Top safari activities to do in Uganda 2023/2024
The best outdoor things to do in Uganda in 2023 and 2024; Uganda, which is also called the “Pearl of Africa,” is one of the best places to go on safari because it has so many safari activities, such as primate trekking, wildlife viewing, bird watching, cultural tours, mountain climbing, and adventure activities like white water rafting, bungee jumping, horseback riding, quad biking, sport fishing, and more. Uganda has 10 national parks that you can visit on safari. These are Murchison Falls National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kibale Forest National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Rwenzori Mountain National Park, Mount Elgon National Park, Semuliki National Park, Kidepo Valley National Park, and Lake Mburo National Park.
The best outdoor things to do in Uganda in 2023 and 2024
Going to see gorillas
Gorilla hiking is one of the best outdoor activities in Uganda. People go on foot into the tropical jungle to find mountain gorillas that are used to people. Once they find them, they spend an hour with them in their natural environment. To go gorilla climbing in Uganda, you can go to either Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Both are in the southwest of Uganda. If a traveler wants to go gorilla climbing, they must first buy a gorilla trekking pass, which costs 700 USD for foreigners who do not live in East Africa, 600 USD for foreigners who do live in East Africa, and 250,000 UGX for East African nationals.
Trekking with chimpanzees
Second only to gorilla trekking, chimpanzee trekking is one of the best things to do in Uganda. During this activity, people look for chimps in the tropical jungle and spend an hour with them in their natural environment. Forests like Kibale, which is known as the “primate capital,” Kalinzu, Kyambura Gorge, Queen Elizabeth, and Murchison Falls in Uganda are good places to go chimpanzee hiking. Tourists who want to go chimpanzee hiking in Kibale Forest National Park must buy a ticket, which costs 200 USD per person for foreigners who are not residents and 150 USD per person for foreigners who are residents. East African citizens pay 150,000 UGX per person. Chimpanzee hiking passes in Kalinzu forest and Kyambura gorge cost 50 USD per person who is not from East Africa, 40 USD per person who is from East Africa, and 30,000 UGX per person who is from East Africa.
Drives through the wild to see animals
Taking a game drive through the national parks in a comfy pop-up safari car with a professional driver guide is an exciting activity. Savannah national parks in Uganda are where game drives happen. These parks are Murchison Falls National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kidepo Valley National Park, and Lake Mburo National Park. Lions, leopards, buffalo, elephants, hyenas, cheetahs, Uganda kobs, waterbucks, bush bucks, Jackson’s hartebeest, oribi, warthogs, giraffes, zebras, elands, impalas, topi, reedbucks, and giant forest hogs are just some of the animals that you might see on the game drives.
Going on a hike with golden monkeys
The best outdoor things to do in Uganda in 2023 and 2024
The Golden Monkey
During your vacation in Uganda, you can go golden monkey climbing, which is a fun and busy thing to do. You can only go golden monkey hiking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. The adventure starts early in the morning at the park offices with a talk about the rules, regulations, and standards to follow. People who want to go golden monkey hiking will also need to buy a ticket, which costs 100 USD for foreigners who don’t live in East Africa, 80 USD for foreigners who don’t live in East Africa, and 60,000 UGX for East African nationals.
Hiking in the mountains
Uganda has many mountains that climbers can visit. For example, Mount Rwenzori National Park has the world’s third-highest mountain range. Mount Elgon has a large caldera at the top. And in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Mount Muhabura, Mount Gahinga, and Mount Sabinyo are all volcanic mountains that can be hiked.
A boat trip
You can also go on a boat trip while on safari, which is a great activity because Uganda has many lakes and rivers. In Uganda, you can go on a boat cruise on a number of different bodies of water, such as Lake Victoria, Lake Mburo, Kazinga in Queen Elizabeth National Park, the Nile Delta, to the bottom of the falls, Lake Bunyonyi, and more. During the boat cruise, you can see the beautiful scenery, animals like hippos and Nile crocodiles in the water, and animals like buffalo, elephants, warthogs, giraffes, and others on the shore. You can also see water birds like the rare shoebill stork, kingfishers, cormorants, fish eagles, hornbills, and others.
Seeing birds
Over 1,080 kinds of birds live in Uganda. This makes it one of the best places to go birding. There are Albertine rift unique birds, grassland birds, forest birds, water birds, and more. Uganda has many great places to go bird watching. Some of these are Mabamba swamp, Budongo forest, Bigodi wetland, Mabira forest reserve, Semuliki national park, Murchison falls national park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Kibale Forest National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Lake Mburo National Park, Bokora Matheniko wildlife reserve, Rwenzori Mountain National Park, Lutembe bay wetland, Mpanga forest reserve, and Kifue forest national park.
Experience with culture
Visitors to Uganda can have a fun time on a cultural tour, which lets them meet and talk with locals. Uganda is home to about 54 different groups. The Batwa, Karamajong, IK, and Bakiga people are some of the most popular to visit during a cultural experience. You can learn about the local people’s culture, traditions, and way of life on the cultural trip. You will be able to see their traditional homes, eat their traditional foods, learn how to make traditional beer from bananas, listen to their old stories, and watch their traditional shows, among other things.
Uganda also has a lot of other fun outdoor activities, such as sport fishing, white water rafting, horseback riding, kayaking, bungee jumping, tubing, quad biking, mountain biking, and more.
The best time to go to Uganda is
You can go on safari in Uganda at any time of the year, but the best time is during the dry season, which is also known as the peak season. This is when the least amount of rain falls in the national parks, making the access roads, gorilla and chimpanzee trekking trails, and hiking trails dry and easy to use. During the dry season, the grass in the grassland national parks will be short, which will let you see many types of wildlife more clearly.
Uganda can also be visited during the low season, which is the wet season, from March to May and October to November. This is the best time to go bird watching, as you can see a wide range of colorful and migrating bird species.
