TOP AFRICAN DESTINATION BY MONTH – JANUARY IN SOUTH AFRICA
January is a great month to travel within africa and like I say with each question about where is the best place to go and when? Africa is a continent in which you can travel almost everywhere all year round, the only difference is that some months it’s better in some countries. For Example, Never go to Namibia in February, Waaaay too hot. After saying this, Where is the “best” place to go to in January? Well, besides the obvious, Cape Town, I would suggest Uganda. Yes. Uganda, to see the Gorillas.
January is great in Uganda, because the rainy season just finished, the temperature is great and within all the choices, available it’s nice to do Uganda in January. In Uganda you can do so much, it is not only about the Gorillas, you can also go see the Chimpazees, and do a safari.
OH! You can visit Mirchison Falls, that’s where the Nile river starts, and if you are lucky you can see a Shoebill Stork in the wild (very lucky) but in Entebbe there’s a place where you can see them and interact with them, I find it an incredible bird and so prehistoric. I could not believe my luck when i got to be so close to one of them.
So, yes, visit Cape Town in January (basically visit Cape Town all through summer here, Dec – Mar) but also think of Uganda as a very nice. Destination.
What to do and where to go.
In Uganda you can visit the Gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable forest, for this you will need to get a permit to visit the gorillas, they are very limited, so you need to book in advance, they cost USD700 per person. If you’d like to see the Chimpazees, there are two options, fly to Kibale or to Kasese, Kibale is a better option to see the Chimps simply because there are more Chimp families there, but the permits are a bit more expensive than in Kasese, Kyambura gorge.
In Uganda, you can visit a couple of national parks that offer proper safaris, Queen Elizabeth National park is the most known one but there are a few more, Kidepo Valley National Park is the one that offers better animal sightings but it is very difficult to reach so you will need to fly there. The other famous park is Murchison Falls National Park, where the Nile River starts.
In Queen Elizabeth National Park you can visit the Kazinga Chanel, a Chanel that unites Lake George with Lake Edward. The animal sighting here is amazing. Lots of Hippos and as safari goes, if you are lucky you can see the tree climbing lions.
While in Entebbe, you can do sunset cruises on Lake Victoria and even visit the Ngamba Island where they have a Chimp Sanctuary, where you can interact with the chimps but in order to do this you will need a special permit and also you will need to have all the vaccinations that are in the world. Tetanus, Epathitis, Meningitis, TB, Smallpax, etc. you name it you will need it. One can also visit the Uganda Wild Conservation and education center, it used to be a Zoo a but now it is used more for research and education, if you do go, ask for the behind the scenes tour. That’s where you get to feed some of the animals and pat them, I fed a giraffe, a Rhino, an elephant, but the best was the interaction with the Shoebill stork, it’s something I will never forget.
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