Uganda

Uganda is where the East African savanna runs into the Central African rainforest, and that meeting is what makes it one of the richest wildlife countries on the continent.

It is most famous for primates. Roughly half the world’s remaining mountain gorillas live in the forests of Bwindi and Mgahinga, and you track them on foot, on a permit, with rangers — an hour in the presence of a wild gorilla family that ranks among the great wildlife experiences anywhere. Kibale holds the best chimpanzee tracking in East Africa, and the country counts thirteen or more primate species in all.

But Uganda is not only forests. Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls are full savanna parks — elephant, lion (including the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha), buffalo, and the Nile forced through a seven-metre gap at Murchison. Around a thousand bird species have been recorded, close to half of all Africa’s birds, and the shoebill stalks the papyrus swamps.

It is worth knowing how it works before you come. The gorilla and chimp trekking is permit-limited, ranger-led and physically demanding — forest, mud and altitude — not a vehicle safari. The classic game-drive experience comes from the savanna parks. A good Uganda trip combines the two: forest for the primates, plains for the rest.

The thing that makes or breaks a Uganda trip is the permits, issued in small daily numbers and booked far ahead. We plan around them first, then build the route to match.