SAFARI GAME DRIVES
Getting Close To Africa's Wildlife
In this guide, we take a look at what you should expect on these drives, which parks offer the best game drive experiences, and also give you a few tips on getting the most of driving in Uganda’s safari game parks.
Guided safari game drives in Uganda and any other destination in Africa are basically driving through a savannah park in a four-by-four safari vehicle, guided by an expert local guide, viewing wild animals.
A game drive highlights any classic Africa safari taking you deep into the natural wilderness and getting you closer to the big and small animals within the protected confines of a 4×4 truck. Anyone can take themselves on a safari game drive in Uganda. However, most travelers prefer to be guided, which promises a more relaxed experience in the wilderness, knowing that a local expert will take care of finding the animals and place you in the right spot at the right time.
What To Expect On Safari Game Drives
Expect the most rewarding guided game drives to head out during the misty sunrise and late in the cool evenings or at night the coolest times of the day when most animals are more active. Irrespective of the safari destination, every game drive is unique, making wildlife encounters unexpected and exhilarating. However, the operating format may be similar with different ground operators.
A typical game drive in Uganda may last 3-4 hours. Other game drives head out for more than six hours with short breaks allowing the traveler to get out of the vehicle, stretch, loosen up, and snack. The guide usually chooses somewhere with great views of the plains for short breaks. Some safari camps offer breakfast settings in the bush for early morning game drives. Afternoon game drives are usually arranged to end at a well-set refreshing sundowner.
The local guide will most probably be your driver, who is mostly in control of the adventure expedition, spotting out the animals, taking you through unexpected game viewing tracks, and throwing in humorous stories about your wildlife encounters. Although wildlife densities in Uganda’s safari parks are not promoted enough to match the publicity of Safari heavy weight destinations, wildlife viewing on an expert-guided safari game drive in Uganda is much rewarding. The number of tourist vehicles in the game parks is a mere fraction of those visiting the more developed destinations, making game drives in Uganda a more private experience. On a good day, lion, elephant, or leopard sightings are a moment to treasure, and you’ll seldom share such moments with swarms of vehicles.
Famous game drive sightings on Uganda’s savannah plains include the lions , elephants, buffaloes, leopards, various antelope species, hippo, giraffes and zebras to mention only a few.
You should expect to drive in a generally closed 4×4 Landcruiser customized with large windows for every seat and a roof pop-up for photography. In other instances, you may find an open-sided four-by-four cruiser at some camps, but it’s improbable in Uganda. Uganda safaris operate in closed cruisers to avoid long windy drives from the airport to the safari park.
Best Time To Go, What To Wear & Carry
The best wildlife viewing on safari game drive in Uganda’s savannah parks like Queen Elizabeth and Lake Mburo National Parks is during the dry seasons from June to August and December to February. The best time for game drives in Kidepo Valley National Park is immediately after the rainy season in September, October, November, and through the long dry season through December to April because them the grasses are low and visibility of wildlife is easier and more clear. Additionally, the wildlife tend to concentrate more around the limited water points to quench their thirsty from the hot day creating a scene for wildlife action as predators like lions will also come around to make those surprise attacks as the animals drink. However, the beginning of the wet season is always a great time to drive on the safari tracks and check out the greening landscapes.
What to wear on a game drive
When starting your game, drive early morning and for the better half of the day, wear comfortable layers of safari clothing. That way, you can adjust to the wide range of temperatures you’ll experience on a typical day. While the morning can be freezing in western Uganda, it gets hot by midday, so layers of safari outfitters will save you the trouble.
Even If you’re on safari during the rainy season, convertible pants and a light jacket are great options since you’ll spend most of your time in the back of a closed safari truck. At least carry a scarf and gloves for the chilly morning game drives.
Sun protection is considerable concern on safari. So carry a hat, scent-free sunblock, and a pair of polarized sunglasses to reduce the glare. It doesn’t matter what kind of hat but as long as it can protect you from the UV sun rays and fits your style, take it. Avoid bright colors, though.
Although you may spend most of your time on a safari game drive inside the vehicle, a few times, you may jump out for a stretch, relaxation break, sundowner, or to get a closer view of a fascinating small animal or plant that your local guide may point out. In that case, wear a comfortable pair of shoes. They don’t have to be hiking boots necessarily, but a pair of canvas shoes will do.
A small spray bottle of hand sanitizer, facemask, and insect repellent are essential to carry in your handbag during these times. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Park managements require that you wear a mask and disinfect at contact points. Insect repellent is particularly important during evening and night drives when mosquitos are at their most active.
Gadgets & Tools
Suppose you’re into nature and wildlife photography. In that case, you’ll need to carry appropriate equipment for wildlife photography, especially the right lens to zoom in on the animals that your guide may not reach driving. It’ll be helpful to carry extra batteries, memory cards, a waterproof or dustproof bag to keep the photography equipment protected.
Carry a pair of binoculars of at least 8×30 magnification to see far-off animals. You will be sighting most of the animals on the safari game drive far off your path, and the binoculars will come in handy in those moments. Our safari vehicles usually carry a couple of binoculars to save our guests trouble.
If you’re interested in getting a good education about the African wilderness, carry an animal guidebook on safari. Your guide may be using a reference book, but it would be very adventurous to have your own animal guidebook.
Drinks and Snacks
Take a refillable water bottle to avoid spoiling the environment with disposable water bottles. You can refill your bottle at your camp and stay hydrated during the hot safari drives. Nuts, energy bars, and dried fruit make for great game drive snacks. The wilderness excitement and fresh air can conjure up some appetite, so it’s good to have some nibbles to hand.
To prepare for unforeseen eventualities on remote, long-day game drives, carry a light first aid kit with you. The kit can include essential items like aspirin, plasters, bandages, stomachache relievers, anti-septic, and anti-histamine cream we always wish you never use it however having it with you makes no harm.
Be Aware !
Uganda safari national parks are expansive with wild animals spread over vast savannah plains, which means you’ll be driving over distant game tracks to find a concentration of animals. Irrespective of how much you’ve paid for your safari, sightings are not guaranteed, especially for the big elusive animals.
It’s best you curate your expectations with your expert local guide on which kinds of animals you may encounter. Safari game drives are more challenging than what wildlife television shows depict out to be. Gather more information about the park you’ll be visiting, what kind of animals are there, and the quality of game drives in that park before you book your trip.
Generally, it’s best to have a few realistic expectations as possible and be rewarded with surprising wildlife drama.
We encourage less camera time, more viewing
Taking photographs on safari should be fun of course. Unless you’re a professional photographer, there is no reason to let your camera dominate every animal sighting. It is enriching to ditch the camera, slow down and take in the smells, sights and sounds of the African safari bush. A safari game drives in Uganda offer excellent wildlife photography opportunities, but hopefully, you’ll have some rewarding interactions with your local guide. You’ll probably make a close bond with your guide and team, and at the end of the day, it’s the human conversations and sharing moment that will continuously stay with you more than the sleeping leopard. So, put the camera down, and you’ll find that great shot.
Patience is Key
The best game viewing moment on the savannah plains is often a waiting game. Whether you’re sitting by a waterhole or slowly trundling through the bush with your eyes ready to catch the moments, having patience during a safari game drive is crucial to creating lasting wilderness moments. So we encourage patience towards your local safari guide because they must ensure that your sightings are as memorable as possible. Instead of driving from animal to animal, it pays to stay with a potentially good sighting. Spending time will offer an opportunity to see some interesting animal behavior.
Attention to details can be also rewarding
Your safari guide’s primary goal is to make the most of your African safari. Most guides are good at spotting animals, and they can also offer exciting information relevant to the sightings. They’ll undoubtedly have plenty of amazing stories to tell. Engage with them to get a brighter picture of your adventure, the best position, spot rare animals, ask questions and collect stories to tell back home.
Ultimately, It’s easy to get too focused on the Big 5 and other large mammals on guided safari game drives, partly because the Big Five is heavily marketed. Searching for them seems to be the main aim in any safari drive. However, viewing small animals and birds can be highly rewarding as well. A photograph of a dung beetle or a colorful bird is more evocative than spending 30 minutes watching a sleeping lion. An excellent way to focus on the small stuff is to drive very slow on the game tracks.
Destinations in Uganda Offering Safari Game Drives
The most rewarding safari game drives in Uganda occur in four of the ten national parks. The wildlife reserves in the country offer meager wildlife viewing experiences. Murchison Falls National Park in the northwest along the Victoria Nile and the remote wilderness Kidepo National Park in the extreme northeastern corner usually feature on safari packages lasting more than a week or two and during the BIG 5 safari excursions as Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is also enroute these savannah parks. The other two are Queen Elizabeth National Park and Lake Mburo National Park in southwestern Uganda are popular with tourists hoping to adventure in the primate-rich rainforests of Bwindi Gorilla forest and Kibale Chimpanzee capital.
Murchison Falls National Park is Uganda’s largest savannah park up the Nile at the edge of the Albertine Rift. The park is one of the three large safari parks that provide excellent guided safari game drives in Uganda.
A good safari drive on Murchison’s game tracks will lead you to four of Africa’s Big Five; only rhinos are absent. Buffalo and elephant are particularly a common sight on game drives. The park has a rich population of lions that prey on the abundant antelopes. You’ll also catch sight of various grazers like the oribi, Jackson’s hartebeest, Defassa waterbuck, grey duiker, and bushbuck. You won’t miss sighting the large herds of the Rothschild’s giraffes on any safari game drive in the park. The introverted leopards, though far from numerous, are most likely to be spotted around sitting in the dotted trees around the savannah. Look out for troops of the rare Pata’s monkey on the grassy plains.
Murchison Falls National Park is a bit isolated from the popular western circuit with at least 200 kilometers from Kibale National Park, the nearest park. So it’s usually the first or last stop on the best of Uganda safari holiday. Nonetheless, the Murchison Falls route, via Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, is the only one that will assure you an encounter with Africa’s BIG FIVE game.
We recommend you spend at least two or more nights in Murchison and extend your l