Semliki Safari Lodge

Semliki Safari Lodge is a permanent tented camp in the heart of the Semliki Wildlife Reserve. The eight tents are on raised wooden platforms each with a private veranda and all rooms have a large en suite stone and wood bathroom to the rear. The bathrooms have flush toilets and cold running water whilst hot water is available at all times on request for the large bucket showers.

The main lodge has a large open-plan dining room which serves candlelit dinners in the evenings around a communal table, and a lounge area with plenty of large comfortable chairs and sofas and a library. The lodge is open on one side with a large campfire in front in the evenings and looks out onto the Mugiri River Forest where black-and-white colobus and red-tailed monkeys can often be seen and the calls of chimpanzees can be heard from the lodge. Beyond the forest the foothills of the Ruwenzoris rise up from the valley to their ice-capped peaks and the Congolese Blue Mountains in the distance. There is also a large swimming pool and games room looking out over the forest.

Activities are varied, with the option of game drives, night drives and boat trips on Lake Albert that offer excellent birdwatching particularly of waterbirds and possibly shoebills. There are also excellent walks in the Mugiri River Forest to view primates and forest birds including the blue turaco and crested guinea-fowl and there is the opportunity to join the resident chimp researchers at Semliki for chimp tracking.

OUR RATING: First Class