After reading many reviews of Kibale NP, we decided to try the Chimpanzee Trek (🎟️999000 UGX), but of course, we had a terrible experience with a local con man. At the park gate, they gave us the phone number of the UWA office in the Fort Portal. They promised to book our tickets online...
We drove through Uganda’s largest national park (🎟️45 USD / 24 hrs, 🚙50 USD) and one of its best. Animals are in plentiful supply, but our main target was the raging Murchison Falls, where the Victoria Nile crashes through the rock and descends dramatically towards Lake Albert. Despite a...
We arrived from Kampala in an hour through a modern expressway (10000 UGX) to the pleasant and chilled city of Entebbe. It is set just outside Kampala, near the banks of Lake Victoria. This buzzing city is the former capital and has made Hollywood connections through numerous films about...
We drove slowly from Jinja to Kampala and decided to stop somewhere to explore the Mabira Rainforest. It was pretty unclear where to stop, so we decided to try it in Najembe, where we could find a small car with a driver to go inside the forest.
Our other stop on the way to Kampala was the Mabira Forest, the largest semi-deciduous rainforest in Uganda, situated halfway between Jinja and Lugazi and stretching across 120 sq km. The rainforest is home to 311 tree species, some of which are ancient. Before the 1800s, the forest...
Since there were no safe parking spots, we stayed overnight at the Impala Sanctuary in Kisumu. This 1-sq-km sanctuary is home to a small impala herd and provides substantial grazing grounds for local hippos. In addition to the impala, there are cages of other Kenyan antelope and monkeys...
We arrived late in the afternoon at Lake Nakuru, and it took us quite some time to get approval from rangers to park there overnight. This park is among Kenya’s finest national parks, flanked by rocky escarpments, pockets of acacia forest, and at least one waterfall. The park is...
Today, we hired a small car with a driver (half day 2000 KES) to explore the surroundings of Lake Naivasha and Lake Oloiden. Lake Naivasha, hugged by grassy banks and shingled with cacti and sand olive trees, is the Rift Valley’s highest lake (1884m above sea level). You can hire a...
Late afternoon, we arrived at Elsa Gate of the dry, dusty, but infinitely peaceful Hell’s Gate National Park. It is a rare Kenyan park made for bicycles and walking. Large carnivores are rare, so we rented bikes (800 KES) and paid a cycling fee (250 KES) and a park entrance fee (28...
After the whole day of driving (468 km), we arrived at midnight at the Sekenani gate of the famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. Rangers were pretty shocked but allowed us to park behind the gate just a few steps from the main building. The following day, we paid the “special”...