22 DAYS CULTURAL TOUR.
Group tour (10 – 14 participants).
The
Most Terriffic Cultural and Safari Adventure
-Uganda
Day1: Arrival. Early Arrivals have will
experience an exciting entertainment welcome from at the
Ndere Centre in Kampala. See how amazingly the dancers wiggle
their bodies to the lovely beats of the traditional instruments
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Africana.
Day 2: After Breakfast, we visit cultural
sites around Kampala. These include Kasubi tombs where Buganda
kings and royals are buried, Kabaka’s lake and Palace,
Nagalabi coronation site, Nakasero Green Market, Mulago
Hospital, Uganda Museum, Cultural Market, Bahai temple,
Namugongo shrines and many other interesting sites, learn
the real history of what happened in Buganda, the transformations
they have gone through and how different cultures interact
yet without clashing with one another.
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Africana
Day 3: Whole day workshop
at Ndere Centre. Training in different cultural activities.
These include cooking traditional foods, traditional dancing,
dressing in traditional attire and courtship the Ugandan style.
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Africana
Day 4: After break
fast back to the Ndere Cultural center for various competitions.
The winners are awarded prizes and certificates. Evening entertainment
by Ndere troupe.
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Africana
Day 5: After break
fast drive to the Eastern part of the country and visit the
White Nile that is seven times the volume of the Zambezi and
the longest river in Africa. Visit the mighty Bujjagali falls
and get a chance of seeing the real sparkling white water
of the Nile as it forces its way through the stones. Listen
the mysteries that surrounds Bujjagali falls Lunch at Sunset
Hotel. Drive to Tororo in the afternoon
Dinner and overnight at Tororo Rock Hotel.
Day 6: After breakfast
climb the Tororo Rock hill. The highest altitude of Tororo
rock is 4865ft with a gradient of about 0.75 from the east
to the west. Visit the ancestral cave and the various Rock
paintings. Lunch at the Hotel. Afternoon entertainment by
the local community group.
Dinner and overnight at Tororo Rock Hotel.
Day 7: After breakfast we transfer to Kampala
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Africana
Day 8: After breakfast drive to Murchison
Falls National Park. Stop over in Masindi for lunch at Masindi
Hotel. Proceed to the Park. Dinner and overnight at Paara
safari Lodge.
Day 9: After breakfast you will visit the
falls. This is the most exciting falls in East and Central
Africa the reason why the park is named after the falls, see
how and where the world's longest river explodes violently
through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment to plunge
into a frothing pool 43m below. Wildlife populations have
largely recovered from the poaching of the 1980s; in the lush
borassus grassland to the north of the Nile, elephant, buffalo,
giraffe and a variety of antelope are regularly encountered
on game drives, while lion are seen with increasing frequency.
After lunch, you will take a boat to the bottom of the falls.
An exciting cruise with lots of hippos, the most feared Nile
crocodiles, elephants and the lovely bird species along. Evening
relax and listen in more of the African evening stories.
Dinner and overnight at Paara safari Lodge.
Day 10: After breakfast
proceed to Hoima, Visit the Kings Palace and lunch at Kolping
hotel. The Entogoro cultural dancers will entertain you. After
this you proceed to Fort Portal.
Dinner and overnight at Mountains of the Moon Hotel.
Day 11: Activities include visiting the Toro
Kings Palace, a palace to the youngest king ever. Visit Karambi
Kings burial grounds. Lunch at the Hotel and enjoy the entertainment
by the Batoro Cultural dancers. Later proceed to Crater Valley
Kibale (CVK) for Dinner and overnight camp located at
the mouth of Kibale National Park.
Day 12: Start early for chimp tracking. Chimp
tracking is done in the groups of 6. Kibale forest is the
most accessible of Uganda's major rainforests. Kibale is home
to a remarkable 13 primate species, including the very localized
red colobus and L'Hoest's monkey. Kibale's major attraction,
however, is the opportunity to track habituated chimps - these
delightful apes, more closely related to humans than to any
other living creature, are tremendous fun to watch as they
squabble and play in fruiting trees. After Lunch at Mantana
Luxury tented camp, we transfer to Queen Elizabeth National
Park.
Dinner and overnight at Mweya Safari Lodge.
Day 13: Start at 6:00 am for a game drive
in the park. Early game drives are known to produce good sights
of the members of the cat family. This park is known for its
open savannah, rainforest, from dense papyrus swamps and brooding
crater lakes to the vastness of Lake Edward, it is little
wonder that QENP boasts one of the highest biodiversity ratings
of any game reserve in the world. Almost 100 mammal species
and a remarkable 606 bird species makes this superb safari
territory, with elephant, a profusion of hippos, the elusive
giant forest hog and handsome Uganda Kob all regularly sighted
around the tourist village on the Mweya Peninsula - which
also boasts a marvelous waterfront setting in the shadow of
the Rwenzori Mountains. In the afternoon you will take a launch
cruise on Kazinga channel.
Dinner and overnight at Myeya safari lodge
Day 14: Another morning
game drive. In the afternoon you will visit the Katwe salt
works. Men and women do this locally. See the indigenous technological
way of extracting salt.
Dinner and overnight at Myeya Safari lodge
Day 15: Participating in the real African
Wedding ceremony. After breakfast at the hotel, travel to
Bunyaruguru to join the local women and men in the preparation
of a rural wedding ceremony.
Here the whole group will participate in the activities. These
include peeling bananas, fetching fire wood, constructing
sheds, fetching water from the streams, and any other activities
that will be identified. The group shall be divided into small
groups each undertaking different activities. The activities
shall be announced and the group members are free to choose
where they have interest. We go back to the Hotel in the evening.
Dinner and overnight at Myeya Safari lodge.
Day 16: After breakfast
at Mweya Safari lodge, we drive back to the wedding site.
Here we again join the community in the activities of the
day. These include cooking, Preparing the reception, Decorating,
preparing the cake, welcoming guests, serving and being served.
Dinner and overnight at Myeya Safari lodge.
Day 17: We spend the whole day at Rutoto
Primary School interacting with the community. This school
has been built as the result of the proceeds from Queen Elizabeth
N.P. We shall interact with the school children, the youth,
women and men. This is the day for sharing experiences and
visiting some homes and gardens. We proceed to Mbarara for
overnight stay at Katatumba resort hotel or Lake View Regency
Hotel.
Day 18: We travel to Bwindi Impenetrable
forest the home of gorillas. A magnificent verdant swathe
across the steep ridges of the Albertine Rift Valley, this
ancient rainforest - one of the few in Africa to have flourished
throughout the last Ice Age is home to half of the world's
mountain gorillas. Looking deep into the expressive brown
eyes of these gentle giants is surely the most thrilling and
poignant wildlife encounter that Africa has to offer - but
we should not let it distract us from Bwindi's broader biodiversity,
a result of its immense antiquity and an altitude span from
1,160 to 2,607m. The national park has 90 mammal species,
including 11 primates, of which the black-and-white colobus,
with its lovely flowing white tail is prominent. The forest
birding ranks with the best in Uganda, with 23 highly localized
Albertine Rift endemics present. Dinner and overnight
at African Pearl Homestead.
Day 19: Whole day gorilla tracking. Gorilla
tracking is a very captivating activity; it involves walking
in the wilderness in search of these great apes. It can be
a challenging activity, therefore ensure physical fitness.
Six people are permitted per group per day and a total of
eighteen (18) people are taken in Bwindi, while six (6) people
are allowed for Mgahinga. So far, we have four groups for
viewing. There are three groups in Bwindi Impenetrable National
Park (Mubare, Habinyanja, and Rushegura) and one (Nyakagezi)
in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
Evening entertainment by the Pygmies
(Batwa). The Batwa were once recognized as the owners of the
high montane forest. The men used to hunt, and collect honey
and other forest products, which were exchanged for village
goods, while the women gathered vegetables, mushrooms and
fruits as well as working for local farming people. At the
end of the 19th century, when what is now southwest Uganda
was part of the Kingdom of Rwanda, the Batwa, like their counterparts
in Rwanda, Kivu and Burundi, were valued as court entertainers
and soldiers. At the beginning of the 20th century some Batwa
leaders became powerful enough to claim tribute from their
neighbors. Since then however, as the forest has been cut
down by local farmers, the Batwa have become destitute and
despised. Most are entirely landless; they live as tenants
or squatters on other peoples land', church or state land,
and pay the landlord with their labour in exchange for food:
collecting firewood and water and doing farm work. Those who
do manage to get a little land are liable to be evicted by
more powerful neighbors, and find it almost impossible to
get redress.
Dinner and overnight at African Pearl Homestead
Day 20: Travel back
to Mbarara evening entertainment by the Banyankole in ekitaguriro.
Overnight stay at Katatumba resort hotel or Lake View Regency
Hotel.
Day 21: After breakfast drive to Lake Mburo
National Park for a game drive. And proceed to Kampala. Lunch
at Hotel Brovad Masaka. Shopping at the Cultural Center handcrafts.
Dinner and overnight stay at Imperial Botanical Beach
Hotel.
Day 22: Departure.

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