Viewing Wildlife from a Boat

Boat Safari Experience
in Uganda

Viewing wildlife game from the water on a houseboat or boat launch safari is a unique experience providing a different perspective on wildlife behavior. Uganda offers incredible opportunities to enjoy watching wildlife from a boat.


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Viewing wildlife from water on a boat safari in Uganda

A boat safari in Uganda takes you to see savannah animals from the comfort of a houseboat. The launch safari is a unique experience bringing you the closest you can get to wild animals like elephants, hippos, and crocodiles on the water shores. Uganda offers incredible opportunities to enjoy watching wildlife from a boat.

Although classic African safaris are mostly done in a traditional game drive vehicle or on foot, Uganda boat safaris offer a more breathtaking experience to reach these animals on the banks of water bodies found in savannah parks. Three of the top destinations in Uganda have water bodies that attract large numbers of wildlife that come to sip on the life-giving waters. From the boat’s vantage point, tourists can view live wildlife drama without the struggle of beating the bush.

Unlike most African safaris, from the water is also one of the best vantage points for spotting wildlife. It’s also a more tranquil experience compared to the bumpy ride in a safari truck. You’ll have a cool breeze coming off the water instead of kicked-up dust in your eyes, and you can rely on the onboard bathroom instead of scrambling to find a discrete spot in the bush.

Because of the all-year-round water, many species of animals make the waterfront their home. So it is one of the only places in the world where you can experience intense game viewing from your boat on the river, lake, or channel.

During a 2-3-hour boat safari cruise with Nkuringo Safaris, you can sip on your favorite drink as the covered pontoon silently glides across the shimmering waters, with just a handful of other boats visible in the distance. Being free from any big crowds makes for some extraordinary animal sightings.

The boat gets so close to a motionless crocodile that you can discern the individual scales on its shiny, mottled skin; meanwhile, an unperturbed hippo stands just a few feet away, munching busily on tall blades of yellowed grass. It’s a breathtaking scene.

Let’s say you booked a gorilla trekking adventure in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and would like to see the savannah game too, but you don’t want the go through the bureaucracy of crossing borders to the prominent game safari destinations. It would make perfect sense to book a front row boat safari in Uganda.

KAZINGA CHANNEL

Get Closer to The Action

Kazinga Channel Boat Safari

The 20 mi (32 km) Kazinga Channel is the most popular waterfront for boat safari trips in Uganda. The channel cuts through Queen Elizabeth National Park, connecting lakes Edward (west) and Gorge (east) and providing the best opportunity to see Uganda’s big game animals up-close by boat safari.

Launch trips leave Mweya jetty twice daily and cruise the channel length for approximately three hours. The first leaves at 11:00 hours, and the second leaves at 14:00 hours. But you can take a private boat or canoe via Mweya.

Wildlife to see on Kazinga Channel boat safari

On the Kazinga Channel boat safari trip, you’re able to catch sight of elephants, buffalo, waterbuck, Uganda kob, and large hippo pods daily. From time to time, you can also see the giant forest hog, leopard, and lion. Keep an eye open for the enormous water monitor lizard, which is common in the riverine scrub, as well as crocodiles. The odds of seeing predators and other nocturnal creatures coming to drink are highest in the late afternoon.

Waterbirds are plentiful, in particular water thicknee, yellow-billed stroke, and various plovers. While pink-backed pelicans and white bullied cormorants often flock on a sandbank near the channel mouth. One smaller bird to look out for is the black-headed gonolek, a member of the shrike family with a dazzling red chest – and look closely, as the localized papyrus gonolek similar in appearance with a yellow crown, has also been recorded.

The 14:00 boat launch trip is most likely to yield good elephant sightings, particularly on a hot day, when these thirsty creatures generally gravitate towards the water from midday onwards, sometimes bathing in the channel.

An early boat safari on a private houseboat or canoe (08:00 and 17:00) is a more rewarding photography safari as the light will be softer. However, this may be challenging because of the increased camera shaking on the rocking boat in low light.

Lake Mburo Boat Trip

Get Closer to The Action

Lake Mburo Boat Safari

A boat safari trip on Lake Mburo lake leaves from the jetty at the main campsite 1km from Rwonyo Camp. In addition to the attractive scenery and simple pleasure attached to being out on the water, the boat launch trip reliably produces good sightings of hippo, crocodile, buffalo, waterbuck, and bushbuck, and it’s also worth looking out for the three species of resident otter.

Among the more conspicuous waterbirds are African fish eagle, marabou stork, pied kingfisher, and various egrets and herons, while Ross’s turaco and Narina trogon are frequently seen in lakeside thickets. Lake Mburo is possibly the most accessible place in Uganda to see the elusive African finfoot, which is generally associated with still water below overhanging branches.

VICTORIA NILE, MURCHISON

Cruise up the Nile to the Muchison Falls

Murchison, Victoria Nile Boat Safari

The superb boat safari trip from Paraa to the base of the Murchison Falls is the park’s most popular and longest-running attraction — the Queen Mother made an inaugural voyage in a spanking-new launch back in 1959.

In addition to the stalwart UWA launch trips, two private companies, G&C Tours and Marasa (owners of Paraa Lodge), also run various craft on the river. Consequently, it is now easy to arrange boat safari voyages to meet your schedule and requirements.

Keen photographers, for example, would certainly wish to leave slightly earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon than the UWA boats to capture the best light.

On the way to the falls, the boats follow a stretch of the Nile with a compelling African atmosphere, fringed by Borassus palms, acacia woodland, and stands of mahogany.

Game viewing is excellent on a boat safari along the paraa stretch— hippos in their hundreds, some of the largest crocodiles left in Africa, small herds of buffalo, waterbuck, kob, giraffe, bushbuck, and black-and-white colobus. Elephants are frequently observed playing in the water, often within a few meters of the boat, and fortunate visitors might even see a lion or leopard.

The birdlife on the papyrus-lined banks is stunning, with the top prize being the shoebill, seen here less often than it is on the trip to the delta, but a distinct possibility in the dry season. Savvy birders are most likely to see the African fish eagle, Goliath heron, saddle-billed stork, African jacana, pied and malachite kingfishers, African skimmer, piacpiac, rock pratincole, black-headed gonolek, black-winged red bishop, yellow-mantled widowbird, and the yellow-backed weaver. And at the right time of year, you can see a variety of migrant waders.

The dazzlingly colorful red-throated bee-eater which nests in sandbanks between Paraa and the falls is more likely to be seen here than anywhere in east Africa.

The UWA’s double-decker boats have chugged up and down the river for decades, and the long-serving guides and pilots are incredibly knowledgeable. The boats can carry 40 passengers, leave at 08.00 and 14.00 and take around three hours.

Our Uganda safari experts can happily help you book a private boat safari that leaves any time or a more general experience on a scheduled boat launch trip with a UWA boat.

Boat Safari & Launch Trips Itineraries

You must note that our experts can help you customize any of these boat safari trips or help you add other activities, like gorilla trekking and chimpanzee trekking, to your Uganda safari itinerary. Talk to a safari expert directly.

What Our Guests Say About Us

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110 reviews on
Christine P
Christine P
2023-08-16
Verified
Exploring the Pearl of Africa From the moment our driver, Patric Yiga, picked us up in Entebbe to begin our journey, we felt reassured that our travels would be safe. There were long hours spent driving and my many questions about Uganda were kindly answered. I still can’t believe how he could spot a leopard in a dense cactus! We were so lucky to see such wild creatures and the experience was unforgettable! The different lodges where we stayed, Isunga lodge, Kasenyi safari camp, and Nkuringo gorilla lodge were luxurious and offer truly wonderful meals and comforts of home. I have a much better understanding of lovely Uganda. I recommend the local foods, like matoke, that will give you energy on your journey! The people are genuine, the scenery and wildlife are a treasure for the world!
kmc913
kmc913
2023-08-15
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Trip of a lifetime! My mom and I just got back from an 8 day trip to Uganda organized by Nkuringo Safaris and it was incredible! When planning our trip we knew we wanted to use a Ugandan based company; I had reached out to 5 or 6 different companies all of whom returned a cookie cutter itinerary--except Nkuringo. Catherine replied and asked pointed questions about what our goals were and then she curated a perfect itinerary for us. She was incredibly patient and answered my many many questions and emails promptly (which is hard to do given the time difference!) Nkuringo goes out of their way to make sure your trip is exactly what you want. We had a bit of a strange request--we wanted to book a round of golf in Entebbe before starting our trip. I had no luck getting in touch with the golf club, Catherine struggled as well and she ended up sending someone physically to the club to make arrangements for us (thanks Matthew)! The trip Catherine created was perfect, we saw everything we wanted to see and the lodges she booked were spectacular, one nicer than the next. The star of our trip was 100% our driver (and now friend), Patrick Yiga. We were so lucky to have had this experience with him! He was with us the entire 8 days we were in Uganda. He ensured our schedule ran smoothly, was the epitome of professional (vehicle cleaned out every night, cold water waiting for us in the morning, knew all the best washroom spots, always on time), and we felt incredibly safe in his care. He answered all our of million questions about life in Uganda and was open to sharing with us. He is also very passionate about nature, wildlife, and the environment and was a wealth of knowledge on game drives. It was hard to say goodbye at the end of the week! I HIGHLY recommend planning your trip to Uganda with Nkuringo. Thank you so much to the entire team, especially Catherine and Patrick Yiga for creating the trip of a lifetime and one we will never forget!
LBW1985
LBW1985
2023-08-15
Verified
Thank you Remmy! I have just returned from an 8 day trip to Uganda for my husband’s 40th birthday and it was amazing! Nkuringo Safaris were superb. Our driver and guide, Remmy, was excellent. He was so passionate and knowledgeable about all of the wildlife and about the culture in Uganda, we learnt so much from him. Remmy made sure that all of our experiences were the best they could be including the chimpanzee habituation experience, the gorilla trek and all of the game drives. The manager, Cathy, also took the time to come and see us at the start and end of our trip to make sure we had everything we needed and to listen to our feedback which was very appreciated. Nkuringo Safaris also provided us with a gift of reusable water bottles, hats and a map at the start of the trip which were very well used and the bottles ensured we weren’t wasting plastic bottles which was very important. The lodges we stayed in (Papaya Lake Lodge, Katara Lodge, Buhoma Lodge and Kigambira Safari Lodge) were all superb with incredibly friendly and helpful staff who couldn’t do enough for us. I can’t recommend Rainbow Tours (the agent we booked through) and Nkuringo Safaris highly enough. Thank you Remmy for giving us a once in a lifetime experience and for sharing all of your knowledge!
KPHazelnut
KPHazelnut
2023-07-30
Verified
An incredible experience in a beautiful country We enjoyed an amazing 14 day safari adventure in Uganda, and the team from Nkuringo Safaris were instrumental in making it such a fantastic experience Unfortunately, when we arrived at Entebbe airport, we discovered that the airline had left two of our bags in Doha. (Fortunately, we had anticipated this possibility and had packed sufficient clothing etc for the first few days of our trip.) We were met at the airport by Cathy and her colleague from Nkuringo Safaris. They were instantly understanding and assured us that they would help us with being reunited with our luggage as soon as possible. On the way to our overnight accommodation, they took us to a local pharmacy to stock up on toiletries, suntan lotion, etc., as at that stage we did not know when we would see our missing luggage. This reassurance and assistance was greatly appreciated and we felt straight away that we were being looked after by a very professional team We spent our first night in the Boma Hotel in Entebbe. The following morning Cathy and her colleague collected us and took us back to Entebbe airport for our internal flight to Kisoro airport. At the airport Cathy helped us to liaise with the correct people to obtain the necessary reference numbers etc. to trace our luggage Thanks to the excellent work by the team at Nkuringo Safaris, we were re-united with our missing luggage a few days later - not an easy task to achieve, as we were moving from lodge to lodge during our trip Upon arrival at Kisoro airport we were met by our driver-guide Remmy Kityo who would be taking care of us for the remainder of our trip We feel incredibly lucky to have had Remmy as our driver-guide (and now a good friend!). He is professional, polite, friendly and efficient with an incredible encyclopaedia-like knowledge of the animals, birds, plants, trees and geography of Uganda. Remmy would always check in to see if we were OK and if we needed anything. It seems that nothing is too much trouble for Remmy! We travelled in a Toyota Landcruiser which had plenty of space for our luggage and had chilled drinking water and snacks available whenever we wanted. Remmy expertly handled the land cruiser over the very variable Ugandan road system (from flat tarmac roads to very bumpy trails where you receive an “African massage” as you bump along!) Remmy was a very safe and very competent driver As well as having a great sense of humour, Remmy is also very kind. When one of our friends felt travel sick, he could not have been kinder and more attentive. Due to his extensive experience, Remmy has developed excellent working relationships with the various rangers, lodge management and staff etc that we encountered and uses this to provide a first-rate service to his clients. We were joined on a couple of occasions by the brilliant Richard, whose rich knowledge and experience contributed greatly to our trip, particularly on the Ivy Trail We were fortunate enough to spend three nights at the Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge, and to meet Lydia, the CEO and founder of Nkuringo Safaris. Her passion for providing excellent customer experience and the company’s support of local communities is exemplary With Remmy’s help we enjoyed a thrilling fourteen days in Uganda, experiencing a rich blend of activities including (amongst others) trekking with gorillas (twice), chimpanzee trekking, rhino trekking, game drives, a traditional dugout canoe trip, three river trips and a trip into the Mbamba Wetlands where we were very fortunate to see the legendary Shoebill Stork. We had a very packed itinerary, and thanks to Remmy’s excellent organisation, we were always in the right place at the right time. He was always bang on time, always with a beaming smile, even at 5.30 in the morning! Uganda is a beautiful country and if you want to enjoy it to its fullest, I would strongly recommend that you let Nkuringo Safaris and, if you are lucky enough, Remmy Kityo take care of you during your trip Huge thanks to you all for so many wonderful memories
Richard C
Richard C
2023-07-27
Verified
Amazing Uganda with Remmy We spent 14 days travelling around Uganda organised by Nkuringo Safaris and our guide and driver Remmy. From the moment we arrived we were looked after so well, Remmy was patient, kind and considerate and ensured our busy schedule ran like clockwork. His experience and knowledge shone through and made our game drives and excursions incredibly special. Gorilla tracking (we did both the 1 hour and 4 hour habituation) was amazing as was the Chimp tracking in the Budongo Forest. At all times we felt safe, the trackers, guides and porters were engaging and professional and made our interactions with these special animals a wonderful and joyous experience. We would recommend that you make sure you have e appropriate clothing (gaiters, boots, walking pole and gardening gloves) as well as use a Porter as the tracking can be hard work and it’s at altitude. The lodges we stayed in were of the highest standard and each time the service was exemplary and genuine. The boat trip down the Kazinga Channel was incredible as was the two trips down the Nile to see the Delta and Murchison Falls. The Ivy Trail and walks with Richard were also fascinating and provided the chance for us to see the incredible array of birds, butterflies and animals that inhabit these incredible forests. We would like to pass on our sincere thanks to Lydia and Cathy and the whole team at Nkuringo Safaris and to Remmy for making our trip so special. The memories will stay with us for ever.
Lori C
Lori C
2023-07-22
Verified
Awesome! This was the trip of a lifetime! Nkuringo Safari's and everyone who works with them were amazing. We had three incredible trekking days - one for the chimps, one for the golden monkeys and one for the gorillas. All while staying at beautiful lodges with great food. When we weren't doing primate treks, we did guided community walks, and learned a lot about Uganda, it's people, and culture. Our guides were so lovely we didn't want to say goodbye to them. I booked the whole trip online, and they were professional and flexible, and great communicators. Really highly recommend them.
Nathalie M
Nathalie M
2023-07-18
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Wonderful Holiday We have just come back from an 11 day safari holiday in Uganda expertly organised by Nkuringo Walking Safaris. We had a fabulous guide, Julius, who looked after us at every step - the whole schedule was carefully thought out and went beyond our expectations. Our highlights were the driving game safaris where we saw the big five and the gorilla trekking which was very special and emotional. The people we met were warm and friendly throughout. Uganda was very beautiful, incredibly green and lush. The lodges were charming - particularly Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge and Assassha wildlife retreat which felt remote and a as though we had travelled back in time. The service was throughout, wonderful.
amanda w
amanda w
2023-07-16
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A hike to always remember! As a family of 4 we absolutely loved our hike and guided canoe with our hiking guide, Richard. We hiked from the junction below Nkuringo Lodge to Lake Mutanda and then enjoyed a canoe trip on the lake from there. Richard was very knowledgeable and it was one of our very favourite experiences of our trip. We would definitely recommend you take the time to do this as you get to experience the most fabulous scenery and rural life in Uganda in foot.
Katarzyna W
Katarzyna W
2023-07-15
Verified
Amazing experience It was amezing expirence the nature was beautiful people there were very friendly and they cared about us a lot so we felt safe especially with Patric he was excellent host
Leigh O
Leigh O
2023-07-09
Verified
Amazing Adventure holiday We were met at the airport by Milton our tour guide. Our holiday was made extra special by Milton. Every detail of this holiday package was so well thought through. We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and the knowledge Milton has on Uganda, culture, wildlife, languages is better than Wikipedia and google. Thank you Milton for never getting tired of all the questions and always sharing your knowledge. Milton you were a star and gave us 10 star service, thank you.