Best Time To Go To Uganda

Uganda is situated right on the meeting point of the eastern savannah and western jungle ecosystems, ensuring excellent terrain for a wide variety of safari experiences as well as a diverse wildlife population. From traditional game drives through golden grassland seeking lion or elephant to strapping on your hiking boots and trekking through lush rainforests in search of Uganda’s renowned Mountain Gorillas, Uganda has become a top and highly sought-after safari destination; With so much to offer, it certainly isn’t hard to understand why.

Uganda’s Wildlife Highlights

Uganda is deemed the top destination for those in search of the absolute pinnacle of primate safaris. A few of Uganda’s well represented and special primate species include:

• Patas monkey
• Red-tailed monkey
• l’Hoest’s monkey
• Golden monkey
• Ugandan red colobus
• Uganda mangabey
• Black-and-white colobus monkey

Kibale Forest National Park, in southern Uganda, forms a massive wildlife corridor with Queen Elizabeth National Park. Boasting a mixture of tropical rainforest, swamp, and grasslands, Kibale Forest National Park, together with Queen Elizabeth National Park, supports Africa’s largest population of chimpanzees along with at least a dozen other primate species, including colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, and de Brazza monkeys. This makes it a top destination for those wanting to trek primates, including gorillas.

The last mountain gorillas are carefully protected in Uganda’s esteemed Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Boasting a 90% success rate at finding habituated gorilla family groups in the Impenetrable Forest of Bwindi, there is absolutely no exaggeration in gorilla trekking as life-altering as the one you’ll experience in the rainforests of Uganda. In fact, it is regarded as one of Africa’s (although some may go as far as to say the world’s) most powerful wildlife experiences and sought-after safari adventures.

Wildlife In Uganda

While renowned for its abundant primate population, a Uganda safari is not only about gorilla trekking in rainforests. With 10 national parks spanning savannah, forest, and waterways, wildlife in Uganda is vast, diverse, and thriving.

Queen Elizabeth National Park and Murchison Falls National Park are deemed Uganda’s top ‘Big 5 National Parks’ as well as the place to be for all classic big game viewing. In addition to spectacular sightings of Africa’s renowned Big 5, lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo, these two esteemed national parks are home to countless wildlife species.

Considered to be the best national park in Uganda, largely due to its incredible wildlife diversity, Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to approximately 95 species of mammals and 20 predators, including the Big 5. Not to mention a large population of chimpanzees and a whopping 611 species of birds. However, the park’s standout highlight is undoubtedly its remarkable tree-climbing lions. Besides Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, there is only one other place in the whole of Africa where you can witness these tree-climbing lions – so catching this sighting is particularly special.

Murchison Falls National Park is another one of western Uganda’s sought-after Big Four reserves (with only rhino missing). It is especially known for its large herds of elephant, giraffe, and buffalo, as well as for lucky sightings of the rare ground-dwelling patas monkey.

If you deem yourself to be an avid birder, Murchison Falls National Park is the best place to try and track down the rare shoebill stork. The shoebill stork is not only the crowning glory of Uganda’s birding scene, but an extremely rare and highly sought-after sight for the true birder.

Kibale Forest National Park is deemed a primate haven in Uganda. With 13 resident species, it boasts the largest concentration of primates in the country and the biggest diversity of primates of any East African reserve. While trekking chimpanzees is Kibale’s main draw, spotting olive baboons, black-and-white colobus, l’Hoest and blue monkeys are also highlights in themselves.

Lake Mburo National Park is the best park to go to in western Uganda if you’re eager to spot wildlife species not easily found elsewhere in the country. From Uganda’s only population of impala to Burchell’s zebra, this is one hidden gem that should definitely be on your Uganda safari bucket list. While elephants are absent in the park, there are plenty of other mammals to see, including sitatunga antelope, topi, oribi, Bohor reedbuck and herds of eland.

In Central Uganda, the main wildlife highlight is tracking southern white rhinos on foot at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. The reserve is also an excellent place to see shoebill storks.

In the Karamoja region of northern Uganda near the Kenyan border, Kidepo Valley National Park is a remote park that offers rugged wilderness and excellent wildlife. You can expect to see everything from elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo to Burchell’s zebra, Rothschild’s giraffe and black-backed jackal and cheetah – two of the many species that cannot be found anywhere else in the country.

Overview of wildlife in Uganda

Carnivores

Herbivores

Primates

Reptiles