Day 1 - Arrive Entebbe

Arrive at Entebbe International Airport. After clearing customs and immigration formalities, you will be met by our representative and transferred to the Protea Hotel which is mere minutes away from the airport.

Protea Hotel sits on the shore of beautiful Lake Victoria, giving its guests uninterrupted views across the waters. Staying at Protea is delightfully easy; only five minutes from the international airport and nearby several of the city's most popular attractions, to which the concierge will help you arrange transport. The gorgeous views across Lake Victoria can be seen from many of the hotel's 85 rooms - which include an executive, junior, and presidential suite. Guests can find plenty of space to relax at Protea, either whilst having a drink on the terrace overlooking the lake, or dipping their toes into the swimming pool surrounding of well-manicured grounds. There is also a modern fitness centre with complimentary classes for those looking for something a bit more energetic, and the possibility of renting kayaks or bikes. The great service and food from the hotel's trendy restaurant, Tides, further enhances guests' experience at Protea, allowing them just to sit back and enjoy the view.

Overnight: Protea Hotel

Meal Plan:

Day 2 - Ngamba Island

After breakfast, you will be picked up from the hotel lobby and transferred to the Jetty to take a boat ride to Ngamba island for a day visit which is approximately 50 minutes away by speedboat. You will see the chimpanzees being fed with an informative talk by sanctuary staff outlining the plight of these wonderful creatures and how they were rescued from the most horrific conditions. You will have lunch on the island and in the afternoon you can head out on a kayaking trip to explore a neighboring fishing village with some fantastic bird-watching and other wildlife encounters on the way.

Ngamba Island is one of the six Koome islands in Lake Victoria – what makes it super-special is that Ngamba Island hosts a Chimpanzee Sanctuary which is home to 49 orphaned chimpanzees rescued from across East Africa. Founded twenty years ago, the sanctuary offers 95 acres of natural forest where the chimps roam and play and forage daily – just as they would in the wild. You can watch them and walk the island.

A visit to the island means much more than just seeing the chimps: you’ll have the opportunity to understand the work of the NGO that supports them, the threats to chimps in the wild and you will have the experience of travelling the hour by boat from the mainland to the island, an exhilarating experience in itself when you can witness small local fishing vessels ply these waters.

In the evening you will catch the speedboat back to Entebbe for the night.

Overnight: Protea Hotel

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 3 - Entebbe – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park

After an early breakfast, you will be met by our representative at 06.00 am who will drive you to Entebbe Airport where you will take a scheduled flight to Bwindi National Park. The flight is about 75 minutes. You will land at Kihihi airstrip where you will be met and transferred to Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp which is about a 90 minute drive.

Hidden deep within Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park – home to almost half of the world’s mountain gorillas – Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp is the forest’s only concessionaire luxury camp. The location is unrivalled; not only is it mere minutes away from the gorilla trek starting point, but the magnificent creatures often swing by the camp themselves – as if returning the visit. With only 8 tents, the camp retains an intimate atmosphere. Each room, with queen-sized beds, a private terrace and large free-standing bathtub, has been designed to blend seamlessly into the forest, their contemporary elegance enhanced using natural materials and indigenous fabrics. After adventuring with the gorillas, guests can relax at the camp’s mini spa, which uses locally sourced ingredients – such as banana and avocado – in its rejuvenating treatments. Visitors can also relish being in this UNESCO World Heritage Site by walking the Munyaga waterfall trail or visiting the local Batwa tribe.

In the afternoon you will have the opportunity to visit the first AK Philanthropy Project – the Bwindi Women’s Bicycle Enterprise. The bike shop enterprise provides seven women with the opportunity to earn a much-needed income while also giving their community vital access to transportation. The bike shop serves as a social enterprise, setting aside a portion of the profits to be used in charitable initiatives in the community such as the school fee sponsorship of orphaned students, investments in local health care and conservation initiatives.

After meeting the ladies and hearing their stories you can rent one of the bikes and do a tour of the village through the banana, tea and coffee plantations and see how crops are harvested and processed. On the way you will meet the Batwa Pigmies and learn how they survive in the forest including seeing what plants are medicinal (or poisonous), their hunting techniques and the ability to make a fire with just two sticks.

Overnight: Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 4 - Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park

After breakfast drive 15 minutes from Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp to Bwindi Community hospital and Ebenezer School. Starting life as a simple clinic operating beneath a mango tree, Bwindi Community Hospital is now a 112 bed facility that treats 15,000 families in the community and has been ranked among the best hospitals in Uganda for six consecutive years.

You will first go on a tour of the hospital with one of the senior staff for an in depth overview of where they started to where they are now. The maternity waiting ward is a particularly successful project and the demand for the beds increases daily. From here you will visit the Uganda Nursing School Bwindi and meet the enthusiastic students and teachers and hear their stories.

Once the tour is complete sit down with the expectant mothers and participate in one of their projects such as knitting items for their newborns and/or purchase a ‘Mama Kit’ and donate it to one of the expectant mothers in the ward.

After lunch back at the camp you will drive down to the Ebenezer Primary School. AK Philanthropy's support of the school focuses on helping build the classrooms and administrative buildings, as well as providing resources vital to the students’ education. The school is currently under construction and should be completed by 2021. On arrival at the school You will be given an overview of the projects that have been implemented by AKP including the Safe Water for Schools Initiative before going on a tour of the school and meeting the teachers and students. At the end of the tour join the children in the playing fields for a game of soccer or the Ugandan equivalent of hop scotch or piggy in the middle.

There are various ways that you are able to donate to any of the AK Philanthropy Projects that you have experienced over the last two days including several pre-purchased options such as buying bicycles in advance and gifting them to a needy family when you are there. For the full range of options please contact us.

Overnight: Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 5 - Gorilla Tracking

After an early breakfast, your guide will escort you to the Uganda Wildlife Authority Park headquarters where you will meet fellow trackers and gorilla guide who will then lead you into the forest to find the Mountain Gorillas. The trekking may be strenuous - up to six hours or longer is not uncommon – at relatively high altitude. Mountain Gorillas are wild animals, and so, sightings cannot be guaranteed, however the success rate is well over 95%. These massive primates are extremely rare, only just over 1000 remaining. You will get within meters of the family, and be privileged to spend up to one hour amongst them.

Bwindi receives over 2.5 meters (98 inches) of rain a year. Within its 330 square kilometers (127 square miles) live 120 species of mammals, 348 species of birds and 220 species of butterflies. From the tiny to the enormous, this thick, mist-shrouded lushness is also home to half the world's population, some of whom live within habituated groups so visitors can observe them: standing respectively, quietly aside, you can watch these enormous, majestic, impressive animals getting on with the business of living: feeding, playing, watching you back. They aren't the only primates, they share the forest with almost a dozen other species including chimpanzees, L’Hoest’s monkeys and colobus which leap from branch to branch, their black and white capes spread behind them as parachutes, their throaty calls rattling out across the forest.

Overnight: Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 6 - Fly to Entebbe - depart

After breakfast, you will depart for the airstrip in Kihihi at 07.30 for your scheduled flight back to Entebbe, the drive to the airstrip is about 90 minutes from the lodge- your scheduled flight 09.45 to Entebbe will take about 75 minutes where you will then land at Entebbe airport 11.25 where our representative will meet and transfer you to departures for your onward flight.

Overnight:

Meal Plan: B