackal, and various smaller predators are also present, most visibly white-tailed mongoose (at dusk and dawn) and three otter species resident in the lakes.BirdingBird experts have recorded about 315 species of birds in Lake Mburo National Park. It is probably the best place in Uganda to see acacia-associated birds. Rwonyo Camp is as good a place as any to look for the likes of mosque swallow, black-bellied bustard, bare-faced go-away bird, and Ruppell’s long-tailed starling.A handful of birds recorded at Lake Mburo are essentially southern species at the very northern limit of their range, for instance, the southern ground hornbill, black-collared and black-throated barbets, and green-capped eremomela.Of particular interest to birders are the swamps where six papyrus endemics are resident, including the brilliantly colored papyrus gonolek, the striking blue-headed coucal, the highly localized white-winged, and papyrus yellow warblers; recorded nowhere else in Uganda.Lake Mburo SafarisFor locals, Lake Mburo is the cheapest and most accessible of the top 10 Uganda destinations. The park offers excellent family safari holidays and bush walking experiences for Kids.For tourists, the park offers excellent complementary to the gorilla trekking experience in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (see above). It also acts as a buffer for the long voyages to Bwindi and Queen Elizabeth National Parks.This small park is located 107 km from Masaka City and 67 km before Mbarara City.
7. Jinja, Source of The Nile
Jinja, Source of The Nile One of Uganda’s largest towns, Jinja, just about 80km east of Kampala, overlooking the point where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria (the Source of The Nile), makes it to our top 10 destinations in Uganda because of its overwhelming popularity with local and international travelers. And it is the source of the mighty river rather than the moderately interesting town that attracts visitors to Jinja. The thrilling series of grade-five rapids below Bujagali Falls, a magnet for adrenaline tourists, has emerged as perhaps the single most popular tourist activity in Uganda, arguably surpassing even the mountain gorillas of the southwest. The rapids attract several adrenaline adventures concentrated in a small radius. It is one of the most spectacular white-water rafting destinations in the world. There is also a certain poignancy attached to standing on the slopes from where Speke first identified that geographical Holy Grail which, less than a decade earlier, had lured an obsessed (and hopelessly misdirected) Livingstone to a feverish death near Lake Bangweulu in Zambia. No less impressive is the knowledge that the water flowing past these green slopes will eventually drain into the Mediterranean, following a 6,500km journey through the desert wastes of Sudan and Egypt. Jinja has an attractively lush location on the northern shore of Lake Victoria above the Ripon Falls, identified by Speke in 1862 as the source of the Nile, but submerged following the construction of the Owen Falls Dam in the 1950s. The colonial town was formerly the industrial heartland of Uganda, with a current population of 300,000 people. Although its population makes it one of the largest urban centers in Uganda, Jinja is far from a metropolis that straddles the source of the Nile. First-time visitors wandering around Jinja’s compact, low-rise town center might reasonably reflect on the colonial times the Europeans made this place their economic center.
Wondering what you should wear on your safari journey.
The town center proliferates with abandoned colonial architecture. Some fine colonial-era Asian architecture — epitomized by the restored 1919 Madhvani House on Main Street — complemented by a spread of thickly vegetated residential suburbs carved from the surrounding jungle, does give Jinja a compelling sense of place. A great selection of accommodation choices sprouts around the city, allowing any traveler to spend a night in this colonial town. From hippie hostels to luxury travel lodges, you can’t fail to get where to spend your night in Jinja. A trip to any of the top Uganda destinations without visiting the source of the mighty Nile River will leave you with unfinished business guilt. It would be best if you extended your stay in Uganda to visit Jinja city.
8. Lake Bunyonyi
Lake Bunyonyi Lake Bunyonyi’s exotic landscapes that are a magnet for local and international travelers place it on this list of top 10 destinations in Uganda. Dotted with at least 20 small islands and encircled by steep terraced hills, Bunyonyi is a magical spot. It has been a popular day trip out of Kabale for decades. Over the past few years, the lake has further gained popularity thanks to a proliferation of budget and other campsites and resorts around the small fishing village of Rutinda (also known as Kyabahinga) and nearby islands.Bunyonyi is a local name translating to “little birds,” which references the prolific weaver colonies along its shore. Larger birds are also represented by grey-crowned cranes, African harrier hawks, and various herons and egrets. Other common sightings include the levillant cuckoo, white-tailed monad, slender-billed baglafetch, cardinal woodpecker, and the African kingfisher. The lake is large and irregularly shaped with numerous islands and the surrounding hillsides, which locals have beautifully cultivated like parts of Nepal. The area is vibrant with activities like canoeing, cycling, or hiking. Also in its favor is the high-altitude location, which ensures a moderate climate (often becoming quite chilly at night) and a relatively low incidence of malaria. Health authorities have reliably reported the absence of Bilharzia and crocodiles and hippos, which means the lake is very safe for swimming adventures. Active travelers will be excited that the easy availability of canoes, kayaks, and mountain bikes for hire, and enough potential excursions to keep one busy for days.
Things to do around lake Bunyonyi One primary reason to include lake Bunyonyi on the top destinations in Uganda is the endless opportunities for activities available at the Lake Bunyonyi region. Many villagers around the lake, several of the guesthouses, and campsites have boats for hire. It isn’t challenging to arrange a canoe trip on the lake. Canoeing is a popular activity, and you can rent dugouts from most of the camps. Charges are pretty reasonable but practice for a while before heading off on an ambitious trip around the islands, as many tourists end up going round and round in circles, doing what’s known locally as the mzungu (corkscrew). There are endless walking opportunities in the area, and for those who want a challenge, you can boat across the lake before trekking down to Kisoro. Guided walks are also popular, and these can usually be arranged through camps here. However, if you want a relaxed amble along the shores of the lake, it is straightforward enough to find your own way. You can hire a Mountain bike (per day USD 10) from Bunyonyi Overland Camp and are a great way to get along the lakeshore, although getting to Kabale would require a king of the mountains, Tour de France style effort. Wednesday and Saturday are Kyenvu open market days, drawing villagers from all over the region. It is a long way from all the camps around the lake and involves a three-hour trip by the dugout. However, most of the camps can arrange a rower to help out or secure a motorboat for rent. The people out here are pretty shy, so be sensitive with a camera. There are also several Batwa villages in this part of the region, and if you can link up with a friendly guide at the market, you might be able to arrange a visit to a Batwa community. Nearer to the camps is Punishment Island, located midway between Bushara and Njuyera Islands; so named because it was once the place where unmarried pregnant women were dumped to die. Tragically, most of them did die trying to swim for shore because they usually didn’t have the stamina to make it. It is easy to spot – it has just one small tree in the center.
9. Kidepo National Park
Kidepo National Park Nestled in the extreme northeastern corner of Uganda among rugged hills and valleys and off the beaten track, Kidepo National Park is a destination hidden so far away that its beauty has mostly gone unnoticed. Sprawling with expansive savannah plains, soaring mountains, spectacular landscapes, and great buffalo herds, Kidepo Valley offers one of Africa’s most attractive picturesque safaris. It sits on a massive 557 sq mile (1,442 sq km) rocky semi-arid Karamoja province. Of all the top ten destinations in Uganda, Kidepo Valley is the most remote and unusual. It is crammed in the northwestern corner of Uganda’s border with Kenya and South Sudan, which would take approximately 10 hours to drive 292 mi from Kampala to Kidepo on the newly paved road. Kidepo National Park offers breathtaking savannah scenery that ends on a rocky horizon. The park harbors outstanding landscape scenery unrivaled by any other national park in the whole of East Africa, and it features a wide latitudinal array that offers a variety of climatic conditions which support remarkably different vegetation. The diverse vegetation facilitates the different assortment of animal species within the park which are equally plentiful, among which are not seen in other parts of this country. The wildlife and vegetation in the park are rather more characteristic of Kenya than Uganda. Over 77 animals inhabit Kidepo National Park. Among the resident Carnivore species only endemic to Kidepo are the hunting dog, bat-eared fox, cheetah, striped hyena, caracal, aardwolf, Beisa Oryx, Lesser Kudu plus Grant’s gazelle, elephant, Orbis, Burchell’s zebras, Jackson’s hartebeests, bush pigs, cape buffaloes, bohor reedbucks, warthogs, defassa waterbucks, Rothschild giraffes, bush duskier and elands, bushbucks, in addition to lions, common zebras, leopards, plus several small cats such as the side-striped jackal, Kongoni, black-backed jackal spotted hyena, lions are seen to rest on the rocks.The park has five primate species, including the endemic Kavirondo bush baby, numerous Orbis within the Narus Valley, Guenther’s Dik Dik, the Senegal Galago, and the White-tailed Mongoose. However, they comfortably come out for a good show on a night game drive.Kidepo Valley has the second-highest population of birds than any of the top destinations in Uganda, led only by Queen Elizabeth National Park, showcasing an impressive bird list of over 470 species. Sixty of the bird species on its list haven’t been recorded anywhere else in Uganda. Kidepo is especially good for spotting raptors, with 56 species on record. You can spot migratory birds in Kidepo from November to April.
Kidepo National Park is home to one of the smallest ethnic groups in Africa: the Ik. With a population of just above 10,000, the small tribe struggles to preserve their unique culture and language, which no rival tribes understand. A visit through Kidepo will immerse you in their raw cultural practices that even a historian would marvel at. You’ll learn about their fascinating way of life, meet the village elders and enjoy a fun-filled activity with the community children.Hike into the Morungole Mountains within the park to engage with the enchanting Ik people. This remote community of subsistence farmers has kept to their traditional way of life, with villagers only traveling to the lowlands to trade grain.Not far from the Ik are the interesting Karamojong pastoralists. Initially, it isn’t easy to distinguish between IK people and Karamojong due to their similar lively jump dancing, specific hut building, and unique dressing. The difference between these two tribes is that the Ik people speak the Teso language and practice subsistence farming and are not nomadic pastoralism, like the Karamojong. The Karamojong people are also an intriguing tribe that has seen much attention from tourists due to their authentic cultural experiences and activities. They are a Nilotic tribe for whom cattle form an essential part of their culture. The cattle are assembled collectively and provide cow blood and cattle blood for food, just like the Maasai in Kenya. Now that UNRA has paved major roads further north of Uganda, it puts Kidepo Valley National Park comfortably on the top 10 destinations in Uganda list. Have the honor to visit this outstanding destination.10. Rwenzori National Park
Unique varied vegetation in Rwenzori National Park We couldn’t talk about the top 10 destinations in Uganda without including something for the adventure seekers. Uganda has something for every kind of traveler, even extreme hikers too. Rwenzori Mountains National Park encompasses the legendary Rwenzori mountains dubbed the mountains of the Moon, where the highest snow-peak in the country (third highest on the continent) pervades the East African clouds. The ranges are a combination of beautiful peaks, glaciers, Valleys, Rivers, Lakes, and various species of flora and fauna, making the Rwenzori scenic. The stratified vegetation is one of the main attractions for visitors. The Rwenzori is the highest mountain range in Africa. Its loftiest peaks, Margherita (5,109m) and Alexandra (5,083m) on Mount Stanley are exceeded in altitude elsewhere in Africa only by Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. Both of which are extinct volcanoes standing in isolation above the surrounding plains. In addition to Mount Stanley, there are four other glacial peaks in the Rwenzori: Mount Speke (4,890m), Mount Emin (4,791m), Mount Gessi (4,715m), and Mount Luigi da Savoia (4,627m).The Rwenzori Mountains are unique among east Africa’s major peaks in that they are not volcanic in origin. Still, they do rise directly from the Rift Valley floor, and their formation, like that of Kilimanjaro and Kenya, was linked to the geological upheaval that created the Rift.The Rwenzori makes our top 10 destinations in Uganda because they hold three of the continent’s five highest peaks. The summits are spectacular, the routes are uncrowded, and the high-altitude forest teems with life. The ranges contain six of Africa’s ten highest mountains, most of them more elevated than the tallest Alps. Yet, to most bucket-list hikers, they are largely unknown, overshadowed by Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, Africa’s two highest mountains.The fabled ‘Mountains of the Moon’ are now a protected World Heritage Site within the Rwenzori Mountains National Park and considered to be the source of the White Nile.Rwenzori Mountains range also supports a diversity of animals, including 70 mammal and 177 bird species, several of the latter being Albertine Rift endemics. It is the only national park in Uganda where you’ll find the Angola colobus, though sighting it will require careful search. Nevertheless, you can easily spot the similar and more widespread black-and-white colobus monkey, small antelope such as bushbucks, and unusual reptiles such as the three-horned chameleon.
Hiking in Rwenzori Mountains is one the most revered Uganda safari activity. Like other large east African mountains, the Rwenzori range has several altitude zones, each with its own distinct microclimate and flora and fauna. It is known for its distinctive flora rather than its fauna. On the route to the peaks, hikers climb through a series of distinct altitudinal vegetation zones, including montane forest, bamboo, tree heathers, and afro alpine. With its giant symbolic forms of Senecio (groundsel) and lobelia, the latter is one of the world’s rarest botanical communities, limited to East African mountains above 3800m.The vegetations present a beautiful land terrain and plant life of sub-montane vegetation in the Afro-montane zone covered by luxurious tropical evergreen forest with a high richness in color and species. On the foothills of the mountain, you will witness farmlands and on top of the distinctive mountain flora, which has attracted a great deal of fauna and delivering a fantastic picturesque to the travel enthusiasts. Arrive at the top of the mountain and behold the majestic snow-capped peaks that will leave you breathless. Rwenzori Mountains National Park is situated in Western Uganda in the East African Rift Valley and also straddles to the Democratic Republic of Congo and its conservation area known as Virunga National Park. Onward, the top 10 Uganda destinations are just a pick from so much that the country brags about. The destination is arguably undiscovered, with very few numbers of travelers flocking in. That makes Uganda an attractive destination for private journeys and authentic African experiences. The plethora of cultures concentrated in major towns and every corner of the country will introduce you, so some never heard before tribes, people, food, languages, colors, and everything in between. Uganda should be on your bucket list. When you’re ready to travel, send us an email at info@bazanyasafaris.com, and we’ll connect you with local experts to help you plan your custom trip to Uganda. For now, follow our media channels below or leave a comment to let us know what you think.
