Uganda Family Safari
A private Uganda safari for families with children under 15: rhino tracking on foot at Ziwa, boat trips on the Nile and the Kazinga Channel, and game drives. Gorilla trekking starts at 15 and chimpanzee tracking at 12, so neither is built in.
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
Rhino on foot at Ziwa, then the Nile
and the Kazinga Channel by boat.
This route is built for families with children under 15: rhino tracking on foot at Ziwa, boat trips on the Nile and the Kazinga Channel, and game drives in Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth. Gorilla trekking starts at 15 and chimpanzee tracking at 12, both set by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, so we add them only if your children are old enough.
At Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary you walk with a ranger to white rhino. At Murchison Falls the launch runs from Paraa up the Victoria Nile to the foot of the falls, and in Queen Elizabeth National Park the launch follows the Kazinga Channel past hippos, crocodiles and waterbirds. The Uganda Wildlife Authority publishes no minimum age for either launch.
The two longest drives are about six hours each, so we break them with a long lunch stop, start later than we would with adults, and choose lodges with a pool where the route allows. On the last leg we can price a light aircraft instead.
Highlights
The itinerary
Entebbe, and an afternoon by Lake Victoria
We meet you at Entebbe and keep the afternoon free. 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, the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre is in Entebbe, open daily from 8:30 to 18:30, with chimpanzees in a semi-natural setting and a one kilometre forest walk. Children under 12 are too young for chimpanzee tracking, so this is their chance to see chimpanzees.
Airport transfer only
LuxuryLakeside hotel with a pool
PremiumGuesthouse in Entebbe with a garden
Tracking rhino on foot at Ziwa
North in the morning, about 3 hours 45 minutes by road, to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary beside the Kampala to Gulu road. You leave the vehicle and walk with a ranger through the grass toward white rhino. The sanctuary puts a trek at one and a half to two and a half hours, depending on where the rhinos are.
Doing it on foot rather than through a window is what makes it work. There is a night walk afterwards for anyone still awake. Ziwa's own rates and the Uganda Wildlife Authority's tariff differ, so we confirm the price and any age rule for your children before we book.
About 210 km, about 3 hours 45
LuxuryLodge inside the sanctuary
PremiumGuesthouse at the sanctuary gate
Murchison: the game drive, the boat and the falls
About three and a half hours on into Murchison Falls National Park and across the river to the northern bank. The next morning, a game drive on the open grassland there.
The afternoon launch is the part children talk about. It runs for about two hours, upriver from Paraa to the foot of the falls, where the Nile bursts through the cliffs at the head of Fajao Gorge.
About 140 km, about 3 hours 30 by road. Nile boat trip of about 2 hours
LuxuryRiverside lodge inside the park
PremiumLodge on the northern bank with a pool
South to Kibale and the crater lakes
The long leg, about six hours of driving, broken with a proper stop for lunch. It ends in the crater lake country around Fort Portal.
At Kibale, chimpanzee tracking is open to everyone aged 12 or over. For families with children under 12, the Bigodi wetland walk, 5 km south of Kanyanchu, is the better morning anyway: a boardwalk through papyrus swamp with eight primate species and more than 200 bird species, run by the village community.
About 340 km, about 6 hours
LuxuryLodge on a crater rim
PremiumLodge in the tea country with a pool
Queen Elizabeth National Park and a Kazinga Channel boat trip
Down into Queen Elizabeth National Park, about two and a quarter hours from Kibale. The afternoon launch follows the Kazinga Channel for about two hours, past hippos, crocodiles and waterbirds, and it is two easy hours sitting down, which matters after the drive from Kibale.
If you go on to Bwindi for an adult gorilla trek, the road runs through the Ishasha sector in the south of the park, so you can stop for one more game drive on the way.
About 120 km, about 2 hours 15 by road. Kazinga Channel boat trip of about 2 hours
LuxuryLodge above the rift escarpment
PremiumSafari lodge inside the park
Back to Entebbe, by road or light aircraft
About six and a half hours by road, or a light aircraft from Kasese, which we price for you. With children we recommend flying this one and spending the saved day by the lake in Entebbe rather than in the vehicle.
If you drive, we stop at an equator marker on the way.
About 430 km, about 6 hours 30 by road, or a flight from Kasese
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
Light aircraft flights, priced separately if you want them
Gorilla or chimpanzee permits, if you 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
Private safaris in Uganda, built around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, which holds 459 of the world’s 1,063 mountain gorillas by the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s latest count. Uganda’s gorilla permit is USD 800, against USD 1,500 in Rwanda, and the same trip can take in chimpanzees in Kibale, the Kazinga Channel and Murchison Falls.
Ages, drive times and family rooms in Uganda
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 Uganda Wildlife Authority sets the minimum age. If your children are younger, we build the trip around rhino on foot, boat trips and game drives.
What can children under 12 do on this safari?
Walking with a ranger to white rhino at Ziwa, where we confirm the age rule when we book. Then the launch to the foot of Murchison Falls and the Kazinga Channel boat trip. The Uganda Wildlife Authority publishes no minimum age for either launch.
How long are the drives?
Entebbe to Ziwa is about 3 hours 45 minutes, Murchison Falls to Kibale about six, and Queen Elizabeth back to Entebbe about six and a half, all before stops. We break the long legs with lunch stops and later starts, and on the last leg we can price a light aircraft from Kasese instead.
Can one of us go gorilla trekking while the other stays with the children?
Yes. Gorilla trekking is in Bwindi, so we add it to the route. One adult treks while the other stays with the children, and the second treks the next morning. That needs two permit dates, and we build the nights around it.
What happens if I need to cancel?
Nothing is paid when you enquire. If your trip includes gorilla or chimpanzee tracking, we buy those permits from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in your name once you confirm, and UWA takes the full price when we book them. If you cancel, whether any of the permit price comes back is UWA's decision under its own rules, not ours. If your dates change instead, UWA's tracking rules let a standard (full-price) permit move up to two times, to a new date within 12 months, as long as the request reaches UWA at least 14 days before the trek (we make it for you, so tell us before then) and permits are still available on the new date. UWA charges nothing for the first move and 25% of the permit price for the second, and UWA does not refund a permit once it has been moved. Under UWA's rules, the discounted permits for treks in April, May and November cannot be moved. What happens to the rest of your payment is set out in your booking confirmation, and we give you your deposit amount and balance date 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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