You can now fly between Uganda’s national parks and Entebbe airport with the available scheduled and chartered flights. A typical mid to high-range safari in Uganda will catch a scheduled (or charter) domestic flight out of Entebbe International Airport in a light 4–11-seater caravan aircraft and fly between national parks for the safari duration. It is ideal for exploring Uganda’s remote attractions without wasting endless hours riding across country roads in the back of a safari truck.
The most outstanding safari experience on Uganda tour packages is tracking the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Both parks are located in the remotest region in the extreme south-western corner. The distance between Entebbe International Airport (Uganda’s entry point) and Bwindi is about 500 kilometres (310 miles), which takes about 10 hours of drive-time.
If you’re not interested in driving through the rugged south-western highland, want to get to your forest retreat fast, and spare your energy for the gorilla trek; take a scheduled one-hour flight from Entebbe to Bwindi. (Kihihi airstrip)
Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the most recommended places you can fly, allowing tourists to easily connect to the two extreme corners of Uganda and beyond. The park alone is a massive 1978 sq. km of protected reserve, offering incredible wildlife viewing moments, especially for independent travelers.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is about 392 kilometres (248 miles) from Entebbe, which take about six hours to drive via the Kampala-Fort Portal highway and about seven hours on Masaka – Mbarara highway.
Flying between Entebbe and Kasese or Mweya will cut the journey to just below an hour, saving a significant chunk of time to explore the park’s adventures or relaxing time at the camp.
Visit Uganda’s largest national park, Murchison Falls National Park, a gigantic attraction of the world’s most powerful falls and some of the most endearing animals to watch on Uganda safari.
The nearest park to Murchison Falls is Kidepo National Park (250 km, about 5 hours’ drive) and Kibale National Park (500 km, about 8 hours’ drive). There’s a bone-jarring 13-hour drive between Bwindi and Murchison Falls. That is a legitimate reason why most safari operators avoid the route, and others add expensive stops at other parks.
Whichever number of days you want to spend at the safari camp, you can still fly between Murchison Falls National Park (Pakuba, Bugungu, and Chobe airstrips) and Queen Elizabeth National Park (Kasese and Mweya airstrips) or Kibale National Park (Semliki), or Entebbe International Airport.
Kidepo Valley National Park is one of the places you can fly, connecting you to other major attractions in Uganda. Kidepo is one of the most underrated national parks CNN Travel Magazine named the Mara of Uganda. It sits in the extreme north-eastern corner of Uganda and Its location has historically made it impossible to include on most Uganda tours.
However, with Pakuba Airstrip just outside the park and three others (Pakuba, Bugungu, and Chobe) minutes away in Murchison Fall, travelers can fly to Kidepo and explore its vast richness without enduring the arduous drive.
Kidepo Valley’s semi-arid landscape hosts an incredible number of wildlife, a spectacularly rugged landscape, and some of the most fascinating cultural tribes in the country.
