Destinations
Nine parks across two countries, from misty gorilla forests to open savanna and the banks of the Nile. Select a park to find out more.
The Pearl of Africa
Uganda
Rainforest, savanna, crater lakes and the source of the Nile, packed into a country the size of the UK. Uganda is where Godwin grew up and has guided for twenty years.
3-day activity
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Mountain gorilla trekking in ancient rainforest
Bwindi is Uganda's flagship gorilla destination, a 400-year-old rainforest holding almost half the world's remaining mountain gorillas. Treks climb steep, mist-wrapped ridges to spend one hour face to face with a habituated family, guided personally from the trailhead in Buhoma or Ruhija.
Animals you’ll see
- Mountain gorillas
- L’Hoest’s monkeys
- Over 350 bird species
- Forest elephants (rare)
Best season
June-August & December-February (dry seasons, easier trekking)
Difficulty
Strenuous: steep, often muddy forest trails, 2-8 hours round trip
2-day activity
Kibale National Park
Chimpanzee tracking and forest walks
Kibale holds the highest primate density in Africa. Tracking here means following a habituated chimp community through the canopy at close range, often for a full hour of watching them forage, groom, and call, with 12 other primate species and quiet forest walks filling the rest of the day.
Animals you’ll see
- Chimpanzees
- Red colobus monkeys
- L’Hoest’s and blue monkeys
- Over 375 bird species
Best season
December-February & June-August (dry season trails)
Difficulty
Moderate: flatter forest terrain, 2-4 hours tracking
3-4 day activity
Queen Elizabeth National Park
Game drives and water safaris on the Kazinga Channel
Uganda’s most biodiverse park pairs classic savanna game drives with a boat safari down the Kazinga Channel, where elephant herds, buffalo, and one of Africa’s densest hippo populations gather at the water’s edge, plus tree-climbing lions in the Ishasha sector for those who go looking.
Animals you’ll see
- Elephant
- Buffalo
- Lion (including tree-climbing prides)
- Leopard
- Hippo
Best season
Year-round, driest game viewing December-February & June-September
Difficulty
Easy: vehicle game drives and boat safari, minimal walking
3-4 day activity
Murchison Falls National Park
The Nile forced through an 8-metre gorge
The entire Victoria Nile is squeezed through a 7-metre gap and drops 43 metres in a roar of spray that gives the park its name. Below the falls, a river cruise brings you close to bathing elephant herds, giraffe on the banks, and some of the largest Nile crocodiles left in East Africa.
Animals you’ll see
- Elephant
- Giraffe
- Buffalo
- Nile crocodile
- Hippo
Best season
December-February & June-September (dry season)
Difficulty
Easy: vehicle game drives and river launch cruise
2-day activity
Lake Mburo National Park
Zebras, walking safaris, and a lake cruise close to Kampala
Uganda's smallest savanna park is the only one where zebra roam and one of the few where you can walk among the wildlife on foot. A typical stay pairs a night game drive on arrival with a morning walking safari among zebra, eland, and buffalo, an afternoon boat cruise for hippos and crocodiles, and a late-afternoon game drive before dinner at your lodge overlooking the lake.
Animals you’ll see
- Zebra
- Eland
- Impala
- Buffalo
- Hippo
- Nile crocodile
- Over 350 bird species
Best season
Year-round, driest game viewing June-September & December-February
Difficulty
Easy to moderate: game drives, a boat cruise, and an optional walking safari
Half-day activity
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Uganda’s only wild rhino population, near Entebbe
Rhinos were poached to extinction in Uganda by the 1980s. Ziwa is the conservation project bringing them back: a sanctuary where you track southern white rhinos on foot with an armed ranger, on ground level, closer than a vehicle safari ever allows. Every visit directly funds the reintroduction program.
Animals you’ll see
- Southern white rhino
- Various antelope species
- Over 350 recorded bird species
Best season
Year-round
Difficulty
Easy: short guided walk to the rhinos, suitable for most fitness levels
The Land of a Thousand Hills
Rwanda
Mist-covered volcanoes, terraced green hills and one of Africa’s cleanest, safest capitals. Rwanda makes mountain gorillas easier to reach than anywhere else.
2-3 day activity
Volcanoes National Park
Mountain gorillas and golden monkeys on the slopes of the Virungas
Five of the Virunga volcanoes rise out of Rwanda's north-west, and their bamboo and cloud-forest slopes are home to some of the most closely studied mountain gorillas in the world. Dian Fossey based her research here, and the park is only around two and a half hours from Kigali, so you can be trekking the morning after you land. The trails climb open volcanic slopes rather than deep valleys, and treks can be shorter than in Bwindi.
Animals you’ll see
- Mountain gorillas
- Golden monkeys
- Buffalo and forest elephants (rarely seen)
- Albertine Rift endemic birds
Best season
June-September & December-February (dry seasons)
Difficulty
Moderate to strenuous: steep slopes above 2,500m altitude, 1-6 hours round trip
2-3 day activity
Nyungwe National Park
Chimpanzees, colobus monkeys and the canopy walkway
One of Africa's oldest montane rainforests, spread across the mountains of south-west Rwanda. Chimpanzee trekking starts before dawn, following a habituated community through the forest, and Nyungwe holds 13 primate species in all, including troops of Angolan colobus that can number in the hundreds. The canopy walkway suspends you high above the forest floor, and the shores of Lake Kivu are a short drive away.
Animals you’ll see
- Chimpanzees
- Angolan colobus monkeys
- L’Hoest’s monkeys
- Over 300 bird species
Best season
June-August & December-February (drier months, though rain is possible year-round)
Difficulty
Moderate to strenuous: steep, often muddy forest trails, chimp tracking 2-5 hours
1-2 day activity
Akagera National Park
Rwanda’s Big Five savanna, lakes and wetlands
Rwanda's only savanna park sits on the Tanzanian border and is one of Africa's great conservation comebacks. Lions were reintroduced in 2015 and black rhinos in 2017, making it a Big Five park once again. Game drives cross rolling grassland and acacia woodland, and a boat trip on Lake Ihema brings you close to hippos, crocodiles and huge numbers of water birds.
Animals you’ll see
- Lion
- Elephant
- Black and white rhino
- Giraffe
- Zebra
- Hippo
- Over 480 bird species
Best season
June-September (long dry season, best game viewing)
Difficulty
Easy: vehicle game drives and a boat trip, minimal walking
Ready to start planning?
Tell us your dates and what you would love to see, and Godwin will put together a route, lodges and a quote for you.