Kyambura Gorge
Chimps of the Lost Valley — Tree Lions + Kazinga Cruise

Depart Kampala early morning southwest through Mbarara to Queen Elizabeth National Park (400 km, approx. 6 hours). Arrive at Mweya Peninsula or Katunguru area for check-in. Afternoon game drive in the Kasenyi plains — lion, elephant, buffalo, Uganda kob, and topi are regularly seen. Sunset over Lake Edward with the Rwenzori Mountains in the background. Dinner and overnight.

Morning: Kyambura Gorge Descent. Drive to Kyambura Gorge — a striking geological feature where the earth has dropped away 100 metres, creating a forested canyon in the middle of open savannah. Descend into the gorge on foot with your ranger guide. The contrast is immediate and dramatic: dry savannah above, lush fig forest below. Kyambura's chimpanzee community is one of the smallest and most isolated in Uganda — approximately 16 individuals, cut off from the main forest by agricultural encroachment. This isolation makes them behaviourally distinct and their encounters deeply atmospheric. Spend your permitted time with them in this extraordinary canyon setting — fig tree feeding, communication calls echoing off gorge walls, a feeling of true wilderness. Afternoon: Maramagambo Forest Walk. Drive to Maramagambo Forest — the bat cave walk takes you to a massive cave system home to hundreds of thousands of Egyptian fruit bats, a resident python colony (the pythons feed on the bats), and above the cave, a breeding pair of crowned eagles. One of Uganda's strangest and most memorable ecological stories.

Morning: Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise. Board the launch cruise on the Kazinga Channel — 32km of natural waterway between Lake George and Lake Edward holding the world's highest concentration of hippos (thousands), enormous Nile crocodiles, African skimmer, pink-backed pelican, and giant kingfisher. A 2-hour cruise revealing wildlife that no game drive can match. Afternoon: Ishasha Sector — Tree-Climbing Lions. Drive south to Ishasha — home to the only tree-climbing lion population in East Africa (also found in Tanzania's Lake Manyara). Find them sprawled in the branches of massive fig trees, cooling themselves above the tsetse flies and watching the plains below. This is one of Africa's most distinctive and photographed wildlife sightings. Game drive until sunset.

Final morning game drive at dawn — Ishasha at first light is exceptional. Then depart for Kampala (400 km, approx. 6 hours). Arrive Kampala/Entebbe by evening. Flight connections: book 8pm or later.