1 destination · 19 things to do

Uganda

Uganda calls itself the Pearl of Africa, and a short trip shows why. In one small country you can spend an hour with mountain gorillas in the mist of Bwindi, track chimpanzees in Kibale, watch hippos and elephants from a boat on the Kazinga Channel, stand at the edge of the Nile as it squeezes through Murchison Falls and raft the rapids below the river's source at Jinja. Most trips begin in Entebbe or Kampala, where a walking tour, a lakeside garden and a plate of rolex and grilled tilapia ease you into the country, and from there routes run west to the great parks and east to the Nile. This guide books Uganda properly: the gorilla permit and how it really works, chimpanzee and golden monkey tracking, game drives and boat trips, a walking safari with rhinos at Ziwa, a canoe trip for the shoebill, mountain hikes in the Rwenzori and at Sipi Falls, and the practical choices that make long road days manageable. It then matches you to a hotel, from Kampala and Entebbe to Jinja and the safari lodges at Murchison, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi, because in Uganda the right base saves hours on the road.