Itinerary tips for an amazing trip to East africa
The eastern part of Africa is truly a jewel for every travel enthusiast and those looking for great adventures. It offers breathtaking nature, abundance of fascinating wildlife and very warm people with a culture I always love to learn more about.
First of all I will not cover every country in this post, but focus on an itinerary for Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo. And you can definitely mix and match after desire from the different destinations.
So if you are looking for an amazing itinerary for east-africa, check out the trip below.
1. Kampala, Uganda
We flew to Entebbe and started our journey in Kampala. As the capitol of Uganda it is well worth a visit in itself to see the bustling citylife, markets and boda bodas or mopedtaxis everywhere or relax at the shore of Lake Victoria.
2. Ziwa, Uganda
Next stop I recommend is 2,5 hours driving north of Kampala and there you will find Ziwa Rhino sanctuary. Here you get the chance to see the almost extinct white rhinos living wild. They are protected from poachers as they try to increase the population before releasing them to national parks again. The place in itself is very tranquil with great nature and possibilities for bushwalks to see the rhinos and other animals, birds and the fantastic scenery.
3. Murchison falls, Uganda
Murchison falls is the most powerfull waterfall in the world and is definitely worth a visit in itself. The views from the top of the waterfall are spectacular. In addition one of Africas best national parks for safari and gamedrive is located here. If you want to see abundance of wildlife like lions, leopoards, elephants, giraffes, hippos, buffalos and different antilopes this is the place.
4. Kibale, Uganda
Next stop on the drive is Kibale national park where you can go for chimpanzee trekking. The drive up the mountains towards Kibale is amazing in itself. Even though it is a lot of driving on this trip we never thought much about it because there are so many things to see along the way such as beautiful nature and interesting villages. After a couple of days my neck even started hurting from looking out the window so much.
Chimpanzee trekking is also possible to do in other places in Uganda, but the population is densest in Kibale National Park and sightings are therefore more common, so I highly recommend doing it here. But as with all wild animals, seeing them is never a guarantee. We were lucky enough to see them very close after an hour hike to find them and then waiting for 45 min for them to come down from the trees. It was definitely worth it and it is something i would recommend everyone to experience!
5. Queen Elizabeth National Park
If you are up for more gamedrives or increase your chances of seeing the big five, next stop will be Queen Elizabeth national park. Even though we personally saw more animals at Murchison falls this is also individual luck and might go the other way for someone else. One specific thing this park is famous for is the tree climbing lions in the Ishasha sector. We were not lucky enough to see them and some of the rangers said that they were hiding because the female had just given birth to some lion cubs and had to stay hidden form the male lions for a period. When I travel back to Uganda I will definitely come back here to try and see them again.
6. Bwindi, Uganda
In my opinion you can't really go to the eastern parts of Africa without experiencing the mountain gorillas. It is a true highlight!
Even though preservation has managed to increase the number of Mountain gorillas, there are only approximately 1000 Mountain gorillas left in the world. They cannot survive in captivity so the only possibility to see these magnificent creatures is in the wild in Uganda, Rwanda or DR Congo.
They have been habituated so they pose no threat to humans, however they are wild animals and you will watch them in their natural habitat and you have to be respectful of that. If you are very lucky you can even experience them being curious of you or wanting to play.
7. Lake Bunyoni, Uganda
After a lot of driving and trekking, Lake Bunyoni, or "place of many small birds" as it translates too, is the perfect spot for some relaxing and recharging. The tranquility and beauty of the area will surely make you feel refreshed.
If you want to spend your time doing something else, there is a variety of things you can do here, like swimming, bird-watching, walk to the top of the hill, paddle a canoe among many things. We chose to explore some of the smaller island in the lake and it did not disappoint. We even visited an island and was able to walk pretty close up to some zebras that were introduced to the island.
8. Volcanoes national park, Rwanda
After crossing into Rwanda the first stop will be Volcanoes national park.
This is the park to visit if you want to go trekking for mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Given that we had already done this in Uganda and was going to do it in DR Congo we chose to prioritize something else. Even though i think the gorilla trekking has been such an amazing experience I would have probably loved to do it many more times.
We chose to go looking for golden monkeys here instead and did not regret it. The little creatures are very active, jumping from tree to tree, running around and it makes for a lot of fun watching even though some difficulty to capture on the camera.
9. Kigali, Rwanda
Next stop I would recommend is the capitol of Rwanda, Kigali.
Kigali is a very vibrant city and in my opinion has a more modern feel to it than some of the other capitols in east-Africa.
Depending on when you were born you might or might not remember Rwandas dark history. In 1994 one of the world's worst genocides took place in Rwanda. The Genocide memorial dedicated to the victims where you can learn more about the history and how something like this could happen is an important visit during your trip to Rwanda.
10. Kahuzi-Biega national park, DR Congo
To begin with we were a little unsure about travelling to DR Congo because of the unrest in the country, but once we got there our minds were quickly put at rest and we are incredibly happy that we went and it ended up being one of the highlights for us. It is very fascinating to see the differences between these neighboring countries when you travel across so many borders in one trip.
DR Congo is the second biggest country in Africa and we only got to see a small part of it. However it really made us want to come back. Given the unrest in many parts of the country there are not many tourists traveling here, in fact we never saw a single one. Not even when we went gorilla trekking, which means we got the gorillas all to ourselves! We were even lucky enough to see a baby gorilla barely 4 weeks old. So if you are, as I did, wondering if you should skip out on DR Congo in this trip, I highly recommend you don't.
11. Bujumbura, Burundi
The last stop on this trip is the capitol of Burundi, Bujumbura.
Even though Burundi doesn't offer the same amount of national parks and wildlife as the other countries, I still think it is worth a visit. We had some relaxing days here by the pool and beach before heading home.
One of the things we did was to visit Rusizi National Park where you can see the interesting sight where the river and lake meet each other. This park is best known for its abundant bird life, and you will see alot of exotic birds as well as hippos and crocodiles when you take a boat trip along the river. You can also see a performance from the widely known Burundian drummers here.
