Nile Source and Silverbacks

The Nile leaves Lake Victoria at Jinja and immediately starts working. You sleep on an island in the middle of it, the water audible all night, and wake to fish eagles. Then you fly west and the country folds into ridges. Bwindi is old forest, thick and vertical, and you climb into it for a single hour that reorganises your sense of scale. Lake Mburo closes the week on foot among zebra, which is a gentler way to finish.

Best months

June to September and December to February. The Nile at Jinja runs well year round because it is dam-regulated rather than rain-fed, so the deciding factor is Bwindi, which is far easier walking outside the March to May long rains.

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Source of the Nile, Jinja

Day by day.

• Day 1 Entebbe

  Arrive and cross to Jinja

  Met at Entebbe International, roughly three hours east to Jinja. Wildwaters Lodge, reached by boat to a private island set in the Nile rapids above Itanda Falls. River noise from every room.

• Day 2 Jinja

  Where the Nile begins

  Morning boat to the source of the Nile at Lake Victoria's outflow, cormorant rocks and the springs. Afternoon on the island, plunge pool over the rapids, or a guided Kyabirwa village walk.

• Day 3 Jinja to Entebbe

  Upriver morning, then west

  Dawn birding boat for African finfoot and rock pratincole. Late morning transfer of about three hours back to Entebbe, overnight at Protea Hotel Entebbe ahead of the early western flight.

• Day 4 Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

  Fly into the ridges

  Aerolink Caravan from Entebbe to Kihihi, about ninety minutes, then roughly an hour by road to Buhoma. Bwindi Lodge. Afternoon Munyaga River forest walk and the lodge's edge-of-forest deck.

• Day 5 Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

  Trek to the silverback

  Briefing at 07:00 at Buhoma headquarters, then two to six hours tracking your allocated sector family through steep understorey. One hour with the group. Afternoon Batwa cultural experience.

• Day 6 Lake Mburo NP

  East to the acacia plains

  Charter to Mbarara or a five-hour drive northeast, then to Mihingo Lodge above the Lake Mburo plains. Afternoon walking safari or horseback among zebra, topi and eland.

• Day 7 Entebbe

  Boat, equator, fly home

  Sunrise boat on Lake Mburo for hippo, crocodile and African finfoot. Four-hour drive to Entebbe via the Kayabwe Equator marker. Day room, dinner, international departure.

What the price actually covers.

From USD 9,780 per person sharing. Permits, park fees and charter legs are inside that number, not added at the end. International flights and visas are not.

• Bwindi gorilla permit, USD 800 per person high season

• Aerolink Uganda scheduled flight Entebbe to Kihihi

• Two nights Wildwaters Lodge private island, full board with boat transfers

• Lake Mburo park entry USD 45 per person per day, walking and horseback activities

• Private 4x4 with senior guide, Batwa community fees, all source of the Nile boat charges