Day 1: Transfer to Fort Portal & have an afternoon encounter in Mpanga Tea Estates
After breakfast at your place of stay in Kampala, you embark on the transfer to Fort Portal 300km about 5 hours’ drive from Kampala. You drive along impressive landscapes of Mityana and Mubende with sights of the local scattered plantations and crops grown before approaching Fort Portal. Upon reaching Fort Portal, you embark on the tea estate tour in Mpanga tea estates. The extensive tea plantations presents rich source of garden tea in Uganda. You explore the tea planting practices and take a walk in the plantation, participate in the tea plucking encounter, visit the tea factory exploring the tea processing encounter and the fine products that are extracted from tea. You can undertake a tea cycling tour in the Mpanga tea estates after which you retreat to Fort Portal for relaxation, dinner and overnight;
Day 2: Transfer to Kasese and explore the farming practices on the slopes of Mount Rwenzori
After breakfast, transfer to Kasese 75km about 2 hours’ drive where you are welcomed by the impressive towering Rwenzori Mountain that rises to 5,109m above sea level with snowcapped peaks. Upon arrival, you embark on the tour to the Bakonjo and the Bamba communities that have thrived on the slopes of Mount Rwenzori for centuries past. You explore how they have managed to live and cultivate on the slopes of this third highest mountain in Africa including the crops grown, the farming practices that they follow and the how they make use of their produce. Retire in the evening for relaxation, dinner and overnight
Day 3: Transfer to Kabale
After breakfast, you embark on the transfer to Kabale region 328km about 7 hours’ drive passing through the impressive savannah landscapes of Queen Elizabeth National Park dotted with a myriad of wild game. You proceed to drive along the eastern forested landscapes of Ruhija in the east of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park before approaching the fascinating Kigezi Highlands marked by impressive protected landscape that have evolved from the farmers cultivating on these raised slopes. Arrive at the lodge for relaxation, dinner and overnight
Day 4: Coffee tours in Kisoro and terraced farms of Kigezi Highlands
After breakfast, embark on the transfer to Kisoro area on the shores of Lake Mutanda to explore the coffee plantation encounter. You have the opportunity to explore the coffee growing practices right from planting, maintenance, harvesting and eventually processing and drinking. The Coffee tours in Kisoro are indeed rewarding. You retreat from the coffee encounters and connect back to Kabale area to explore the farming practices on the slopes of Kigezi Highlands where the energetic Bakiga women cultivate the steep slopes from morning up to evening planting a range of crops especially potatoes. You explore their traditional methods of how they have managed to neutralize soil erosion on these steep landscapes. Retire for relaxation, dinner and overnight;
Day 5: Transfer to Isingiro District
After a relaxed breakfast in the cool fresh air of Lake Bunyonyi, you embark on the transfer to Isingiro district driving through impressive landscapes of Ntungamo and Rwampara before approaching Mbarara town 120km about 3 – 4 hours’ drive from Kabale from where you branch off to connect to Isingiro 74km. You make a lunch stop in Mbarara and then connect to Isingiro arriving in the afternoon for relaxation, dinner and overnight.
Accommodation: Kabuyanda Guesthouse / Home Stay
Day 6: Undertake the banana farming exploration in Isingiro district
After an early breakfast, embark on the banana farming exploration in this part of the country which is apparently leading in the production of Matooke in Uganda. You engage with the local farmers exploring various types of bananas that they grow, the banana growing practices, the produce that they get and how they make use of it. The whole day encounter allows you to explore the local banana brewing process where local alcohol is extracted from bananas and you can have a taste if you wish, the use of banana fibers to thatch houses, the local tools that they use in plantation maintenance and the prospects that the locals have in their plantations. It is a whole day magical exploration in the life of a Ugandan local cultivator. Retire for relaxation, dinner and overnight;
Accommodation: Kabuyanda Guesthouse / Home stay
Day 7: Transfer to Kiruhura district. Make a stop in Kashari county en route
After a relaxed breakfast, embark on the transfer to Kiruhura district 162 km about 3 – 4 hours’ drive excluding stops en route. You drive through Mbarara town and follow Ibanda road. You make a stop en route to tour the Kashari farms with advanced exotic diary breeds of cattle and well cleared farms having begun the transition process earlier than most of other diary producing regions in the country. You explore the cattle maintenance, the spray races and the milk handling procedures and the cows themselves before continuing to Rushere in Kiruhura district. Arrive in the afternoon for relaxation, dinner and overnight:
Accommodation: Rushere Hospital Guesthouse / Homestay
Day 8: Whole day exploration of livestock farming in Kiruhura district
After an early breakfast, you transfer to the local farms not very far from the town including the Bene Rutungu farm, the Texas’s Farm, the Katamunanwire’s farm, the Mutanoga Farm among others to explore the livestock rearing practices that these people are undertaking. The area has transformed greatly to stand as the leading milk producer in Uganda as farmers have adopted the exotic cattle most of which have evolved from the cross breeding of the exotic breed with the local Ankole long horned cattle. You enjoy the traditional milking practices and explore the milk collection and distribution process not forgetting interacting with farmers on how they have coped with farming as their traditional occupation. You retreat for lunch in the afternoon, you connect to the extensive ranches where the beautiful Ankole long horned cattle graze from. You listen to the story of how the once precious breed among the pastoralists of Ankole is threatened by the continuous desire for the increased milk production presented by the exotic ones. Explore their beautiful long horns with different patterns, the varying colors of their bodies and their close touch with their herdsmen. You can have an evening performance presented by the locals especially their interesting citations and songs that all surround the cows before you retire for dinner and overnight:
Accommodation: Rushere Hospital Guesthouse / Homestay
Day 9: Transfer back to Kampala
After breakfast, embark on the transfer to Kampala 240km about 3 – 4 hours’ drive following the Kaguta road before joining Mbarara – Masaka – Kampala Road at Kaguta road junction. You can make a stop at the Uganda Equator Crossing Kayabwe 77km from Kampala to explore the sun’s way that separates the globe into two equal hemispheres – the north and southern hemispheres. Amazing photo shoots can be made with one leg in one hemisphere and the other in another hemisphere. You proceed on the drive 77km to Kampala to mark the end of the tour
TYPES OF ACCOMODATION AVAILABLE: Accommodation: Luxury, Standard and Budget
