An eastern extension of the Congo's Ituri rainforest, and the reason Semuliki's bird list reads unlike anywhere else in East Africa — roughly 440 species, many of them Central African specials found in no other Ugandan park. The Sempaya hot springs vent steam through the forest floor hot enough to boil an egg, which the guides duly demonstrate.
For a serious birder this is the prize — Congo species you simply cannot get elsewhere in the region.
Hot springs are genuinely startling. They boiled our eggs in the vent in about ten minutes.
Hot, humid, wonderfully wild. Go with a guide who knows the calls.
Uganda3 daysUganda's largest and oldest park, split by the Victoria Nile as it forces itself through a seven-metre gorge and detonates into the Rift Valley below. Game drives on the northern bank turn up elephant, giraffe, buffalo and lion across open savanna; the afternoon launch cruise runs to the foot of the falls past hippo pods and basking crocodile. The Delta stretch is one of the last reliable places on earth to see the shoebill.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews
Uganda3 daysUganda's most popular savanna reserve sits beneath the Rwenzori range between lakes George and Edward. The Kazinga Channel cruise delivers density you rarely see anywhere else — elephant, buffalo and hippo along a single stretch of shoreline. In the southern Ishasha sector the lions climb fig trees and drape themselves across the branches through the heat of the day, a behaviour recorded in only a handful of places worldwide.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews
Uganda2 daysThe finest place in Africa to track chimpanzees, with roughly 1,500 living under a tall, humid canopy alongside twelve other primate species — red colobus, L'Hoest's monkey, grey-cheeked mangabey. You hear the community long before you see it: a pant-hoot chorus that moves through the trees. Trackers position you beneath a feeding group and you spend an hour watching them groom, argue and travel overhead.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews