Honeymoon in Uganda

Uganda packs more variety into one country than anywhere else in Africa. In twelve days you can track mountain gorillas in rainforest, sit with a chimpanzee community, watch tree-climbing lions on a savannah plain, cruise a channel jammed with hippos, and stand where the Nile begins. Churchill called it the Pearl of Africa and, unusually for colonial-era marketing, he was not overselling it.

Budget US$8,000 to US$18,000 per couple for twelve nights including flights — substantially less than Rwanda for the same gorillas.

Where to go

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest — gorillas

Home to roughly half the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. Permits are US$800 per person for a one-hour visit — around half Rwanda’s price. The forest is aptly named: dense, steep, tangled and often wet.

Bwindi has four trekking sectors — Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo. They are hours apart by road, so make sure your lodge is in the sector your permit is issued for. Booking the wrong one is a genuinely common and expensive mistake.

Uganda also offers a gorilla habituation experience in Rushaga at US$1,500 per person, where you spend four hours with a semi-habituated family rather than one. For couples who want the encounter to be the centrepiece of the trip, it is the best value in gorilla tourism.

Kibale Forest — chimpanzees

The best chimpanzee tracking in Africa, with a success rate above 90%. Permits are around US$250 per person. Noisier, faster and more chaotic than gorillas — chimps scream, chase and crash through the canopy. Different, and genuinely thrilling.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Savannah game with a twist: the tree-climbing lions of the Ishasha sector, which drape themselves over fig branches. The Kazinga Channel boat cruise between two lakes delivers enormous concentrations of hippo, buffalo and birds at close range from the water.

Murchison Falls

The Nile forced through a seven-metre gap and exploding out the other side. A boat trip to the base of the falls, then a walk to the top, is the most dramatic single thing in Uganda. Good game viewing on the northern bank too.

Lake Bunyonyi

The honeymoon half. A deep lake studded with 29 islands, at 1,900m so there are no mosquitoes, no bilharzia and no crocodiles. Terraced hills drop straight into the water. Three nights here after Bwindi — it is a two-hour drive — is what makes Uganda a honeymoon rather than a wildlife tour.

Best time to go

Month-by-month detail: see our best time for a Uganda honeymoon guide.

Uganda sits on the equator so temperature is stable year-round; it is rainfall that varies. Gorilla trekking runs in all seasons.

What it costs

Full budget breakdown: see our Uganda honeymoon cost guide for 7, 10 and 14 night budgets.

Permits are US$800 per person for gorillas, US$1,500 for habituation and around US$250 for chimps. A private guide with 4×4 — standard in Uganda and strongly recommended — runs roughly US$200–250 per day including fuel, and is shared between you, so it works out well.

Sample itineraries

Ten nights — gorillas and lake (from about US$8,000 per couple)

• Night 1: Entebbe.
• Nights 2–3: Lake Mburo, breaking the drive south.
• Nights 4–6: Bwindi — gorilla trek.
• Nights 7–9: Lake Bunyonyi.
• Night 10: Fly Kihihi–Entebbe.

Fourteen nights — the full circuit (from about US$14,000)

• Nights 1–3: Murchison Falls.
• Nights 4–5: Kibale — chimpanzees.
• Nights 6–8: Queen Elizabeth — Kazinga cruise, Ishasha lions.
• Nights 9–11: Bwindi — gorilla trek.
• Nights 12–14: Lake Bunyonyi.

Twelve nights — Uganda and Zanzibar (from about US$12,000)

• Nights 1–7: Bwindi, Queen Elizabeth and Lake Bunyonyi.
• Nights 8–12: Fly via Nairobi to Zanzibar for the beach.

Practical details

Getting there

Entebbe International connects via Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Doha, Dubai, Istanbul and Amsterdam. Domestic flights to Kihihi or Kisoro (for Bwindi) take about 90 minutes versus a nine-hour drive, and cost roughly US$250–350 per person each way. On a honeymoon we would fly at least one direction.

Visas and entry

Most nationalities need a visa, applied for online in advance through the official Ugandan e-visa portal — visa on arrival is no longer reliably available. The East Africa Tourist Visa covers Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda on one visa. Yellow fever vaccination is mandatory for entry to Uganda, and the certificate is checked.

Health

Malaria is present throughout except at the highest altitudes; prophylaxis is recommended. Lake Bunyonyi is high enough to be effectively mosquito-free. As with Rwanda, you cannot trek gorillas with a transmissible illness — a cold can cost you the permit with no refund.

The sector warning, again

Bwindi’s four trekking sectors are several hours apart on poor roads. Your permit specifies a sector. Confirm in writing that your lodge is in that sector before paying — couples do get caught by this, and the fix on the day is a pre-dawn drive of three hours or more.

Worth asking for

• The gorilla habituation experience at US$1,500 — four hours instead of one, for the same price as a standard Rwandan permit. The best value in gorilla tourism.
• Fly at least one leg to Bwindi rather than driving both ways.
• The Kazinga Channel boat cruise in the late afternoon.
• A porter on every trek — around US$20, and the money goes straight into local communities.
• Three nights at Lake Bunyonyi to end on. Do not cut this to one.