Kalinzu Forest Reserve

Kalinzu is a forest reserve on the eastern edge of Queen Elizabeth National Park, on the road between Mbarara and the park. It is managed by the National Forestry Authority and holds a habituated chimpanzee community that has been studied by researchers for many years. It is a practical choice for travellers staying in Queen […]

Sipi Falls

Sipi is a series of three waterfalls on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon, dropping over basalt cliffs among smallholder coffee farms. The main fall plunges about 100 m, and from the village there are long views west over the Karamoja plains. Sipi River Lodge sits close to the falls, and we use it as […]

Fort Portal Crater Lakes

South of Fort Portal, the land is dotted with dozens of old volcanic craters, many now filled with deep green lakes. Between them run tea estates, banana plantations and small farms, with the Rwenzori rising to the west. It is some of the loveliest countryside in Uganda and a natural base for chimp tracking in […]

Lake Mutanda

Lake Mutanda lies near Kisoro in south west Uganda, a quiet lake of small islands and inlets with the Virunga volcanoes, Muhavura, Mgahinga and Sabinyo, standing across the southern sky. It is close to both southern Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Mutanda is a good base for gorilla trekking in the Rushaga sector or […]

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

Mgahinga is Uganda’s smallest national park and one of its most beautiful, covering the northern slopes of three extinct Virunga volcanoes: Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabinyo. It adjoins Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Virunga in Congo, and together they protect one continuous mountain habitat for gorillas. The park has one habituated gorilla family, which means […]

Murchison Falls National Park

Murchison Falls is Uganda’s largest national park, and its centrepiece is one of the most powerful sights in Africa: the entire flow of the Victoria Nile forcing through a gorge about seven metres wide, then dropping more than 40 metres in a roar of spray. Below the falls the river widens and slows on its […]

Kidepo Valley National Park

Kidepo Valley lies in the far northeast of Uganda, close to the borders with South Sudan and Kenya. It is remote, dry and beautiful, and it feels like the Africa of old: wide valleys ringed by mountains, a sky that seems larger than anywhere else, and so few visitors that you may not see another […]

Lake Mburo National Park

Lake Mburo is the closest savannah park to Kampala and one of the most relaxed in the country. It has no elephants and few big cats, so it is one of the few parks where you can explore on foot, by bike, on horseback and by boat, getting close to zebra, eland, impala and topi […]

Rwenzori Mountains National Park

The Rwenzori are the legendary Mountains of the Moon, a block of ancient rock thrust up along the Congo border rather than a volcano. Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley reaches 5,109 m, the third highest point in Africa, and the range still holds glaciers on the equator. The park covers about 996 km², was gazetted […]

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Bwindi is an ancient montane rainforest on the edge of the Albertine Rift, so steep and tangled that its name comes from a local word for impenetrable. It shelters almost half of the world’s mountain gorillas, and walking into the forest to find a habituated family is the reason most people come to Uganda. The […]

Kibale National Park

Kibale is the best place in East Africa to spend time with chimpanzees. Its mid-altitude rainforest holds around 1,500 of them, along with 12 other primate species, which is one of the highest densities of primates anywhere in Africa. Tracking starts from Kanyanchu, on the tarred road south of Fort Portal. You walk on fairly […]

Kilimanjaro National Park

Standing on the roof of Africa