First itinerary 4 weeks Uganda

Here’s my first itinerary for Uganda. I’ve put my activities in brackets. The things I’m not certain of are mainly about transportation (seems to be the big issue in Uganda). I used information from a couple of regular posters on the forum. If someone can have a look and give his/her opinion, great!! Could be too cramped altogether. All distances in the south-west don’t look that far apart, but I could be wrong. After comments I will do some finetuning.

Here it goes:
D1 Kampala (arrive by airplane)
D2 Kampala (get permits????, low season)
D3 Kampala – Fort Portal (with coach bus)
D4 Fort Portal (day hike?, or other things to do?)
D5 Fort Portal - Nkingo / Bigodi (possible with public transport?, swamp walk)
D6 Nkingo / Bigodi - Kibale NP (easy to get to entrance?, want to sleep there and get permit)
D7 Kibale NP (chimp tracking)
D8 Kibale NP - Kasese (bus to Fort Portal, then bus to Kasese? Or other route?)
D9 Kasese (QENP) (game drive, boat launch, arrange in Kasese)
D10 Kasese Rwenzori NP (day hike?)
D11 Kasese - Kisoro (does this take 1 day or 2 days?, how to do this?)
D12 Kisoro
D13 Kisoro - Bwindi/Nkuringo South (easy to get to entrance?, want to sleep there)
D14 Bwindi/Nkuringo (gorilla tracking, then back to Kisoro)
D15 Kisoro - Mgahinga NP (golden monkey tracking)
D16 Mt. Saybyinyo (1 day hike, arrange guide in Kisoro)
D17 Kisoro - Rwanda – Gisenjy (cross the border, have to look into visa regulations)
D18 lake Kivu (Gisenjy) (hike and relaxing)
D19 lake Kivu (Gisenjy) (hike and relaxing)
D20 lake Kivu - Kisoro
D21 Kisoro (maybe see Batwa, is this recommendable?)
D22 Kisoro – Mbarara? (Kisoro to Kampala in maybe 2 or 3 days, depends on interesting places en route)
D23 Mbarara? – Masaka? (travel via Masaka road, interesting places?, see equator sign?)
D24 Masaka? - Kampala
D25 Kampala – Sipi Falls (reach in 1 day or 2 days?, don’t want to stop in Jinja)
D26 Sipi Falls (walk 3 waterfalls)
D27 Sipi Falls – Kampala (or 1 day extra at Sipi Falls?, Mabira forest?)
D28 Kampala
D29 Fly back

Note:
D11 – D12: transport from Kasese to Kisoro (couldn’t figure it out)
D22 – D23: Kisoro to Kampala (interesting places and activities?)

Don’t know exactly how many days I’ve got, could be 28, 29, 30. So, I have spare days to do something else.
And all depends on the gorilla permits, which I haven’t booked yet. Don’t know if to book gorilla permit in advance or in Kampala. If November/December is low season I could get permits in Kampala. Same for chimps permit (maybe at the park entrance). Or is this a big risk?

Other possibilities are flying out from Kigali (Rwanda) or skip Rwanda (have to look into visa regulations) and have more time in Uganda. Depends on airline ticketprices and visa regulations

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hamidah, thanks for your reply. I feel a bit more safer to go for this itinerary.
Thought that the SW part was a little bit more difficult to travel around. But when I can get some public transport over there, it's more doable. I will look into some alternatives for some places mentioned. And I want to do a day hike in Rwenzori (maybe a volcanoe or something reachable in a day), not the whole circuit. Did the Himalayas twice, so no need to go trekking for a week. I will arrange the permits in advance, if that's better.

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Dear Treabeard

You have a very ambitious programme, especially considering that you want to use public transport. firstly, you will not manage the whole trip on public transport. You will have to take 'special hire' (taxis) and/ or boda boda (motorbikes) between some places. some buses will not leave until all the seats are full, delaying you by an hour or more. Public transport frequently breaks down; and of course it is not advised to travel at night, on any kind of transport. This is because many of the roads are bad and even the newly tarmacked ones do not have street lights or road markings. Expect anything to happen at any time - a stray goat or cow, or someone driving without any headlights on. if you take the bus, the postbus is the one most people will recommend. It stops frequently, delivering post, but has the best safety record.

Here is some feedback on your itinerary:

Definitely buy permits at the earliest opportunity. You may be able to get chimp permits at the last minute but why risk it?
There is not a lot to do in Fort Portal but it is a very pretty town. It's definitely worth visiting the crater lakes, and mountain biking can be arranged.

look out for community tourism projects. See www.ucota.org . These are very cheap and accessible and dotted all around the country.

I suggest a special hire from Ft P to Bigodi; the swamp walk and community lunch are both highly recommended. ask your driver to take you to the entrance to the park. It is a national Park with wild animals, so you can't just walk everywhere on foot.

it is possible to get the special hire taxi from Kasese to Queen Elizabeth National Park, I've done it myself. However, very few taxis will drive that journey. They will need to drop you in the Park and be out again by 6 PM. This means that you should leave Kasese by 2 p.m. at the very latest. Otherwise your driver will have to overnight in the Park and you will have to pay his costs.

Stay 2 or 3 days in Queen.

how to do the boat to launch, you will need to stay at Mweya, central Queen Elizabeth. You will need to pre-arrange a game drive. You may be able to do this with the same guy who brought you from kasese, but it may be in a saloon car. the chances of you are arranging a game drive. Once you are inside the park are very small. Most people pay a lot of money to be on their own tours with their own driver.

Travel from Kasese to Queen for 2 or 3 days. Kisoro is a day's drive away. You itinerary does not allow for Ugandan roads - frequently washed away by rain.

you can do all the activities you want to in Uganda and save yourself some travelling time.

The Batwa tour is highly recommended. I'm planning to do it myself soon. I believe it is a seven hr day (all though shorter Batwa experiences are being planned for the future).

not much for tourists to see and do in Mbarara or Masaka, apart from Igongo Cultural Center. there is also an equator sign between Kasese and Queen Elizabeth National Park. If you have hired a special hire you can then get out and take photographs. to be honest, the Equator sign nr Masaka is better looking, but you will not get public transport to stop there for you.

why don't you want to go to Jinja? Have you been there before? I love it. It's the source of the Nile, very relaxing weekend but plenty of adrenaline activities. I would also recommend it to you. If you're backpacking because you will probably meet a lot of like-minded people and possibly even people who you can team up for it to travel with. I'd recommend staying at the Nile River explorers camp, very cheap, overlooking the river, a great bar and tons of activities. if you book white water rafting, you can get their free bus to Jinja and back.

Happy travel planning!