Explore Uganda’s wild beauty on a women-only safari guided by vetted local experts. Designed for small groups, this affordable adventure includes gorillas, chimpanzees, and Big Five wildlife—shared with women who value connection, care, and meaningful travel.
Overview
- Group Size: 4 – 12
- Price From: $5995
- Activity Level: Dynamic
- Tour Length: 12 days / 11 nights
- Lodging: 4 Star Wilderness lodges and hotels
- Single Room Option: Limited Availability
- Pre-Tour: US-Based support
- On Tour: 24/7 Tour Leader
Includes
- Local guide
- Lodging
- Game Drives
- Group Airport transfer
- All meals + bottled water during game drives
- Gorilla permit
- Chimpanzee permit
- Group WhatsApp chat
- Detailed packing list
- Photo sharing platform
Excludes
- Airfare
- Tourist visa: $50 USD
- Gratuity $600 USD
- Personal spending money
- Travel & incidentals
- Bottled & alcoholic beverages at hotels
- Baggage fees
- Travel insurance
Tour Highlights
- Walk with the last rhinos in Uganda in their natural habitat.
- Experience spectacular game drives in Uganda’s National Parks full of amazing mammals, reptiles, and birds!
- Go Big! Photograph the largest mammals: elephants, giraffes, cape buffalo, and hippos in the wild.
- Get close to our closest genetic animal relative, on a chimpanzee tracking expedition in the Kimbale National Forest.
- Stay at lodges in beautiful locations near national parks and in the country-side.
- See tree-climbing lions of Ishasha in Queen Elizabeth Nation Park.
- Life-changing up close encounters with endangered mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Available Tour Dates
April 26 – May 7, 2027
Book Early and Save by Feb. 1!
Tour Leader: Lori Anderson
August 22 – September 2, 2027
Book Early and Save by Nov. 15!
Tour Leader: TBA
Watch Webinar
Recorded on November 20, 2026
Hosted by Lori
Watch Here
Straight out of the pages of a National Geographic Magazine, our Uganda Women’s Mountain Gorillas & Chimpanzees tour provides ordinary women a chance to live like explorers. This epic journey is a combination of game drives through wildlife parks and on the ground up-close encounters with some of the world’s most endangered animals like rhinos and mountain gorillas.
Our Uganda Safari Journey
The adventure begins in Entebbe and follows a park circuit north, west, and returns south to Entebbe. We will explore wooded savannas, grasslands, tributaries of the Nile River, and mountain tropical cloud forest. Lodges are 4-star with delicious food and comfortable accommodations. This is one of the most affordable Uganda Safaris with Gorilla Trekking out there.
Who should sign up?
This is an educational, small-group women-only tour for women who enjoy respectful and ethical wildlife viewing. Now is your chance to experience the Africa you have dreamed of with a supportive group of adventurous women and like-minded Edventure Buddies.No experience necessary. For trekking, participants should be healthy, know their limits, and be able to walk 4-6 miles on rolling and uneven terrain which could be steep and slippery depending on the conditions.
Meet Your Team
Lori Anderson
Tour Leader
Paul Tamwenya
Local Guide
Kelly VanLaanen
Tour Leader
From the moment you arrive in Uganda, you are fully supported by a team that knows you and genuinely cares about your experience. Your Green Edventures Tour Leader is your first Edventure Buddy—someone you’ll already know through pre-trip meetings and WhatsApp chats—an experienced, professional host who has been part of the Green Edventures family for years. She’s there to help you feel prepared each day, navigate any challenges that arise, and foster a positive, supportive group dynamic.
On the ground, we work with trusted local partners we’ve collaborated with since 2019, led by Paul Tamwenya and his team. Paul is a premier guide, respected mentor, and internationally recognized expert birder with deep knowledge of mammals and primates. His enthusiasm is contagious. Your participation also supports conservation and education through Paul’s nonprofit, Birds of a Feather, extending the impact of your journey beyond the trip itself.
Available Tour Dates
April 26 – May 7, 2027
Book Early and Save by Feb. 1!
Tour Leader: Lori Anderson
August 22 – September 2, 2027
Book Early and Save by Nov. 15!
Tour Leader: TBA
Tour Map
Murchison Falls National Park
Mabamba Swamp
Kimbale National Park - Chimpanzee Tracking
Queen Elizabeth National Park
White Rhino Sanctuary
Bwindi Impenetrable forest - Mountain Gorilla Tracking
Lake Mburo
Itinerary
Day 1: Welcome to Uganda!
Arrival at Entebbe International Airport where you will be greeted by our guide or representative and then transferred to your hotel. Arrive anytime before 11:00 PM. Pre-trip lodging can be arranged for those who would like to come in earlier.
Overnight: Papyrus Guest House
Day 2: Mabamba Swamp Shoebill Stork Safari
The early morning adventure begins at the shores of Lake Victoria. In a simple wooden motorized boat, we will cruise across the vast expanse of a tiny portion of Africa’s largest lake to Mabamba Swamp.
Mabamba Swamp is a large tract of marshlands with various channels through it, and it provides the perfect habitat for 260 bird species including shoebill storks. Stork-like, but related to pelicans, you don’t have to be a “birder” to be impressed with seeing a shoebill. These prehistoric looking birds stand over 3ft tall! There are only 5000-8000 individuals remaining in Uganda and the surrounding countries. From this day forward, you will be the envy of every hardcore birder you meet if you tell them you saw a shoebill.
Afternoon activities include a visit to the botanical garden and markets.
Overnight: Papyrus Guest House | Meals: BLD
Day 3: Ziwa White Rhino Sanctuary & Transfer to Murchison Falls
We start driving northwest to Murchison Falls National Park with a visit to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (approximately 3 hours drive). The drive takes us through the famous Luwero triangle to the sanctuary in Nakasongola which is a privately-owned white rhino breeding sanctuary. The sanctuary is home to the last rhinos in Uganda with a mission of restoring them in Uganda’s protected areas once the population reaches over 50 breeding individuals.
Led by a ranger, you will trek on foot within the sanctuary to see white rhinos in their natural habitat. When you spot the rhinos, your ranger will teach about the individuals you are observing while you take in the fact that you are standing in the company of wild rhinos.
After a hot lunch at the sanctuary, we will head toward Murchison Falls National Park. The duration of the drive is approximately 3 hours to the banks of the Nile River.
Overnight: Pakuba Safari Lodge | Meals: BLD
Day 4: Murchison Falls National Park & Nile Boat Cruise to Murchison Falls
Today we our first game drive of the adventure. Named for the falls where the Victoria Nile surges through a narrow gap and cascades over a massive 141 feet drop, Murchison Falls is a small national park with big diversity of animals. In one photo, you could have 3 species of the big 5! It will be your favorite game drive of the trip!
In the afternoon, a boat cruise to the bottom of the falls will reward you with eye-level viewing of hippos bathing in the Nile. You will see a variety of natural behaviors and hear them grunt, splash and snort as they hang out in hippo schools along the shoreline. Lurking close by are Nile crocodiles hunting for unsuspecting wading birds and other wildlife that come to the water to cool off in the midday heat.
Participants who want a challenge can hike to the top of the falls on an established trail.
Overnight: Pakuba Safari Lodge | Meals: BLD
Day 5: Murchison Falls Game Drives
Today will be broken up into a morning and afternoon game drive. There is so much to see here! Murchison has 76 mammal species including African elephants, Cape buffalo, and Rothschild’s giraffe. Other game includes African antelopes like the leaf-eared Oribi, Jackson’s hartebeest, water and bushbuck, the beautiful Uganda kob, Bohor reedbuck, and common duiker.
The park is home to 450 species of birds like: Northern carmine, swallow tail and little bee-eater, Abyssinian ground hornbill, Denham’s and black bellied bustard, large eagles like the bateleur, martial, brown and banded snake among others and large flocks of vultures.
Overnight: Ishasha Jungle Lodge |
Day 6: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park
In the morning, we will check out of the lodge, and transfer to Kibale Forest National Park.
The drive is long, 8 hours with stops, but interesting as you pass through small towns, green plantations and traditional homesteads.
Overnight: Chimpanzee View Guesthouse | Meals: BLD
Day 7: Chimpanzees of The Kibale Forest National Park
Early morning, we assemble at the park headquarters for the briefing before a ranger leads you into the magnificent forest. The Kibale Forest is a tropical forest where all human disturbances fade away and it’s just you and the sounds of nature. The ranger will locate the chimps by listening to their pant-hooting calls, looking for the fresh nests where they spent the previous night, and the direction of their fresh knuckle imprints in the mud while leaving their nests.
The other primates expected on the walk included the red colobus, black and white colobus and the red-tailed, Blue, L’hoest’s monkey and the Grey-cheeked mangabey.
In the afternoon enjoy a guided nature walk through the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary and visit the women’s crafts project KAFRED.
Overnight: Chimpanzee View Guesthouse | Meals: BLD
Day 8: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park- Ishasha Sector
After a leisurely breakfast, we then start our drive further south of Uganda towards the Impenetrable Bwindi Forest National Park. Driving duration is 6 hours today including a game drive in Ishasha National Park.
Ishasha, is a remote and beautiful part of Africa, with wonderful scenery. As it is always said, remote destinations still harbor the best wildlife! Proof of this is Queen Elizabeth National Park Ishasha Sector, the second largest in Uganda. It is host to wildlife among which on lucky days your guide will spot tree climbing lions in figs, acacia or Albizia trees! Nowhere in Africa do you stand a better chance of seeing this than in this Ishasha sector.
Packed lunch on route.
Late afternoon, check in at our lodge. For those who wish, we can offer a late game drive which will produce close encounters of more wildlife in this section of the park.
Overnight: Ishasha Jungle Lodge | Meals: BLD
Day 9: Queen Elizabeth National Park Game Drive & Bwindi Impenetrable forest
After breakfast, we start with a game drive which will give us more chances of seeing the tree climbing lions and bigger opportunities of seeing the leopard this morning before setting off to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
On the drive we will find game coupled with stopovers to look out for interesting savannah birds; These may include Black lored and Arrow-marked babbler, Ovambo sparrow hawk, African cuckoo hawk, stout, wing snapping, zitting, and trilling cisticolas, Violet-backed starling, brown and banded snake eagle, Holub’s golden weaver, lesser and greater honeyguide, grassland and plain backed pipit, fork-tailed drongo, Blue-naped mousebird and many more. After this, we shall continue and drive to Bwindi.
After this, we shall continue and drive to Bwindi.
Overnight: Bakiga Lodge | Meals: BLD
Day 10: The Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
This will be a day to remember! Like chimp trekking, a ranger will provide a safety and orientation briefing before the group is assigned a troop to visit. The ranger and scouts will lead groups of visitors with porters into the forest in search of habituated mountain gorillas.
Habituated troops are used to people observing and are less likely to become territorial when approached. When sighted, your expected to stay 21 feet from the gorillas, however, many times, gorillas have moved close to their human observers, and even touched them. Time spent observing the troop is limited to 1 hour. It is a phenomenal experience to watch wild mountain gorillas as they forage and care for their young, and as the babies trundle down the hills and in the grasses for fun!!
Packed lunch on the trail.
Evening, return to the hotel for relaxation, depending on how you feel, an evening community walk is always rewarding to learn how the people living near the gorillas go about their daily lives.
Overnight: Bakiga Lodge | Meals: BLD
Day 11: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park
After morning breakfast, we head northwest to Lake Mburo National Park (approximately 5 hours). Packed lunch on route.
Via a boat cruise, we will have more opportunities for wildlife viewing and photography including schools of hippos, crocodiles, different bird species and large mammals like the Cape buffaloes, zebras, topi, impala, water and bushbuck, Oribi and the giant Eland, among others. If we are lucky, this is a good spot for the leopard and hyenas.
After dark, there will be time for a late drive in search of some nocturnal species.
Overnight: Rwakobo Rock Lodge | Meals: BLD
Day 12: Lake Mburo and Departure
Early morning game drive as we depart Lake Mburo National Park, we may spot some zebra, buffaloes, impalas and many others in the open acacia woods. Continue to Kampala with a stopover at the equator and the royal drum makers in Mpigi time allowing.
Packed lunch en route
Meals: BL
Airport drop off approximately 12:30pm for 4:30pm departures.
Reviews
What our adventurers say about our Uganda Women’s Mountain Gorillas & Chimpanzees Tour…
F.A.Q.
I have more questions. Who can I talk to?
(888) 622-4911
info@greenedventures.com
How strenuous are the hikes?
This Uganda Safari has three hiking experiences. Participants should be healthy, know their limits, and be able to walk 4-6 miles on rolling and uneven terrain which could be steep and slippery depending on the conditions. We stay together as a positive and supportive group.
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is on flat terrain and is more like a nature walk than a hike. Participants are led by a ranger through a prairie type environment with stops to talk about rhinoceros and to look for tracks and other signs left by wildlife.
Chimpanzee tracking is a morning activity that is variable based on the location of the animals. There is not much elevation to consider, but at times the trail can be steep. A ranger will guide the group into the forest and participants will be on and off trails as they follow chimpanzees both in the trees on the ground.
Gorilla trekking can be a half day or whole day experience depending on where the animals are that day. Hiking is on bush trails at about 7500 ft elevation through dense forest. Hiking trails for gorilla trekking vary from easy, medium and strenuous. Trail assignments are based on the participants’ abilities, but subject to park rangers’ authority and number of trekkers that day. During gorilla trekking, each participant has a porter who will carry his/her day pack and always there to lend a helping hand.
If you have concerns about hiking, please contact us to discuss.
What is the average age of the participants?
The average age range of hikers is 45-65 years. Our groups tend to be multi-generational, so there may be participants ranging from their 30s to their 70s. This trip is open to any woman who is healthy, active, and resonates with the itinerary.
Do women travel solo or with friends?
Do I need any vaccinations?
Yellow Fever Vaccine is required for entry into Uganda. There are exemptions for people over 65 and those with certain health conditions.
What happens after I sign up?
Do you offer payment plans?
Yes! Pay a small deposit to secure your spot. Then, pay the balance in interest-free installments using a credit card or checking account. There is no bank transaction fees when you use your checking account. If you want the convenience of using a credit card, the bank will charge 3%. You can switch between two payment options at any time.
What is the cutoff date to confirm the trip?
The trip will need critical mass within 90 days of departure. In the unlikely event we don’t reach this minimum, a full refund will be issued.
Is airfare included in the price?
The package price covers land fees only. Participants need to book their own flights to Uganda. We can offer guidance, and once we have confirmed the tour, we will provide travel parameters for booking your flight.
Should I get travel insurance?
Yes, we recommend purchasing travel insurance to protect you and your investment.
You can get more information and purchase travel insurance here:
What is your cancellation policy?
View the cancelation policy here.