Day 1: Arrival & Transfer to Lake Manyara National Park (2 hours)
Following your arrival at Kilimanjaro or Arusha Airport, you will be welcomed by your driver/guide, who will brief you about the trip, and embark on the transfer to Lake Manyara, arriving in the afternoon or evening, depending on your flight schedule.
Overnight: Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Lunch and Dinner
Day 2: Game Drive in Lake Manyara National Park
Have an early morning breakfast, and head out to the park for the morning game drive. Lake Manyara National Park will allow you to tick off so many unique safari highlights, including many that you just won’t find elsewhere.
Unlike the elephants you’ll see in other parks, Lake Manyara’s elephants inhabit dense forest – there’s nothing quite like your experience of an elephant suddenly emerging from behind the nearest tree. Also, you’re just as likely to see lions here draped along a branch high in a tree as down on the ground. And baboons. Lots of baboons.
Return to the Lodge for lunch and enjoy an evening game drive, or an optional activity at the lodge.
Overnight: Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 3: Transfer to Ngorongoro
Wake up to an early morning breakfast and depart Lake Manyara for Ngorongoro to explore the beautiful Ngorongoro Crater with an expert guide on your guided game drive this morning. As you drive around the crater floor, you might see lions, black rhinos, spotted hyenas, and the other animals for which Ngorongoro is famous.
In the afternoon, you will get a whole new perspective on Ngorongoro as you hike along the crater rim. Part of the trail leads through the forest, and you’ll catch glimpses of the crater floor and steep crater walls that encircle this wonderful place.
Overnight: Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 4: Explore Ngorongoro Crater
Your early morning descent into Ngorongoro Crater on a guided game drive is one of East Africa’s best safari experiences. You’ll spend most of the day getting to know this special place and its wildlife with both morning and afternoon game drives.
Overnight: Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 5: Transfer to Amboseli National Park Via Namanga Border (6 – 7 hours)
Have your breakfast early in the morning and begin your journey to Amboseli in Kenya. You will drive through Arusha and cross into Kenya through the Namanga border. Proceed to Amboseli, arriving in the afternoon, and unwind at the camp, enjoying the best views of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Overnight: Elerai Camp Amboseli
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 6: Explore Amboseli National Park
Have breakfast and head out on a guided game drive through Amboseli National Park. Your guide will make sure you’re well-placed to possibly see elephants and big cats with Mt Kilimanjaro in the background.
Look for lions and cheetahs, zebras and giraffes, spotted hyenas and wildebeest. Best of all, when it comes to animals, Amboseli is known for its population of big- tusked elephants that you can often get really close to. Watching over it all is Mt Kilimanjaro (5895m), Africa’s tallest mountain that towers over Amboseli’s (and Kenya’s) southern boundary.
Overnight: Elerai Camp Amboseli
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 7: Transfer to Masai Mara National Park (8 Hours)
Depart Amboseli early in the morning and embark on the drive to Masai Mara National Park with lunch stopover en route and occasional stopovers along the journey to stretch out or catch a glimpse of something interesting. Proceed to the Masai Mara and continue to your lodge for an evening of leisure.
Overnight: Masai Mara Sopa Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 8 to 10: Explore & “Get Lost” in Masai Mara
This classic East African landscape of savannah grasslands, rolling hills, acacia woodlands and distant escarpments is itself impressive. But it’s also the backdrop to one of the densest concentrations of wildlife on the planet. The Mara is known for its big cats, and this is certainly one of the best places to see lions, leopards and cheetahs.
You’re almost guaranteed to see elephants, giraffes, buffalo, Thomson’s gazelles, hippo, wildebeest and zebra, while black rhinos are possible in the Mara Triangle. And that’s just the start. The Masai Mara is home to over 500 bird species, too.
You will explore the depths of the Mara with morning and afternoon game drives, and one night game drive to discover the nocturnal inhabitants. There are also various optional Masai community adventures!
Overnight: Masai Mara Sopa Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 11: Transfer to Entebbe – Uganda (1hr 15 minutes)
Have an early morning breakfast and begin your journey to Uganda with a 5-hour drive to Nairobi, where you will have lunch, and take the afternoon flight to Entebbe International Airport. You will be met by your Ugandan driver/guide and transferred to the hotel.
Overnight: 2 Friends Beach Hotel
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 12: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park (5 Hours)
Breakfast will be served early, and your driver/guide will be waiting. Begin your Uganda adventure with a transfer to Murchison Falls National Park, which is the largest in the country. Along the way, you will visit Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in Nakasongola for Rhino tracking and a stopover for lunch in Masindi town.
Proceed to Murchison Falls and enter the park through Kichumbanyobo Gate and visit top of the falls, where the entire river compresses through a 7-meter gorge before plunging 44 meters down into what is referred to as the “Devil’s Cauldron” with a thunderous roar.
The falls are considered to be the most powerful in the world, and it’s a privilege to experience them. Proceed to the lodge for dinner and a restful night.
Overnight: Pakuba Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 13: Morning Game Drive & Afternoon Boat Safari
Head out this morning in Murchison Falls National Park, go on a guided game drive looking for wildlife, and learning all about them from your professional guide. Here you can be confident of seeing elephant, buffalo, hippo, giraffe, waterbuck, hartebeest, oribi, Uganda kob, crocodile, and a good range of aquatic birds. With a bit of luck, you might also encounter lion, leopard, patas monkey, and the bizarre stork-like shoebill.
In the afternoon, you will go for a boat safari where you can sure to see plenty of hippos, crocodiles, aquatic birds and other wildlife on our boat trip upriver to the base of the explosive Murchison Falls this afternoon.
Overnight: Pakuba Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 14: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park (5 hours)
Enjoy breakfast and depart Pakuba for Kibale National Park with a stopover in Fort Portal city for lunch. You will also visit the Amabere G’anyinamwiru stalagmite site and later proceed to the lodge.
Overnight: Primate Lodge Kibale
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 15: Chimpanzee Trekking in Kibale Forest
Enjoy breakfast early this morning and drive to the park headquarters in Kibale National Park for a briefing and trek deep into the forest to find chimpanzees, and then spend 1 hour getting to know them.
Kibale National Park is one of East Africa’s most important chimp strongholds. This forested park is home to roughly 1,000 of these charismatic apes, the largest population in the region, and the chances of a close-up sighting are excellent. Even if you don’t manage to see chimps, listen out for their unforgettable pant-hoot call as it resonates through the forest interior.
Other wildlife you might encounter in Kibale includes monkeys such as Uganda mangabey, Uganda red colobus and red-tailed monkey, and an astounding 370 bird species.
Return for lunch at the lodge and go for an expertly guided walk through the community-run Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary this afternoon, which is certain to yield an interesting selection of monkeys and colorful forest birds.
Overnight: Primate Lodge Kibale
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 16: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park & Boat Trip (3 hours)
You will enjoy breakfast and depart Kibale Forest for Queen Elizabeth National Park, driving through Kasese town and stopping at the equator point in Kikorongo. Proceed to Queen Elizabeth and transfer to the lodge, where you will check in and have lunch.
You will then head out for a boat trip following the Kazinga Channel to its confluence with Lake Edward. Hemmed in by steep walls and set below the glacial Rwenzori peaks, Kazinga is home to large numbers of hippo, as well as elephants, buffalo, waterbuck and Uganda kob. Lions, leopard and giant forest hogs are more occasional. The birdlife is reliably fabulous. Return to the lodge with a transit evening game drive.
Overnight: Elephant Hab Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 17: Game Drive in Kasenyi & Transfer to Ishasha
Have an early morning breakfast and go for a game drive in the Kasenyi sector, which is a known mating ground for antelopes, which attracts lions, and you could witness a live morning hunt.
Later, drive southwards to the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth Park, which is less explored and virgin. Have lunch and go for an evening game drive in anticipation of seeing the famous tree-climbing lions for which this sector is famous.
Overnight: Enjojo Game Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 18: Transfer to Bwindi National Park (5 Hours)
Enjoy breakfast and begin your journey to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park with a stopover in Kabale town for lunch. Proceed to Bwindi, arriving in the afternoon, and relax at the lodge in preparation for the next day’s gorilla trek.
Overnight: Rushaga Gorilla Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 19: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi
Wake up to an early morning breakfast on a regular misty morning in Bwindi and drive a very short distance to the briefing area, where you will register and attend a briefing session by the park rangers. You will then be allocated the gorilla family to visit for the day and a ranger guide.
Together with other visitors, in a group of 8, you will head into the forest led by the ranger guide, trekking to see mountain gorillas. This experience lasts between 2 and 6 hours, depending on the movement of the gorilla family allocated to you.
After the trek, you will receive your gorilla trekking certificate in a small ceremony termed as graduation! Your driver/guide will then drive you back to the lodge.
Overnight: Rushaga Gorilla Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 20: Drive to Lake Bunyonyi (2 hours)
This morning, you will enjoy breakfast and drive to Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale, a flooded river valley that runs for 25km through the majestic hills characteristic of southwest Uganda. This lovely freshwater lake has something for everybody.
There are no hippos or crocodiles, so it’s safe for swimming, but wildlife lovers will enjoy the plentiful birds and the high chance of spotting swimming otters. You will enjoy a motorised canoe ride visiting the different Islands with a local guide.
Overnight: Arcadia Lodge Bunyonyi
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 21: Transfer to Entebbe and Departure (8 hours)
Enjoy breakfast and embark on the journey back to Entebbe with a stopover in Masaka city for lunch and at the equator in Kayabwe for photos and souvenir shopping. Proceed to Entebbe, arriving in the afternoon.
You will be dropped off at the airport for your flight back home with very fond memories of East Africa.
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