Uganda

Big Five: Uganda holds four of the Big Five, lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo, best seen in Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls and Kidepo Valley. Rhino (white) can be seen on foot at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, conveniently on the road to Murchison Falls, with a fenced population recently reintroduced to Kidepo.

Specialities: Uganda's headline is its primates. It shelters more than half the world's mountain gorillas in Bwindi and Mgahinga, and offers Africa's finest chimpanzee tracking in Kibale, the "Primate Capital of Africa," along with golden monkeys in the Virungas. Two other specialities stand out: the tree-climbing lions of Queen Elizabeth's Ishasha sector, and the Rothschild's giraffe of Murchison Falls.

Birdlife: Over 1,000 species, roughly half of all the birds in Africa, in a country smaller than Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth alone lists more than 600 species, the richest of any East African park. The most sought-after bird is the prehistoric-looking shoebill, best seen at Mabamba Swamp, Murchison Falls and Semuliki.

Other notes: Uganda offers huge hippo and crocodile concentrations along the Kazinga Channel and Victoria Nile, dry-country specials in the remote Kidepo, and recovering savannah wildlife. Its great advantage is the combination of gorillas, chimps, big game and world-class birding, all in one compact, welcoming country, typically at lower cost than its East African neighbours.