What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari?
What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari?
What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari? A combined Kenya and Uganda Safari allows you to have an ultimate wildlife and primate experience. Just like any other safari, you need to know the best time so that you can meet your safari expectations. The best safari experience comes from seeing what you want to do at the designated time. In this article, we discuss what the best time to combine a Kenya and Uganda safari is.
The Dry Season
What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari?’ The dry season. Uganda gorilla trekking is done throughout the year with the peak being June to September. Kenya and Uganda safaris generally go on throughout the year. However, the period of June to September is the best time for a Uganda-Kenya tour. This is because the weather is generally dry (although it can get wet on the tail-end of September) and most safari (game viewing) trails are open. This also coincides with the wildebeest and zebra migration in the Masai Mara.
This is the dry season, and as it progresses, water sources for animals tend to dry up and become fewer, drawing animals in numbers to those that remain. One downside is that, apart from June (which is one of many’s favorite months to visit), high-season prices apply. But also during these months, you will have more visitors in the parks, with more game-drive cars and this might affect your Kenya safari experience a bit, and some areas of the Masai Mara can be completely overwhelmed with vehicles during the migration.
The Wet Season
What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari?- The Wet season. If you do your Kenya and Uganda tour between November and February you get to also enjoy lots of wildlife but there is more rain to slightly disrupt your safari experience. There are also lots of migrating birds that come in during these months, but the country will be looking so verdantly green everywhere. The rains though are not so intense. There could be a shower once or twice a week and right after you have clear skies.
Most of our intending tourists to Kenya and Uganda tend to avoid the months of March, April, and May. This is because of the heavy seasonal rains. Heavy rains often make some safari trails and game drive tracks hard to drive through. But if you are looking at doing the cheapest Kenya tour, these are the months to look at. This is because there are huge discounts on accommodation and flights into Kenya and Uganda (except for local visitors around Easter).
Facts About Combined Kenya Uganda Safari Tours and Holidays
A selection of the top-rated Combined Kenya Uganda Safari Tours. The most booked Kenya Uganda safaris combine gorilla trekking and Amboseli. Others combine Gorillas and Maasai Mara, Meru Samburu, and Laikipia. Others combine Kenya safaris with Murchison Falls, Quee Elizabeth NP, Kibale National Park, and Bwindi. The Uganda-Kenya tours can be private family safaris, fly-in safaris, luxury tours, or budget safaris. These gorilla treks and wildlife combinations cover one of the most popular tourist destinations in Africa. That is to say; Kenya as well as the best place for gorilla trekking, Bwindi in Uganda. Tourists can also visit chimps and other primates in Uganda.
Safaris in Kenya and Uganda could be in comfort and style where you would be staying at the very best luxury Kenya hotels, safari lodges, and tented camps or fly-in premier Uganda Kenya tours with less time on the road but more time for you to enjoy game viewing and relax. Or, you can choose from our selection of affordable Uganda-Kenya safari tours that allow you to experience an array of East African game reserves. From seeing the wildebeest mega-herds move into the Masai Mara and Amboseli’s legendary elephant herds against the backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro to the majestic leopards of Samburu, Kenya will not disappoint if you combine it with a primates’ trekking experience.
All About the Combined Kenya Uganda Safari Tours – What You Get in the Uganda and Kenya Tours
Kenya
Kenya is the historical home of the East African safari. It’s a land of sweeping savannah grasslands inhabited by charismatic megafauna. This includes Big Cats, the Big Five (elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard, and rhino), and just about everything in between. Elsewhere, landscapes here stir the soul with deserts in the north, dense forests in the west, Rift Valley lakes in the center, and the tropical coast out east. This result for those on safari is an experienced safari industry ready to show you a seemingly endless parade of wildlife against one of the most beautiful backdrops in Africa.
The safari bucket list for Kenya includes seeing the Great Migration in the legendary Masai Mara. It also includes Amboseli’s unforgettable views of Mount Kilimanjaro and Samburu’s leopards. Encounter fascinating cultures in authentic Masai villages and taste the flavors of Africa, India, and Europe in the melting pot that is Swahili culture. Kenya’s biggest attraction is the natural movement of mega-herds – wildebeest, zebra, and gazelles. They follow the summer rains and sweet grasses in an annual pilgrimage famous as the Great Migration. Depending on when your Kenya safari takes place, you witness the life-and-death struggles of the Mara River crossings. You can also see dramatic encounters with Africa’s top predators on the open plains.
Uganda
Uganda is mostly famous for its mountain gorilla tourism. Most people visiting Uganda will include a gorilla trekking experience in their itinerary. But while in Uganda you can also enjoy great wildlife safaris in the savannah national parks. You can also enjoy chimpanzee tracking and other primates as well. Highly esteemed is the chimpanzee tracking in Kibale National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park’s Kyambura Gorge. In Queen Elizabeth NP, you can also do safari game drives. These allow you to see lions, elephants, hippos, buffalo, and leopards among other wildlife. You can also do a boat trip on the Kazinga Channel, to witness the highest concentration of hippos in the world.
Murchison Falls National Park offers excellent wildlife viewing as well as spectacular scenic beauty. You can take a boat trip on the Nile River to the famous Murchison Falls or the delta. The latter is particularly rewarding for birders, and sightings of the prehistoric shoebill are common in this area. Kidepo Valley National Park offers a true wilderness experience. It’s home to many species that don’t occur elsewhere in the country, including the graceful cheetahs.
Where to go on a Kenya safari tour?
The Masai Mara is where to go in Kenya for the dramatic wildebeest migration but there’s a great deal more to this East African country. Other classic big game destinations such as Amboseli and Tsavo are easily accessible as is the recently opened-up Laikipia Plateau region. And after the drama of a Kenya safari, what could be better than a few lazy days on a white-sand beach? Kenya’s tropical coast offers everything from buzzing resorts to exclusive island hideaways. This makes the country ideal for safari and beach vacations.
Wildlife Safari in Kenya and Uganda – the way it is done:
What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari?- How Uganda and Kenya Wildlife and Primate Safaris are done. The conduct of wildlife viewing on a Kenya-Uganda safari varies with the park or game reserve you go to. With the very popular parks of Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth NP, Kidepo Valley National Park, Maasai Mara, Samburu Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli, there are plenty of superb wildlife-watching opportunities. Dense wildlife populations in all of these parks make them good all-round safari destinations. This enables them to see as many animals (and different species) as they can in a short period.
Other parks are more specialist – such as the birds and primates of Kakamega, and the sitatunga in Saiwa Swamp. This allows you to tick off hard-to-find species, usually without the crowds. A more exclusive Kenyan safari experience is possible in the conservancies of Laikipia. Though you pay more, the experience is worth it. At most of these conservancies, you can get off-road as well. This means that you’ll get a lot closer to the animals than you will in a national park.
If you like a more sedate and relaxing safari, a bit of boating, walking too with some rare wildlife opportunities, and if you don’t want to share your wilderness with too many other tourists, then a trip to Tanzania’s wild south will be the best idea you ever have.
A Typical Safari Day in Kenya
Most days out on safari begin with a quiet African voice waking you well before sunrise. After dressing quickly, and having a coffee or tea, you head out for a few hours in a safari vehicle (with other guests, a driver, a guide, and sometimes a tracker) looking for wildlife. This time, and the last hours before sunset, are ideal for watching wildlife. You’ll return to the lodge or camp mid-to-late morning for a proper sit-down breakfast. After a few hours of relaxation, and lunch, then a few hours more doing very little occupies the hottest part of the day when even animals retreat into the shade.
Afternoon tea, often known as High Tea in a nod to colonial-era safari traditions, happens around 3 PM or 3:30 PM, and then it’s back out looking for wildlife until after dark. Just before sunset, you’ll stop for another safari institution, the ‘Sundowner’. You’ll watch the sunset while enjoying the drink of your choice. You then arrive back in camp in time to freshen up. Then, it’s dinner and off to bed, before it all starts again very early the next morning.
A typical Safari Day in Uganda
What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari?- Explaining a typical Safari Day in Uganda. Mountain gorilla trekking is the top attraction, but a bit more exciting is chimpanzee trekking. The day starts with heading to the park headquarters for a briefing about the trekking rules and regulations. You are then divided into groups and head out to the forest in search of the primates. After finding them, you stay in their presence for either an hour or four hours. The length of stay before primates depends on the permit type you bought. You can see a variety of monkeys throughout the park while searching for gorillas. After that, you head back to the park headquarters.
You can also see a troop of habituated golden monkeys, endemic to the Albertine Rift, in Mgahinga National Park. Away from the forest environment, Uganda has several good savannah reserves. You’ll have more conventional wildlife viewing on game drives and boat trips.
A Guide to Accommodation on Uganda and Kenya Safari Tours and Kenya Beach Holiday
Expect the quality of accommodation to improve with the cost or price tag on it both in Uganda and Kenya. Mostly, the lower budget accommodation will be the campsites that are usually basic. They are sometimes crowded and not always in the best locations within the national parks or reserves. However, their prices are manageable and often have ample facilities such as showers and toilets.
Most people doing a safari in Uganda and Kenya will go for the lodges with great locations inside the park or with great views into the safari parks. They are also most frequently renovated and should generally offer a great service for your stay.
There is also the option the tented safari camps. These can either be mobile camps or permanently constructed safari camps. They have these quite spacious walk-in sheltered tents that when inside will be like large lodge rooms in terms of size but with canvas for walls and floor. The canvas tent gives a superb wildlife experience, in that you will be able to hear all the sounds of the park at night and day yet it offers all the privacy you would need in a remote African park.
In most cases, the tents are well-spaced to reinforce guest privacy. Most lodge rooms and tents of this kind have comfortable (not camp) beds and sometimes a desk. They also usually have a private bathroom. Some even have an outdoor shower with no roof but walls that protect your modesty. Particularly in tented camps, you’ll most likely need to recharge your devices not in your room but at a power station in the main public area.
The Ugandan gorilla trekking reserves of Bwindi and Mgahinga are at high altitudes. The climate tends to be cold and wet. Most accommodation in this area is therefore suitable for this kind of climate. You can therefore expect cozy cottages with log fires.
How safe are Kenya and Uganda for tourists?
What is the Best Time to Combine a Kenya and Uganda Safari?- How safe are Kenya and Uganda Tours? For the most part, Kenya and Uganda safari are safe, but there are some important things you need to know. Nairobi and, to a lesser extent, some other Kenyan cities have a reputation for violent crime. Many have spent a significant amount of time in Nairobi and elsewhere and have never once had a problem. However, it does happen often enough to mean that you should always be careful and follow local advice when it comes to these cities. Another potential danger comes from traveling on the country’s roads – the accident rate is extremely high. The danger from wild animals is minimal; most Kenya safari trips and operators have excellent safety records. Therefore, you’ll be fine if you follow the safety briefings and instructions from the guides.
These problems are mostly in the past and tourists can now freely move around the whole country. This new level of security has opened up the north for tourism and in particular the beautiful Kidepo Valley National Park, which was previously only accessible via very expensive charter flights. As is the case in any developing country, petty crime is a concern in urban centers. Visitors should take normal safety precautions when visiting cities and avoid traveling at night. All national parks have security police to maintain the safety of all visitors.
Contact us to start planning for Combined Kenya Uganda Safari Tours. The safari experience we have accumulated over the years allows us to fulfill our clients’ safari needs.
