tourcompanies, do it yourself and weather

Murchison - DIY. The game drive and boat trip can be done in 1 day from Masindi. You need to hire a car and driver and book the boat trip in advance. Either arrange it at the UWA office in Masindi, or ask your hotel to recommend a driver. Entry fee and boat trip paid for in US dollars, rest in shillings. Tip: do what they call the gorge hike - get off the boat when it reaches the base of the falls, walk up for some great views and have your driver meet you at the top.

Ziwa - just turn up and go. Have the bus drop you at Nakitoma, then walk, hitch or take a boda. It's about 7km from the main road. Stay the night if you have time, it's a lovely place. It worked out cheaper to pay with American money rather than Ugandan.

Crater Lakes - DIY, pleasant countryside for walking and if you get tired, you can get a boda. The only problem here was we spent about 2 hours waiting for onward transport (to Kibale). There isn't much traffic and most cars coming from Fort Portal were already full.

Bigodi swamp walk - just turn up and go. Pay in shillings. We stayed in Nkingo at the Safari Hotel (basic, friendly) which is about half an hour's walk from Bigodi, back towards Kibale. Nkingo was a much nicer village (kids saying good morning rather than gimme money....). If you eat in Bigodi, check prices first - they seem very used to wealthy tourists passing through! The swamp walk was very enjoyable.

Kibale - we didn't track the chimps, but we walked down to the park for a look, it seemed you could just buy permits and go the next day - although they start early, so you'd probably want to arrange transport from your hotel to the park. Safari hotel is about 1hrs walk away.

We didn't visit the Rwenzori area or Bwindi, but there was a post recenty from someone who saw the gorillas without using a company, do a search.

Weather in December, while we did have some rain, did not cause us any inconvenience other than chilly evenings.

yes you can do some things on your own but it will be hard for you it needs you to have been to uganda, imagine when you arrive to uganda, you do not have any contacts how you will know when the activities are done travel times and joining groups its not something easy because these groups have already paid for the packages, some activities like gorilla permits are bout in advance how will you just go to Bwindi for gorillas without the permit and which group you are trekking. when you analyze all this some how you will need tour company or personal contact to help you organize this especially if its your first time in uganda.

thanks
stephen m

hi kjongsafari how are you for me i am fine some how i am very impressed with your long sentences have you tried to get into the book of guiness of world records not the beer that is haha but anyway for me i also some how think you are a tout dont you for you you think but maybe i am wrong but i dont think so for you you think so too i am sure anyway please send me your what your contact details so i can send them to the what to the guiness because you are really my hero with your long sentences i mean like wow i am so impressed i almost peed my pants for sure anyway that is it goodluck spamming and scamming and i see you around ok bye bye

I disagree - I had no personal contacts, and while I had been to Uganda before, it was just a brief visit in 1990.

I found it very easy to arrange things in Uganda, especially as everyone speaks English. I did exactly what treabeard is doing - asked questions and found out beforehand!

...you are wrong on 1 thing, Kaz: "everybody speaks English"

Everybody, EXCEPT KJONGSAFARISUGANDA, that is. Judging from his grammatical contructs. Some how.

As Kaz has explained very well Uganda is really a DIY destination apart from Murchinson. Murchinson can be done from Masindi but if you are a solo traveller then it won't be much cheaper than the Red chili tour but you get to set your own itineary and if you like looking for specific animals like me then it is the way to go. I do however recommend taking a 4x4 and not a special hire.
In Masindi I recommend staying at Karibuni across from the market, very nice budget place.
Using tour companies for the crater lakes, Bigodi, Kibale and day hikes in Rwenzoris would be a complete waste of money. It is perfectly simple to use public transportation for these albeit not as comfortable as the flashy tour vehicle. If you throw in the odd special hire for the short hauls where you have to wait for shared taxis to fill up then it is not that time consuming.

Since you have been to Nepal a few times then you will perfectly fine on the buses in Uganda. They are just as uncomfortable and scary as in India and Nepal but at the same time just as interesting, full of life and with the possibility of interacting with the locals

one other possibility for Murchinson is to take a boda boda to the Booma womens group and stay overnight. Next early morning walk to the entrance and hitch a ride from there. I have done it twice. First time I got stranded at red chili and only got to take the boat ride and then caught a ride out again. The second time I had a full day tour with safari, boat ride and top of the falls. You might get lucky or you might get stranded at red chili.