Uganda Family Safari
Gorilla and chimpanzee trekking have a minimum age of 15 and no operator can get round it. So this journey is built from what a younger family can actually do, which in Uganda is a great deal more than most places.
A starting point, not a packageshaped around your children's ages and how long they last in a vehicle
fromUSD 3,600per personfrom, per person, two adults sharing. Children reduced
The best day for a nine year old in Uganda
is walking up to a rhino on foot.
Every family safari page in this market leads with gorillas and then mentions the age limit in the small print. Fifteen is the minimum, it is set by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and nobody can sell you round it. We would rather say that on the first screen.
What is left is better than it sounds. At Ziwa you track rhino on foot with a ranger, which for a child is the single best hour in the country. At Murchison the entire Victoria Nile is forced through a gap seven metres wide and you ride a boat to the bottom of it. On the Kazinga Channel you pass hippo close enough that the binoculars stay in the bag.
We also build the days shorter. Children do not do five hour drives well, so we break the long legs, start later than we would with adults, and put the swimming pool at the end of the driving day rather than the start.
Highlights
The journey
Entebbe, and an afternoon on the lake
We meet you at Entebbe and give you the afternoon. After a long flight with children, driving straight into the country is a bad idea, so the first day is the botanical gardens, the lake shore and an early night.
If there is energy left, Ngamba Island is an hour by boat and is a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees with no minimum age. It is the only way children under 15 get close to a chimpanzee in Uganda.
Airport transfer only
LuxuryLakeside hotel with a pool
PremiumGuesthouse in Entebbe with a garden
Tracking rhino on foot at Ziwa
North in the morning, three hours, to the only place in Uganda with rhino. You leave the vehicle and walk with a ranger through thorn scrub until you are standing twenty metres from an animal weighing two tonnes.
Children remember this longer than anything else on the trip. It is a sanctuary rather than a wild population and we say so, but doing it on foot rather than through a window is what makes it work. There is a short night walk afterwards for anyone still awake.
176 km, about 3 hours
LuxuryLodge inside the sanctuary
PremiumGuesthouse at the sanctuary gate
Murchison: the game drive, the boat and the falls
Two hours on into Murchison and across to the northern bank. The morning game drive on the Buligi circuit is open grassland with giraffe everywhere, elephant and buffalo close to certain, and lion on perhaps half of mornings.
The afternoon launch is the part children talk about. Three hours upriver past hippo pods and crocodile on the sandbanks, ending where the whole Victoria Nile is forced through a cleft seven metres wide. The spray reaches the boat. Older children can climb the staircase to the top, which takes forty five minutes and soaks everyone.
Game drive 70 km, launch 3 hours
LuxuryRiverside lodge inside the park
PremiumLodge on the northern bank with a pool
South to Kibale and the crater lakes
The long leg, five and a half hours, broken with a proper stop for lunch. The road runs down the edge of the rift and ends in the crater lake country around Fort Portal.
At Kibale, adults can trek chimpanzees if everyone is 15 or over. For younger families the Bigodi wetland walk next door is the better morning anyway: a boardwalk through swamp with eight primate species and 200 bird species, guided by the community that runs it, and no minimum age.
350 km, about 5 hours 30
LuxuryLodge on a crater rim
PremiumLodge in the tea country with a pool
Queen Elizabeth and the Kazinga Channel
Down into Queen Elizabeth, which sits between two lakes joined by the Kazinga Channel. The afternoon boat is the densest concentration of hippo and water birds in the country, and it is slow and shaded, which after four days of driving matters.
Morning game drives here are short and productive. If you are going on toward Bwindi for an adult trek, the Ishasha sector with its tree-climbing lion is on the way south.
Channel cruise 2 hours
LuxuryLodge above the rift escarpment
PremiumSafari lodge inside the park
The road back to Entebbe
Seven hours by road, or ninety minutes by light aircraft from Kasese. With children we usually recommend flying this one and spending the saved day somewhere rather than in the vehicle.
If you drive, we break it at the equator, which every family stops at and every child enjoys more than they expect.
7h by road, or 1h 30m flying
Departure, or a night by the lake if your flight is early
The lodges worth staying in hold few rooms, and dry season dates go first.
Give us an approximate date and we check availability against it. No payment, no obligation.
What your trip includes
Rhino tracking on foot at Ziwa
Full board throughout
Private 4x4 and driver-guide, the same one all trip
All park fees and government taxes
Launch trip at Murchison and the Kazinga Channel cruise
Airport collection and return, Entebbe
Bottled water in the vehicle
What it does not cover
International flights
Uganda visas, USD 50 each
Gorilla or chimpanzee permits if adults add a trek
Tips for your guide
Alcohol and personal items
Not quite the trip you had in mind? Every departure is private, so the length and the lodges are yours to change. Tell us what you want.
Uganda
Half of the world’s mountain gorillas live in Bwindi, and the permit to sit with them costs less than anywhere else they exist. Beyond the forest the country runs from the snow on the Rwenzori to the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha and the point where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria.
What we tell every family
What to bring
- Binoculars for each child, not one pair to share
- Swimming things, most lodges have a pool
- Closed shoes for the rhino walk
- Sun hats and high factor sunscreen
- Insect repellent
- Something to do in the vehicle on the long legs
- A warm layer for early game drives
Before you ask
Can my children see the gorillas?
Only if they are 15 or over. The minimum age is set by the Uganda Wildlife Authority and no operator can get round it, whatever they imply. If your children are younger we build the trip around rhino, boats and game drives, which in Uganda is a strong week on its own.
What is the best thing for a young child here?
Tracking rhino on foot at Ziwa. You leave the vehicle and walk up to them with a ranger, and there is no minimum age. After that, the launch to the bottom of Murchison Falls and the Kazinga Channel boat.
How long are the drives?
Longer than most places: Entebbe to Ziwa is three hours, Murchison to Kibale five and a half. We break the long legs and start later than we would with adults. On the longest we price the light aircraft so you can decide whether the hours are worth it.
Can one of us trek while the other stays with the children?
Yes, and several families do. The adults can go on different mornings so somebody is always with the children. We build the nights around it.
What happens if I need to cancel?
Nothing is paid when you enquire. If permits are involved they are bought in your name once you confirm and are not refundable once issued. Your deposit amount and balance date are put in writing before you pay anything.
Are there family rooms?
At most lodges on this route, but there are few of them and they go first in high season. That is usually the real constraint on your dates, so the earlier you tell us, the better the rooms.
Tell us roughly when
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