An early start heading southwest from Entebbe or Kampala into Uganda's beautiful interior. The drive to Bwindi takes around eight to nine hours with stops — the landscape rising through tea estates and banana plantations into the cool highlands of southwestern Uganda.

Stop at the Equator monument for the famous water demonstration, and pause for lunch in one of the small towns along the route. The final approach to Bwindi — winding through mist-wrapped hills to the ancient forest edge — sets the mood perfectly for the days ahead. Arrive at dusk, check in and let the sounds of the forest settle around you.

A day to breathe, acclimatise and appreciate the extraordinary setting. Bwindi is one of Africa's oldest forests — a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has remained unchanged for 25,000 years. A leisurely morning at the lodge gives you time to absorb that fact before heading out.

The afternoon brings a guided forest walk along the forest edge — listening for the calls of chimpanzees, watching colobus monkeys traverse the canopy and learning from your guide what to expect tomorrow morning. An optional Batwa community visit brings you into contact with the original inhabitants of Bwindi — a cultural encounter as moving as any wildlife sighting. Early dinner and an early night.

The centrepiece of this entire tour. After the UWA ranger briefing at the trailhead, you enter Bwindi Impenetrable Forest on foot with your expert trackers. The trek can take one to six hours depending on where the gorillas are that morning — your guide knows the terrain intimately.

When you find the family, you have one full hour in their presence. Only a thousand mountain gorillas remain on earth. To be among them — close enough to hear their breathing, to watch the silverback settle into his afternoon rest, to see a mother nursing her infant — is to understand immediately why this is one of the world's great wildlife experiences. Your gorilla permit, valued at $800, is fully included in your tour price.

The drive north from Bwindi passes through the remote Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth NP — where ancient fig trees shelter the famous tree-climbing lions, found here and almost nowhere else on earth. Keep your eyes up as you drive through.

Arrive at the Mweya Peninsula for an afternoon game drive across the Kasenyi plains — lion, Uganda kob, buffalo and elephant in dense populations. Then the Kazinga Channel boat cruise: two hours on the water connecting Lake Edward and Lake George, with hippos at every bend, enormous Nile crocodiles and some of Africa's finest waterbird viewing. The 600+ species of Queen Elizabeth make it a birder's paradise in its own right.

An optional early morning game drive across the Kasenyi plains at first light — when the lions are still active and the morning mist lifts off the grassland — before returning to the lodge for breakfast.

Pack up and begin the drive north toward Entebbe. The return journey gives you time to process five extraordinary days — the gorillas, the lions, the Kazinga Channel, the highlands, the forest. Lunch en route, arriving in Entebbe in the early afternoon. Tour complete.