Uganda, small as it is will usher you into the beauty beyond your imagination. The country will give you every kind of experience from hiking the snow capped mountain, adrenaline adventures, birding safaris, striding at the equator, boat and launch cruise to mention but a few. Highlighted below are the top safari experiences in Uganda.
Gorilla tracking experience
For every traveler, gorilla tracking is the highlight because these endangered species are tourism gem. Mountain gorillas are found in Uganda, Rwanda and democratic republic of Congo but only Uganda host a big percentage population in the whole world. It is an amazing and lifetime experience moving up and down in the steep tropical rain forest amidst thorns, shrubs to finally meet a gentle shy family of mountain gorillas going about their day. If you have not considered gorilla tracking, this is an experience not to miss while on a Uganda safari. Gorilla tracking involves spending one hour with a selected gorilla family observing their ways from playing, feeding and resting mean while you can also take photographs as many as you want but with caution flash photography is prohibited and stay back away form the gorillas 7 meters. This helps them to keep calm and not feel threatened.
Gorilla habituation experience
This is an awesome experience that most people don’t take so much important but gorilla habituation is the kind of behind scenes of to what a fully habituated gorilla family is. The experience involves spending 3 full hours in the tropical rain forest with a semi habituated family going through the habituation process. Gorilla habituation experience goes in depth to understand the process the mountain gorillas go through before they are open for tourism. The experience involves taming the mountain gorillas look at human beings not as a threat thus you will behave friendly while with them. For example walking on knuckles, chewing on the green leaves. Gorilla habituation is only in Bwindi forest national park Rushaga sector.
Game viewing safari experience
Uganda has ten national parks and countable number of game reserves where there is beauty in the wilderness. Fortunately, they are all open for tourism and only your choice on a Uganda safari will limit you. The parks include; Murchison falls national park, queen Elizabeth national park, lake Mburo national park to mention but a few. These parks have notable mammal species like lions, leopard, jackals, elephants, herds of buffaloes, giraffes, hyenas, warthogs, crocodiles, hippopotamus among other. All these can be viewed on a game drive safari in any of the national parks not forgetting the famous tree climbing lions of Ishasha sector queen Elizabeth national park.
Primate Walk Experience
The notable primate while on a Uganda safari is chimpanzee, our little cousin sharing 98% DNA with humans. Visit Kibale national park, the primate capital to meet the naughty chimps in the rain forests, you can as well track or participate in the chimpanzee habituation experience all in Kibale. Other places to see the chimps include queen Elizabeth national park in Kariju forest, Imaramagambo forest and Budongo forest in Murchison falls national park. Besides chimpanzee there are other primate species and these are the black-and-white colobus, red-tailed monkey, grey-cheeked mangabey, l’hoest and blue monkeys, olive baboons, patas monkeys and the only remaining endemic specie golden monkeys in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
Cultural Experience
Uganda is not only beautiful and gifted with nature it has is a stunning with a mix of cultures from north, east, west and central Uganda. There are great places to visit and dig more into the tradition and rich cultural history of Uganda. Visit the Ik people of Karamojong a small tribe of people at Mount Murongole who are cattle keepers, the Batwa people of the south western Uganda, they are commonly known as the first people of the forest who lived there for ages before they were convicted in 1992 to conserve the mountain gorillas. Compliment your Uganda safari with a cultural experience and enjoy the traditional dances and music, food and rich history of the various ethnic groups.
