Top 9 Unforgettable Weekend Getaway Safaris In Uganda
Uganda weekend getaway safaris from Kampala are some of our most selling itineraries. If you are planning on spending any length of time in Kampala, perhaps because you are living, studying, or working there, there will come a point when you’ll feel the need to escape the city and see more of Uganda. This can especially be done on the weekends, specifically on Saturdays and Sundays.
Uganda offers a variety of weekend travel spots, whether you want to relax and unwind or explore affordable destinations with beautiful scenery.
Read on for our picks for the best weekend trips from Kampala, along with tips for what to do while you’re there. Grab your weekender bag and set out on one of these top cheap weekend getaways across Uganda.
Weekend Getaways In Uganda
Jinja
Jinja is one of Uganda’s top tourist spots and a very popular weekend getaway from Kampala, mainly because it is known as the adventure capital of Uganda.
Before reaching Jinja, you can enjoy stopovers at Sezibwa Falls and Mabira Forest, which is great for nature walks to see monkeys and also offers a thrilling zip line adventure.
Jinja is a mecca for thrill-seekers of all kinds, tempted by the draw of the river’s fierce white water. You can enjoy white water rafting, kayaking, tubing the Nile, sport fishing, bungee jumping, quad biking, mountain biking, and horseback safaris.
You can also take a relaxing boat cruise to the famed Source of the Nile, or chill out and enjoy the buzz of the town.
Sipi Falls
If you are looking for a weekend getaway from Kampala that’s a bit more active, Sipi Falls could be a great option.
It’s a bit further than Entebbe or Jinja, about 5 hours by car, but if you can turn it into a long weekend, it’s a great way to escape the city’s hot, sweaty weather and enjoy some fresh air and beautiful scenery.
Situated at 1,775 m above sea level in the foothills of Mount Elgon, Sipi Falls is one of the most amazing tourist attractions in Uganda, especially for hikers and nature enthusiasts.
There are loads of different walks you can do, but the well-trodden is the main route to see the three stunning waterfalls after which the place is named.
Sipi is also a coffee-growing region, so there’s a chance to take a tour of a coffee plantation, or you can also do bird-watching, abseiling, or, if you’re feeling particularly energetic, go for a guided run.
Entebbe
For anyone up for an affordable and relaxing weekend trip, Entebbe is one of the most obvious holiday destinations in Uganda.
Situated on the shores of Africa’s largest lake – Lake Victoria, it’s just an hour’s drive away from Kampala (traffic permitting!). If you can leave early on a Friday afternoon to beat the traffic, you can easily spend an idyllic weekend escaping the noise and bustle of the city on the shores of the lake.
If you are a couple, this is the place for a romantic getaway in Uganda, away from Kampala. There are many places to stay and relax in Entebbe.
You can wander in the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, take a sunset boat trip on Lake Victoria, relax at a beach, visit the Uganda Reptile Village, or go shoebill watching in Mabamba Swamp
Entebbe is also home to the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre, also known as Entebbe Zoo, a wildlife sanctuary where they care for animals that have been rescued from poachers or pet smugglers.
You can wander round by yourself, or do the incomparable Behind the Scenes tour, where you’ll get to meet some of their best-loved animal residents in person. You can also tour the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
Lake Mburo National Park
Roughly 3-4 hours from Kampala in the opposite direction, towards the west, is Lake Mburo National Park, one of the closest to the city.
Just as with Sipi Falls, it’s a great place to go if you can get Friday or Monday off and take a long weekend trip from Kampala. You can also leave early on the Saturday morning, stay one night, and come back the following evening.
Lake Mburo is the smallest of Uganda’s savannah national parks and is home to 350 bird species as well as 68 species of mammals, including zebras, hippos, buffalo, and various antelopes. There are leopards and hyenas in the park too, but sadly, no elephants or lions.
Here, you can enjoy a boat cruise, game drives, a game walk, bird watching, horseback safaris, and cycling tours inside this savannah park. You can also visit the nearby Igongo Cultural Centre and Museum in Mbarara.
On the way back, you can also stop off at the equator, watch a fascinating demonstration of water going down a plughole, and take that all-important photo.
From Kampala, in the opposite direction towards the west, is Lake Mburo National Park
Kibale Forest National Park
One of the most amazing things you can do during a trip to Uganda is spend time with some of the country’s most celebrated residents: its primates
While trekking to see mountain gorillas is the number one, visiting Kibale to see chimpanzees is just as thrilling. Not to mention that it’s half the price, and doable in a long weekend getaway from Kampala.
There are around 5700 wild chimpanzees living in Uganda, and about 1500 of them are found in Kibale Forest. The wild chimps have become habituated to human presence.
Chimp tracking involves walking with a guide into the forest, listening for calls until the chimpanzees are located, and then spending as much time as possible with them before the guide tears you away again.
If you’re lucky, they’ll have come down to the ground, where you may well be able to get within 10 meters of these beautiful animals. It’s a truly magical experience
Chimp sightings are not guaranteed, of course, but the odds are above 95%, though they may be up in the trees rather than at ground level.
A chimp tracking permit costs about $200 for a non-Ugandan resident for a half day, or $250 for the full day chimp habituation experience, during which you can get much closer to the chimps, in a much smaller group.
It takes about 6 to 5 hours by road to get to Kibale, so although it’s a bit of a trek, you could easily get there by early afternoon on Friday, do a cultural visit or bird watching walk in the afternoon, see the chimps on the Saturday, and head back to Kampala after lunch on Sunday. Here is our Kibale Forest safari trip package.
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Carry on north from Ziwa, and after another 1-2 hours you’ll come to Murchison Falls, which is arguably Uganda’s best, and is certainly its most popular park, and a fantastic place for a weekend trip from Kampala.
Murchison combines the best of Uganda’s stunning scenery, amazing wildlife, and, of course, the famous Murchison Falls are the world’s strongest waterfalls, where the path of the River Nile narrows to an 8-meter gap and the full force of the frothing water surges through this slim fissure and plunges over at 300 cubic meters a second.
In two days, you can easily visit the Top of the falls, take a boat ride along the river, and do a game drive in the park. If you make it a long weekend, you’ll have time to spend a few hours at Ziwa on the way there or back, too.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
The Queen Elizabeth National Park is located a long distance from Kampala, but it is also a great place for a quick weekend escape.
The national park is located in southwestern Uganda. It occupies an area of 1978 km2 in a region of rolling plains, east of Lake Edward and on the southern foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.
The park is known for its wildlife, among the animal species are hippos, elephants, lions, and chimpanzees. It is now home to 95 species of mammals and over 600 species of birds.
Kalangala- Ssese Island
Looking for a relaxing vacation on a weekend, the Ssese Islands are a perfect spot to think of. Located in the middle of Lake Victoria, Ssese is an archipelago of 84 islands.
Some of them have been developed for tourism with beautiful, cozy resorts, lovely palm-fringed white sand beaches, boat cruises, nature walks, bonfires, and relaxation.
The best developed island is the main Bugala Island, which has nice beautiful, the most popular being the Brovad Sands Beach Hotel, and a forest for nature walks to spot monkeys and other wildlife. Ssese Islands can be reached by a ferry from the shores at Entebbe to Bugala, and it is a 3 to 4 hours.
