If you only visit one safari country, make it Uganda. Half the world’s remaining mountain gorillas live in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest blanketing the southwestern highlands. To the west, Queen Elizabeth National Park delivers tree-climbing lions, the Kazinga Channel hippo cruise, and Big Four game drives. North of there, Murchison Falls is where the Nile thunders through a 7-metre gap on its way to Lake Albert.

What surprises first-time travellers is Uganda’s sheer ecological variety: equatorial rainforest, savannah, papyrus swamps, the Rwenzori “Mountains of the Moon”, crater lakes, and 1,000+ bird species including the prehistoric shoebill stork at Mabamba Swamp. Add the source of the Nile in Jinja for adrenaline rafting, the wild Kidepo Valley for unbroken wilderness, and Kibale Forest’s 13 primate species, and Uganda becomes the most varied safari country in Africa without the crowds you’ll find in the Mara or Serengeti.

BLS Safaris is a Uganda-registered, Uganda-staffed operator. Our guides know the parks, the rangers, and the secret corners built over a decade of running gorilla treks, wildlife safaris and tailor-made itineraries from Entebbe.