Semliki Valley

The Semliki Wildlife Reserve lies on the southern shore of Lake Albert with spectacular views of the Rift Valley escarpment to the east and Congo’s Blue Mountains in the west. The big game viewing is good and the bird watching opportunities are superb.

• Big game viewing of both forest & savannah elephant, buffalo, leopard and antelope such as Uganda kob& waterbuck
• Chimpanzee viewing in the Mugiri River Forest and other resident primates such as black & white colobus and red-tailed monkeys
• Excellent bird watching with over 460 species recorded
• Boat trips on Lake Albert in search of the shoebill stork

The Semliki Valley, and Semliki Wildlife Reserve in particular, offers an excellent off the beaten track safari experience in one of East Africa’s most scenic regions. The reserve is bordered by the foothills of the Ruwenzori Mountains and Lake Albert. This is the oldest game reserve in Uganda (originally gazetted as the Toro Game Reserve) and is a unique area made up of acacia woodland, riverine woodland, extensive swamps and stands of borassus palms.

Resident wildlife includes large herds of buffalo and Uganda kob, as well as a variety of chimpanzees and other primates. Interestingly there are both forest and savannah elephant co-existing in the reserve and they have been known to inter-breed. Semliki is also a magnet for birdwatchers with many Congolese rainforest species not found elsewhere in Uganda.