Uganda

Uganda is Africa’s great primate destination — and far more besides. Mountain gorillas in Bwindi, chimpanzees in Kibale, tree-climbing lions in Queen Elizabeth, and the thundering spectacle of Murchison Falls on the Nile combine in a compact country that rewards visitors with experiences unavailable anywhere else on the continent. The “Pearl of Africa” label that Churchill gave it more than a century ago still fits.

When to Go

Uganda sits on the equator and stays warm year round, so seasons are less about temperature than about mud. Two rainy seasons, roughly March to May and October to November, decide what the days feel like.

• Game viewing (Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, Lake Mburo): June to September and December to February. Short grass, animals concentrated on water, passable tracks.
• Gorilla trekking (Bwindi, Mgahinga): different logic. Bwindi is rainforest and it rains in every month, so the dry season buys firmer ground underfoot rather than dry weather.
• The wet-season trade-off: fewer people on the same trails, which for some visitors is worth the mud.

Primate Permits

Permits are the part of a Uganda trip that has to be arranged first, because they are rationed rather than sold on demand.

• The Uganda Wildlife Authority issues a fixed number of gorilla permits per day for each habituated family, eight visitors to a group.
• A separate, smaller allocation covers the gorilla habituation experience, which puts you with a semi-wild family for several hours instead of one.
• Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale runs on the same system at a lower price.
• Permits are tied to a named date and a named sector, so the permit comes before the lodge, not after it.
• In the June to September and December to February peaks, Bwindi permits are routinely gone months ahead.
• Prices are set by UWA on a multi-year tariff rather than by the market, so booking early saves the trip rather than the money.

Permit rules and seasonality reviewed September 2026.

How the Parks Differ

• Bwindi and Mgahinga (southwest): forest, steep and green, and they exist for the gorillas.
• Kibale: the chimpanzee park, one of the densest primate forests in Africa, with a dozen or more species alongside the chimps.
• Queen Elizabeth: the classic savannah park, the Kazinga Channel and the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha. Close enough to Bwindi that the two are usually combined.
• Murchison Falls: the biggest, cut in half by the Nile, best known for the point where the river forces itself through a gap barely seven metres wide.
• Lake Mburo: the small one, close to Kampala. Good for zebra and a useful first or last night.
• Kidepo Valley (far northeast): the wildest and least visited, and the one that takes real effort to reach.

National Parks & Reserves

Tap a park to open its page.

Guides & Resources

• Kidepo Valley National Park: Uganda’s Wildest Corner — the remote northeast, its wildlife and what it takes to get there.

Camps & Lodges

• Kulu Ora — a lodge in the quiet southern half of Murchison Falls, away from the crowded Nile crossings.