I'll be spending 4-5 days in Uganda in early March. I would like to do a 2-3 day safari, leaving from and returning to Kampala or Entebbe. Are two-day/overnight safaris leaving from and returning to Kampala or Entebbe doable, or do you need three days to get sufficiently far enough out into the countryside? Any advice would be very helpful.
Thanks!
m
One can certainly find two day packages to either Murchison Falls or Queen Elizabeth National Park, probably the two most popular parks in Uganda. They basically go like this: your driver picks you up early (you'll have a driver, not a group for this), you spend several hours driving over unpleasant roads, finally arrive, eat, go out for your safari activity, come back to your lodging, eat, sleep, have breakfast, have a very brief - maybe an hour - safari drive, and then spend the next several hours on that same bumpy road all the way back. In other words, two long days spent primarily driving over bumpy roads, not so much safari. At least with three day trips you get a full day at your chosen safari location. Arranging three day safaris to a given park is not difficult. Three days would even allow a gorilla trek, if you have the permit. If you can spare three days you will have a better experience than two days. More days would be better yet.
Well. Depends on your requirements for the safari. You can do a game drive for like 3-4 hours, and still se plenty of animals.
From Kampala there will be around 4 hours by car to Masindi, which is the biggest nearby city to Murchinson Falls. Remember that you can't count on traffic estimations in Uganda, because, yeah, the traffic can be straaaangeee...
When you arrive to Masindi, there will be around 40 minutes by car to the entrance to Murchinson Falls.
From here you have to drive around 2 hours into the park, where you will reach the Nile as it passes through the park. From this spot you normally cross the Nile by ferry (10minutes), and your game drive (Safari) can begin.
You can do a 3-4 hours of game drive, and then return as well as cross the nile. There will be a lodge close to the Nile (Red Chilli?) where you can stay overnight, and leave the park next day.
I would agree with catfriend...if you can squeeze an extra day in, it would be quite worthwhile. The Red Chilli Camp is reasonable, but I stayed at the UWA Bandas right next door for even cheaper(can't remember the exact amount, but was dollars a night!)and ate at the Red Chilli. The bandas are not fancy, but the beds had clean sheets and good mossie nets. A small tip, though...bring a flashlight...it gets dark early and you WILL run into hippos and warthogs on your way back from dinner!! Oh, one other thing...the tsetse flies were horrendous during the day. Make sure you wear long sleeves and pants!!
Won`t do it for 2 days. Would only mean sitting in the car for transfer the whole time. 3 days leave you one whole day for the park. Queen Elizabeth is in my opinion too far away, so opt for Murchisson. Check with Red Chili if they have a tour on offer at your date. And enjoy it!
Many thanks for the great advice, everyone. We'll be sure to budget three days for this.
Cheers,
m
Murchision np wins here lol. Yep can't disagree at all. But wen you leave Kampala early, you get to the park early afternoon so you can go straight to the top of the falls same day for a memorable sightseeing. Then you can rest for the day. Early morning watch for the early risers ( birds). Then back to your hotel for late breakfast and pack your lunch and head for the game viewing. The 3rd day you will be back to Kampala.