Planning A Family Safari in Uganda With Kids

Uganda is a wonderful spot for family safari trips with children. It offers lovely, exciting, and safe activities and lodgings where your energetic, inquisitive children are appreciated and enhanced, not simply tolerated. You should not wait till your children are old enough to enjoy the magic of Africa’s wilderness. A family safari vacation in Uganda may introduce a youngster to diverse cultures and the natural environment.

Transformative journeys like this are about more than just instilling a love of nature and the wilderness. They’re about creating lifelong memories, strengthening family bonds, and spending quality time together on a once-in-a-lifetime journey with the entire family.

 

What are the best areas in Uganda for a family safari?

Travel west! The finest attractions for a family safari holiday are in Western Uganda. It features breathtaking scenery, diverse family safari experiences, and breathtaking wilderness areas that conserve some of Africa’s most treasured animal and bird species.

Tracking mountain gorillas in the far southwest and wandering with chimps, other primates, and birds near the beautiful Rwenzori Mountains are two of the top highlights for youths over the age of fifteen.

Children of all ages will enjoy wildlife-watching excursions on the vast plains of Lake Mburo, Queen Elizabeth, and Murchison Falls National Parks. The three parks provide fantastic walking expeditions, wildlife drives, and boat safaris that are suitable for the entire family and have flexible age limitations.

Children above the age of six can go on foot to track the endangered white rhinos at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. The refuge provides short bush excursions (or “poo walks”) that teach youngsters how to recognize animal feces and droppings as well as gather pods, feathers, insects, and leaves. The entire family should join the rhino and shoebill tracking adventure in Ziwa.

For younger children, Central Uganda provides enthralling attractions centered on Lake Victoria. For youngsters under the age of fifteen, the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary provides an excellent opportunity to interact with wild chimpanzees. The Kalangala Islands (also known as the Ssese Islands) are ideal for some laid-back holiday relaxation and beach fun for youngsters.

The famous Nile source in Jinja, Eastern Uganda, is ideal for adventurous family excursions in Uganda. Jinja is known as the Adrenaline Capital of East Africa because of its high-octane activities, which include grade-five whitewater rafting, kayaking, bungee jumping, horseback riding, stand-up paddle boarding, quad biking, and mountain biking.

Children above the age of eight can participate in the heart-pounding whitewater rafting adventure in the Nile rapids. The remainder of the family may take a boat down the Nile to the source, see John Hannington’s Speke’s Monument, and eat fish at the floating eateries. You may also go shopping at local markets and take a stroll around Jinja’s historic streets.

 

Uganda Family Safari Highlights

Walking with gorillas and chimps in Uganda and standing 10 meters away from Africa’s giant apes is breathtaking. The monkey parade on the wooded mountain slopes of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park will fascinate and exhaust the entire family. It’s an ideal summer pastime for older, more daring children and grown-ups.

Driving across the lush rolling hills and wonderfully groomed slopes of southern Uganda is another pleasant experience for the entire family. Driving into the countryside to see the big apes will educate youngsters to respect untamed natural settings.

The savanna plains and waterways of the National Park display Uganda’s plentiful wildlife, making it ideal for family safari game drives, boat trips, and bird watching. Surprisingly, children will have little trouble spotting elephants, buffalo, and lions at Queen Elizabeth National Park. The park is home to a variety of antelope species, including Uganda kob, topi, and bushbuck. The exhilarating boat trips on the Kazinga canal are among Uganda’s most popular family safari activities. Here, the family may get up and personal with hippos, crocodiles, and elephant herds.

Guided hikes are a major feature of visiting Lake Mburo and make an excellent accompaniment to your boat tour. A walking safari at Lake Mburo National Park allows you to get up close and personal with wild animals like impala and zebra herds.

A local guide guides the family off the usual route through stunning countryside till they come across a herd of calm ungulates in Lake Mburo National Park. The immersive walking or riding experience with the little animals and giraffes will delight children.

The peaceful urban neighborhoods of Kampala and Entebbe, as well as the colorful downtown streets of Entebbe, will acquaint the entire family with Uganda’s potpourri of local and international cultures. The cities provide a plethora of cultural activities for the entire family, ranging from culinary testing to language, music, dance, lifestyle, and sightseeing.

The native Karamojong societies of the northeast’s semi-arid region, the Busoga festivals of the east, and the southwestern aboriginal tribes will entertain family evenings with sky-jumping dances, half-naked dress styles, incredible body piercings, and community cultural practices hidden from the familiar world.

 

Planning Suggestions

Although Uganda offers a variety of African safari activities, most visitors come for gorilla trekking and chimp tracking. Trekking the great apes, on the other hand, may not be appropriate for a family safari with children under the age of 15.

Both activities have a minimum age requirement of 15 years. When adults join the early morning trekking adventure, several safari lodges provide babysitting services.

The Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary and the UWEC zoo in Entebbe are both excellent options for watching chimps inside a secure fence. Nature walking trips for children may be booked in Kibale, Kyambura, and Budongo Forests for an authentic jungle journey.

Mountain gorillas dwell at heights ranging from 8,000 to 13,000 feet, when evenings may be bitterly cold. Please give the kids time to adjust to the altitude before taking them on active activities in southern Uganda. Book extra nights and stay longer at the safari lodge near the tourist center to acquaint the entire family with the surroundings.

All western Uganda attractions are at least a 7- to 8-hour journey from Entebbe International Airport. Long-distance travel may be exhausting for children. Plan interesting things along the way, such as visiting museums and cultural centers, taking photos, and even spending the night in one of the cities.

Take domestic flights between remote places instead to save time. Uganda has minor airstrips with regular flights connecting national parks to Entebbe International Airport.

The most well-known driving sites for a family safari in Uganda are the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary on the way to Murchison Falls, the Equator crossing, the Igongo Cultural Center, Mbarara Town, and Lake Mburo National Park in western Uganda.

If you have ample time on your family safari holiday, it makes sense to limit your schedule to fewer sites to visit to provide the most gratifying experiences for the children while requiring fewer transfers. Spend more time on fewer sites to give the youngsters the full experience rather than cramming everything into a single vacation.

A family with children, for example, might benefit from two nights in Kampala/Entebbe, three nights in Lake Mburo, three nights in Kibale Forest, and two nights in Jinja. A family with older children can stay in Bwindi for three nights.

Malaria poses a significant risk to youngsters vacationing in Uganda. Even adults are particularly vulnerable to severe and deadly malaria. You should see your doctor before taking antimalarial medicine for your children. Wear appropriate clothing, and bug repellent, and sleep beneath mosquito nets while traveling to avoid being bitten.

Check the minimum age rules of lodges and camps with your trip organizer before arranging family safari accommodation. Most camps’ kid policies allow newborns under the age of five to share a room with their parents for free, while children aged five to twelve pay a special child charge. Others provide family rooms that welcome the entire family to enjoy the same living areas and kid-friendly amenities such as meals and guided nature hikes. Before your Uganda vacation, do some research on the finest resorts for families.

Uganda safaris entail traveling large miles throughout the day and staying in isolated locations with few facilities. You may spend long hours in the wilderness hunting for animals, which will take a lot of patience as well as adhering to important but intrusive and rigorous safety procedures.

Reduce game driving time and bush hours into shorter buffs, which will need rigorous preparation that should begin at least six months before the trip.

 

How to Plan an Uganda Family Safari

Planning a family safari in Uganda with children is a difficult endeavor that takes great thought and careful consideration of all aspects of the experience.

Nonetheless, with appropriate planning, you may fulfill your ambition of taking your younger, adolescent, and older children on a family safari in Uganda’s bush.

Here are some helpful hints for making a family trip in Uganda’s tropical jungles packed with enormous primates or Kenya’s wide savannah wildness a memorable excursion.

 

• Begin by gently presenting the concept to the youngsters.
• Reduce family travel stress by taking direct flights.
• Look into any age limits.
• Incorporate family-friendly activities.
• The family is not required to participate in all safari activities.
• Consider a private family safari vacation that is all-inclusive.
• Bring binoculars, wildlife books, and plenty of food.
• Allow everyone to photograph the events.
• Children like discovering lesser animals.
• Safety considerations and child supervision

 

The best time to visit

The ideal months to visit Uganda for a family safari are June, July, August, September, October, December, January, and February. The weather is pleasant throughout these months, with no definite downpours, dry trekking paths, and an abundance of wildlife on the parched plains.

From June through September, primate encounters are at their best. However, the country is in peak season. To capitalize on the high number of passengers, lodges and service providers raise their costs. So start arranging your Uganda family safari immediately!