13 Days Kenya & Uganda Murchison Falls Safari
Raft the Nile's big rapids, walk with rhinos and climb beside Murchison Falls
13 Days Kenya & Uganda Murchison Falls Safari
This is East Africa at paddle height and boot level. You begin in Kenya with rhinos and Rift Valley views at Lake Nakuru, then take the old overland route west through the highlands and across the Malaba border, the way traders and travellers have reached Uganda for generations. By the end of that long day you are on the banks of the Nile at Jinja.
Jinja is where things get physical. Paddle a kayak on flat water at dawn, take a boat to the spot where the river slips out of Lake Victoria, then spend a full day running grade four and five rapids with safety kayakers shadowing your raft. Further north, rangers at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary lead you on foot toward white rhinos grazing in the long grass, an encounter very few places on the continent offer.
Murchison Falls is the centrepiece. Ride a boat upstream past crocodiles and hippos to the foot of the falls, step ashore and climb the trail to the top, where the whole Nile forces itself through a rock gap about seven metres wide. Another boat takes you down to the papyrus of the delta to search for the shoebill, and game drives turn up Rothschild's giraffe on the northern grasslands. Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale closes the loop before you head for Entebbe.
Ideal for: Active travellers who would rather paddle, hike and track on foot than spend every day in a vehicle.
The journey in brief
After a night in Nairobi you drive into the Rift Valley for a game drive at Lake Nakuru, then make a long overland day through Kenya's western highlands and across the Malaba border to Jinja. Three nights there cover a dawn kayak, a boat to the source of the Nile and a full day of white-water rafting. You head north to track rhinos on foot at Ziwa, then spend three nights in Murchison Falls National Park with a launch to the foot of the falls, the hike to the top, a delta trip for shoebills and game drives among giraffe and kob. Two nights in Kibale bring chimpanzee tracking and a crater-lake hike before the drive to Entebbe and your flight home.
Highlights
Day by day
Gear Check in Nairobi
Touch down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where your Geob guide meets you and handles the drive to your hotel. Take the afternoon to recover with a swim, a nap or a stroll through the quiet streets nearby. Before dinner your guide sits down with you for a briefing, and this one is practical. You go over the overland crossing into Uganda and the paperwork needed at the border, what the rafting company supplies and what you should bring yourself: quick-dry layers, sandals that strap on firmly, a dry bag for your phone. Then an early night, because the Rift Valley is waiting.
Down into the Rift
Climb out of Nairobi to the lip of the escarpment, where the floor of the Rift Valley opens below you and the volcanic cone of Mount Longonot stands out on the plain. Continue past Naivasha to Lake Nakuru, about three hours in all. Your afternoon game drive explores a fenced park that protects both black and white rhinos, and you have a good chance of seeing both. Buffalo and waterbuck graze the lakeshore meadows, and flamingos and pelicans work the shallows when water levels suit them. Finish at Baboon Cliff, with the whole lake laid out beneath you as the sun goes down behind the escarpment.
The Long Road to Malaba
An early start for the big overland day. The road climbs north-west from Nakuru through cool highland farms, crossing the equator before Eldoret, the heart of Kenya's running country, where you may pass athletes training on the verges. By late morning you reach Malaba, a busy border town of lorries and money changers. At the one-stop border post you clear Kenyan exit and Ugandan entry under one roof, then meet your Ugandan guide and vehicle. The last stretch runs past the volcanic plug of Tororo Rock and through rice paddies and sugar cane to Jinja, reaching the Nile by late afternoon after eight or nine hours.
Where the Nile Begins
Ease into the water with a dawn session on a calm stretch of river, paddling sit-on-top kayaks past fishermen checking their nets while an instructor teaches you the basic strokes. After breakfast and a rest, ride a motorboat upriver to the source of the Nile, where the water leaves Lake Victoria to begin its long journey north to the Mediterranean. Your boatman points out the springs welling up from below and tells how the explorer John Hanning Speke stood on this shore in 1862. The afternoon ends with a sundowner on the riverbank and a briefing from your rafting crew for tomorrow.
Big Water Day
Today is the main event. After a safety talk, your raft guide runs drills on flat water, practising paddle commands and what to do if you flip. Then the river picks up speed. Over the day you run a series of grade four and five rapids, with standing waves taller than the raft and churning holes, while safety kayakers hold position below each drop and a safety raft follows. Between rapids the Nile slows right down, and you can slip over the side for a swim in the warm current. Lunch is on the riverbank, and by late afternoon you're back in Jinja, sore-armed and grinning.
On Foot with Rhinos
Leave Jinja after breakfast, skirt the edge of Kampala and head north up the Gulu highway to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, four to five hours away. Ziwa is where Uganda's rhino comeback began after poaching wiped the animals out of the country by the early 1980s. In the afternoon rangers brief you, then lead you out on foot through bush and long grass to approach a group of southern white rhinos at a safe distance. Hearing them crop the grass, with nothing between you but open ground and a ranger's calm voice, is a completely different experience from watching through a vehicle window.
North to Murchison
After an optional early walk in the sanctuary, continue north-west via Masindi into Murchison Falls National Park, about three hours. The road threads through part of Budongo Forest, where mahogany and ironwood trees tower over the track and black-and-white colobus leap across the gaps. By mid-afternoon you reach Paraa and roll onto the small vehicle ferry across the Victoria Nile. Your first game drive explores the northern grasslands, a sweep of borassus palms and golden savannah where Uganda kob and Jackson's hartebeest graze and the first Rothschild's giraffes lift their heads above the scrub.
From the Foot of the Falls to the Top
Rise early for a game drive on the Buligi tracks, where lions hunt among the kob and elephants move between the palms. After lunch, board the launch at Paraa and motor upstream for about two hours past basking crocodiles, hippos and elephants drinking at the bank. The boat noses into the spray below the falls, then drops you at a landing for the climb: a steep path of an hour or less to the top. There you stand at the edge of the gorge as the entire Nile squeezes through a gap about seven metres wide and thunders down more than 40 metres. Your vehicle is waiting at the top.
Hunting the Shoebill
Head downstream this morning on a boat bound for the delta, where the Nile spreads into Lake Albert through a maze of papyrus channels and floating vegetation. This is shoebill country, and your boatman steers slowly along the edges looking for that unmistakable grey silhouette standing motionless in the reeds. Even without one the trip is rich, with goliath herons, saddle-billed storks, African fish eagles and hippos that surface with a snort beside the boat. The afternoon is yours: rest, or take a late game drive toward the Albert Nile, where elephants come down to drink as the light softens.
Bunyoro to the Crater Lakes
A long but varied drive south takes you to Kibale today, around six to seven hours with stops. You leave the park and pass through Hoima, seat of the old Bunyoro kingdom, then roll south through Kagadi and farm country that grows greener and hillier with every hour. Tea plantations appear as you near Fort Portal, the snow-streaked Rwenzori Mountains may show through the clouds to the west, and the crater lakes begin to dot the land. You reach the edge of Kibale Forest in the late afternoon, with time to stretch your legs before an early dinner.
Keeping Up with Chimpanzees
Chimp tracking in Kibale is rarely a stroll. Once your ranger picks up calls, the group may be on the move, travelling on the ground between fruiting trees, and you push through vines and over roots to stay with them. When they settle to feed, the hour flies: an adult male displaying with a dragged branch, youngsters wrestling high above, a mother picking fruit with an infant clinging on. The minimum age is 12. In the afternoon, hike through the crater-lake country west of the forest with a local guide, following village paths up to viewpoints over deep green lakes and the Rwenzori skyline.
The Long Road East
Today is a travelling day, the longest on the road at around six to seven hours. You cross Uganda's heartland via Mubende and the outskirts of Kampala, stopping for lunch and to stretch your legs along the way. It's a fine chance to see everyday Uganda through the window: roadside stalls piled with green matoke bananas, boda-boda motorbikes loaded impossibly high, schoolchildren in bright uniforms walking home. You reach Entebbe by late afternoon, in time for a final dinner beside Lake Victoria to toast the rapids, the rhinos and that climb beside the falls.
Last Light on Lake Victoria
No need to rush this morning. Depending on your flight time, take a walk along the lake shore, or visit the wildlife education centre near town, which cares for rescued and orphaned animals and runs conservation programmes for Ugandan schools. Pack the dry bag away, dig the river sand out of your sandals and say goodbye to your guide before the short transfer to Entebbe International Airport for your flight home. You leave having seen the Nile from a raft, a kayak, a launch and the lip of a waterfall, which is more than most visitors ever manage.
Your route
The parks, lakes and towns you'll travel through, in order.
What's included
Prices
Book as a group and the saving is applied to your quote.
Rates are per person per day, sharing a room, and cover everything under what's included. Your tailored quote confirms the final price for your dates. International flights are not included.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need rafting experience, and do I have to be a strong swimmer?
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How hard is the hike to the top of Murchison Falls?
Are shoebills guaranteed on the delta trip?
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13 Days Kenya & Uganda Murchison Falls Safari · 13 days
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