This is probably the best opportunity for travelers who want to experience Uganda’s landscapes and way of life, or people and wildlife, on one trip. Ruboni, and Queen Elizabeth safari experience takes you to two distinct National parks of western Uganda. These two parks are; Rwenzori Mountains and Queen Elizabeth.

You need a minimum of two days to explore these two destinations. The exploration is exclusively through the eyes of the local people, as they share their story and appreciation of the said cultures, animals and landscapes.

Through the village and wildlife tours organized during this visit, you will realize that every plant, animal, hills, valleys and other natural features shape the local way of life. It is indeed an opportunity to learn these, and more as the local guides show you around these rustic villages and park equally shared by the animals and people of western Uganda.

Rwenzori is one of a kind in Uganda, and Africa. With an outstandingly rich habitat, this mountain has recognition of a national park status since 1991. It has acquired two global recognition as a Ramsar site since (2008) and a world heritage site by UNESCO since (1994). Rwenzori mountains is also the highest block mountain on the African continent, and uniquely boasts of snow at the equator.

For these and many other reasons that you will find during your visit, It can not be easy to describe Uganda’s natural landscapes and leave out the charm of these mountains, popularly known ad the mountains of the moon, as named by Ptolemy, the Alexandrine geographer in AD 150.

Queen Elizabeth is a Savannah national park, popular for wildlife safaris on land and on water. The visitors to this park are normal looking for large mammals ranging from the elephants, antelopes, the cats and birds. Generously endowed with a range of ecosystems; salt water lakes, fresh waters lakes, flowing rivers and channels, forests, wetlands, savannah; Queen Elizabeth is home to a large variety of wildlife.

Guests find Multitudes of antelopes, Buffalo, Hippos, lions, leopards, hyenas, roam the Savannah 24/7 all-year round. the list has just a few of the many that you will spot during the magical safaris taken in the several tracks as you view the real Timon and Pumba in the wild.

Can you imagine visiting these two pieces of paradise in a very short time and on a very low budget? This is a dream come true for any body looking to get a real experience of Ugandas nature and culture. Now, through this easy to organize tour , it’s possible to visit Rwenzori Mountains and Queen Elizabeth National Park on one short (2-days) trip.

This trip to two National parks includes looking for chameleons, walking in the forests or trekking the Rwenzori foothills, and then doing a wildlife safari to spot the big five in their natural home around the varied habitats and villages of Queen Elizabeth National Park, including Kasenyi tracks and Kazinga channel boat cruise.

Interestingly, you need a minimum of two days to experience this rich combination of attractions in the mountains, culture, scenery, and wildlife safaris. Let’s break it down, and you can see what you’ll be able to experience on this comprehensive trip.

While in Ruboni , the Rwenzori foothills, you have options for a hill trek, forest walk, or one-day nature walk in the Rwenzori Mountains National Park lower slopes. Those interested in culture, can choose from other cultural encounters such as the village walk, traditional dancing experience, traditional cooking experience or the coffee tours. you can also choose to learn how to make wine from bananas.

If you haven’t countered the carbon footprint of your trip, you have an opportunity to participate in a tree planting experience. here you can participate in seed collection, work in the tree nursery, tree planting or tending to the already tree planted gardens in the hills. the money you pay for this tour directly supports tree planting and landscape restoration on the Rwenzori foothills.

Generally, depending on your interest, what you experience depends on what you choose from the activity menu.

If you choose a forest walk, starting any time of the day (as long as you have 4 hours before dark) you may spot a range of chameleons, including the three-horned, strange-horned (Rhinoceros chameleon), and others. Ruboni Forest is also popular for finding snakes, including the great lakes bush viper. Many guests have spotted the Rwenzori Turaco among the 178 bird species recorded so far. Being adjacent to the park, you have a high chance of finding primates like blue monkeys, black and white Columbus, and sometimes chimps.

On the community hill trek, you start at 1,600 meters and end at 2,300 meters. This trek can also be taken as an overnight trip, spending the night at the top of the hill. The key highlight on the hill trek is viewing Margarita Peak, the highest point on Rwenzori Mountains at 5,109 meters, which is also the highest point in Uganda. This hill trek is an easy way to scale Rwenzori Mountains from base to peak in just one day or night.

On the one-day nature walk inside the park, you trek from 1,600 meters to 2,660 meters above sea level, on the lower slopes of Rwenzori Mountains. Common sights will be the rich Afro-montane forest, primates, chameleons, and mountain scenery.

Most of the time, you will walk under canopy with some open opportunities of scenery to take the mountain views. during the walk, you have chances of spotting wild animals such as chameleons, primates, hear chimp sounds and on a lucky day, you may spot the shy forest elephants. The trek can go up to Lake Mahoma at around 3000m if stretched. Lake Mahoma is the largest and lowest lake of the seven lakes on the central circuit trail of Rwenzori Mountains.

After your chosen experience at Ruboni, in the Rwenzori Mountains foothills, you will be transferred to Queen Elizabeth National Park, involving a 1-hour drive (46km) and checking in at the Elephant Home before embarking on the search for wild animals. The elephant home is another community owned and run lodge whose proceeds go to the local community, just like Ruboni Community Camp in Ruboni village.

We call the Elephant Home a sister community lodge to Ruboni Community Camp, owned and run by the local community, with proceeds supporting conservation and community development in Kikorongo Village near Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Queen Elizabeth National Park offers various wildlife activities. Based on the available time (minimum of one day), you will choose the activity to participate in. The activities take from hours to full days or nights. Besides the activities in the park, you have the village showcasing culture and its relationship to wildlife.

The key activities in Queen Elizabeth are a safari drive in Kasenyi track, Kazinga Channel boat cruise, lion tracking experience, chimp tracking in Kyambura, mongoose tracking, birding watching experiences, tree climbing lions in Ishasha, and a night game drive.

Besides, you have a range of community activities to chose from, including the boda-boda safari, Kikorongo Village walk, agriculture tour showcasing vanilla, coffee, and cocoa growing, village hill trek, the crater lakes tour in Bunyaruguru, traditional dances, Katwe salt mining tour, and the basket weaving experience.

The included activities for this comprehensive trip are the game drive in Kasenyi and the Kazinga Channel boat cruise. However, guests can choose to do different or more activities on the above list. The game drive will take from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., and the boat cruise from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The rest of the day, you have a chance to participate in any other activity of your choice, including activities in the community or inside the park.

The travel plan / Itinerary on this, people and wildlife trip

Day 1). Arrive at Ruboni community camp on the day before the tour starts. The arrival can be from anywhere in western Uganda or Kampala. On arrival, clear all the payments by showing any proof of payment for all payments that were done before arrival, clear the balances, get briefing from the guide to prepare for the day as they check your tools and equipment. Dinner and overnight.

Please not that, today you have an option of going for an overnight hill trek to spend a night at 2300m above sea level and get a chance of viewing margarita peak in the mornings, evenings or day time, if the weather is clear.

The adjacent National parks that you can ably travel from to Ruboni within one day are; Murchison falls national park, Semuliki National park, Kibale national park or the cities on the north of Kasese.

Day 2). Today, participate in the Ruboni activitries. Wake to an early breakfast and embark on either the forest or hill trek. Take this tour of choice for 3-4 hours and return to lunch. After lunch, you can choose to visit the people to learn the local trades of the Bakonzo people living in the Rwenzori foothills. The day normally ends with a cultural evening at the community visitors center where you mix with the locals, on the traditional foods, dances and drinks as you learn all the processes of making them.

After the dance, transfer to Queen Elizabeth and arrive to dinner at the elephant home community camp, and sleep to the sound of the lion and hyena in the neighboring savanna as they do their nightly hunt. You will sleep in the northern hemisphere and do your safari activities in the southern hemisphere tomorrow.

Day 3). Wake up at 6:30 to an early breakfast. You will then start the game drive as the park gates open. This morning you will be looking for varied animals including the cats, buffalo, water buck, cobs, warthogs, elephants, leopards birds and many others in the beautiful Savannah landscape east of lake gorge, south of the equator. during the game drive, you will proceed to the crafts village next to lake Bunyampaka in kasenyi and take the breathtaking views as you shop around this African crafts village.

After the game drive, transfer to Katunguru to participate in the Kazinga channel boat cruise. The boat will showcase wild animals at close rage as they cool off on the banks of Kazinga channel. The animals to look for include; Hipos, crocodiles, antelopes, Bufallo, elephants and multitudes of birds including the migrant species from as far as Europe, during certain seasons. 

On the boat, you will also meet the fishing villages and take the true African views of the people doing their daily fishing activity. Return to the dock after two hours and proceed to lunch where you can choose to have the local fish from the local lakes or return for any delicious meal of your choice at the lodge.

This afternoon, you have a choice to participate in the community activities such as Katwe salt mining tour, Kikorongo village walk, the boda-boda safari, the equator experience as you cross over the equator line, or more activities inside the park such as Chimp tracking in Kyambura gorge.  The end of the boat cruise is also good time to connect to another destination like Ishasha, Bwindi or Kampala if you have a private car. If using public, it will be better to have another night in queen Elizabeth and transfer tomorrow.