Overview

This 16 Days Wildebeest Migration & Gorilla Trekking Safari offers you a great chance to explore East Africa, thus Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, while visiting the key attraction in each country and you have a total wilderness experience to not just see the BIG 5, but to also witness the great migration either in Masai Mara or Northern Serengeti, or both, as you also visit one of the world wonder’s The Ngorongoro Crater, to spot some Big 5, as they are usually encountered in the crater. You will as well be able to have an interaction with the local community to experience the African culture, as you wind up you travel with chimpanzee trekking and golden monkey trekking in Rwanda, to set you up for the gorilla trekking encounter in Uganda. You will as well be able to do boat ride and canoe ride as mentioned in the itinerary as well as having Kigali city tour to wind up your stay. This is one of its kind, as you will enjoy the real African taste as you have bites along of the real local cuisines. The 16 Days Wildebeest Migration & Gorilla Trekking Safari will take you all away from Kenya through Tanzania, fly to Rwanda, and cross to Uganda, later return to Rwanda and fly back to Kenya to connect to your flight back home. Request a Quote

Day by Day

Day 1
Airport transfer to hotel

Upon arrival you will meet  your diver  at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.  Transfer to your city hotel for check in. Dinner on own account. Overnight stay.

Day 2
Nairobi / Lake Nakuru National Park – travel time 3.5 hrs

Breakfast at your hotel. Introduction to your safari driver, pre safari briefing and departure for Lake Nakuru National Park by 0830 hrs. You enjoy a brief stop over as you drive down the floor of the Rift Valley. This will be a scenic drive via farm lands and the Great Rift Valley Lakes. Arrival and check in at your lodge / tented camp in time for lunch. You will then enjoy an afternoon game drive. Lake Nakuru is home to four of the BIG 5, among several other mammal and bird species. The biggest attractions though are White Rhinos and the seasonal lesser and greater flamingos that can be found during some months Dinner and overnight.

Day 3
Lake Nakuru – Masai Mara National Reserve – travel time 6.5 hrs

Breakfast from 0630 hrs. Depart Lake Nakuru by 0715 hrs and drive to Masai Mara National Reserve. Check in followed by lunch. You then enjoy your first game drive in Masai Mara from 1530 hrs to 1800 hrs. Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 4-5
Masai Mara game drives

You will spend the full day exploring and discovering the vast Mara reserve, enjoying game drives as you search for the resident Big Cats, antelopes and bird species. Be on the look out for Lions, Cheetahs, Buffalos, Zebras, Spotted Hyenas, Masai Girrafes, Elands, Gazelles, Hippos, Leopard, Black Rhinos and several other animals and birds that reside here. The Mara, one of the most famous wildlife reserves in Africa is home to the Big Five as well as other predators, scavengers, plains game and prolific birdlife. This is also the place where the wildlife spectacle referred to as the annual wildebeest migration takes place every year between July and October when over 1.2 Million Wildebeest and Zebras cross over from Serengeti in search of greener pastures. Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 6
Masai Mara / Northern Serengeti – travel time +8.5 hrs

After breakfast, collect your picnic lunch and depart for the seemingly endless plains; The Serengeti. You enjoy a three-hour drive to the Isebania border crossing point, clear with immigration’s and proceed to northern Serengeti. You will enjoy en route game viewing in search of the BIG CATS that reside here. Dinner and overnight.

Accommodation Options:
Mara Kati Kat Tented Camp
Mid Range Accommodation: Mara Kati Kat Tented Camp
Mara River Camp
Luxury Accommodation: Mara River Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 7
Northern Serengeti

You will spend the full day exploring the northern part of the Serengeti as you search for major wildlife sightings. This is where you can witness the great migration between June and October as they graze in the savannah woodlands and along the shores of the crocodile infested Mara River with frequent River crossings between the south and north being witnessed regularly. After the calving season in southern Serengeti between February and March, the migration moves to Seronera in Central Serengeti between April and May, before arriving north from June. Big predators like Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, and scavenging opportunists like jackals, hyenas, vultures, Marabou Storks are always trailing the migration so you also have a chance of catching them in action. Dinner and overnight at Nyikani Migration Camp

Accommodation Options:
Mara Kati Kat Tented Camp
Mid Range Accommodation: Mara Kati Kat Tented Camp
Mara River Camp
Luxury Accommodation: Mara River Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 8
North to Central Serengeti

You will enjoy your breakfast, morning game drives in northern Serengeti and then depart for Central Serengeti with en route game viewing. This afternoon, you will explore the most popular part of the Siringet- the Seronera area. The abundance of both predator and prey here will amaze you as you cover different habitat and geographical areas during your game drives. Dinner and overnight.

Accommodation Options:
Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp
Mid Range Accommodation: Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp
Itika Wilderness Camp
Luxury Accommodation: Itika Wilderness Camp
Melia Serengeti
High End Accommodation: Melia Serengeti
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 9
Serengeti – Ngorongoro Crater – Karatu

After breakfast, you depart to the Ngorongoro Conservation area. This afternoon, you descend down the steep walls of the caldera for game drives along the crater floor. Lions, Elephants (including huge bulls), Cheetah, Spotted Hyena, Black Rhino, Gnus, Jackals, Baboons, Buffalos, Flamingos (on the crater lakes), Hippos and even the rare Caracal are some of the animals you might spot here. You will then proceed to Karatu along the Ngorongoro highlands where you enjoy your dinner and overnight stay

Accommodation Options:
Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge
Mid Range Accommodation: Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Luxury Accommodation: Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Ngorongoro Lodge by Melia
High End Accommodation: Ngorongoro Lodge by Melia
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 10
Ngorongoro– Arusha – Kilimanjaro Airport – Rwanda

Breakfast at your lodge. Check out by 0830 hrs. Drive to Arusha city and immediately transferred to the Kilimanjaro International Airport where you board your afternoon flight to Kigali at 1400 hrs and transfer to Kigali. Upon arrival at Kigali international airport, you will go through custom and immigration, and you will be met by our company guide/ representative who will warmly welcome you to the Land of a thousand hills that Rwanda is know of, and later drive to your booked hotel accommodation for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation Options:
Hotel Des’ Mille Collines
Mid Range Accommodation: Hotel Des’ Mille Collines
Kigali Marriott Hotel
Luxury Accommodation: Kigali Marriott Hotel
The Retreat
High End Accommodation: The Retreat
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 11
Transfer to Nyungwe National Park – travel time +5 hrs

Early morning enjoy your buffer breakfast and checkout of the hotel and drive heading to the western province, on your way visit the Ethnographic Museum in Southern Province, this will give you a great history of traditional ways of living among Rwandans and their past way of leadership of Kingship with an en route lunch. You will reach in the afternoon at Nyungwe National Park heading for a canopy walk. This 70 meters suspended metallic bridge will give you a great overview of Nyungwe forest and on a luck day spot one or two more primates in the forest as you take a walk on this bridge and later return in the afternoon for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation Options:
Mantis Kivu Marina Bay
Mid Range Accommodation: Mantis Kivu Marina Bay
Munazi Eco Lodge
Luxury Accommodation: Munazi Eco Lodge
One & Only Nyungwe House
High End Accommodation: One & Only Nyungwe House
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 12
Chimpanzee tracking and tea plantation visit

Today, after your early morning cap of African coffee, you will leave your hotel to experience the natural forest of Nyungwe well known for having 13 species of primates, and transferred to the park for briefing and chimpanzee trekking. You will be entitled to one hour on finding the chimpanzees. During the chimpanzee trekking you may as well site other primate such as the famous Congo colobus monkeys. After doing the chimpanzee trek, head for lunch before head for a tea plantation visit. Dinner and overnight.

Accommodation Options:
Mantis Kivu Marina Bay
Mid Range Accommodation: Mantis Kivu Marina Bay
Munazi Eco Lodge
Luxury Accommodation: Munazi Eco Lodge
One & Only Nyungwe House
High End Accommodation: One & Only Nyungwe House
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 13
Transfer to Musanze – travel time +5 hrs

You will make up ready to catch up with the beautiful sun rise over the Lake Kivu after just getting done with your morning breakfast. You will take a boat ride to explore the beautiful attractions within this great lake. You have a nature walk at one of the islands within this lake which is known for harboring thousands of the bats. This lake is also known as a birding paradise as it host a number of bird species like the comrand, pied king fishers, weaver birds, heron to mention but a few. You will later return for and drive off to Musanze which is roughly a 3 hours’ drive. Musanze is a tourism area near Volcanoes National Park, where most of the lodges are located since there are no lodges inside of the park. Dinner and overnight.

Accommodation Options:
Tiloreza Volcano Eco Lodge
Mid Range Accommodation: Tiloreza Volcano Eco Lodge
Virunga Inn Resort and Spa
Luxury Accommodation: Virunga Inn Resort and Spa
Wilderness Bisate Lodge
High End Accommodation: Wilderness Bisate Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 14
Gorilla trekking experience

Early morning cup of coffee, then prepare for the gorilla trekking briefing from the park headquarters and thereafter, you will enter the jungle with your packed lunch to search the shy mountain gorillas and enjoy their life style in their real home. After meeting the gorillas, you can sit around these great apes for a whole hour watching their social life as you take pictures. On a gorilla trekking safari, a reasonable degree of fitness is required as well as walking shoes, packed food and mineral water, insect repellent, sun screen and hut. The gorilla tracking experience takes half or whole day depending on the movements of these primates. After this gorilla tracking experience you will return and to your lodge for lunch. You will spend the evening relaxing and going through your great shots during your trekking.

 

Accommodation Options:
Tiloreza Volcano Eco Lodge
Mid Range Accommodation: Tiloreza Volcano Eco Lodge
Virunga Inn Resort and Spa
Luxury Accommodation: Virunga Inn Resort and Spa
Wilderness Bisate Lodge
High End Accommodation: Wilderness Bisate Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 15
Golden monkey trekking in Volcanoes NP

Today after you warm early morning breakfast, you will be picked by our safari driver guide who will transfer you to the park headquarters for briefing and start off you day golden monkey trekking. Just like the gorilla trekking experience, the same applies to golden monkey trekking though no so hectic like gorilla trekking. In the afternoon, you will transfer back to Kigali for the diner and overnight stay.

Accommodation Options:
Hotel Des’ Mille Collines
Mid Range Accommodation: Hotel Des’ Mille Collines
Kigali Marriott Hotel
Luxury Accommodation: Kigali Marriott Hotel
The Retreat
High End Accommodation: The Retreat
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 16
Transfer to Kigali and fly to Nairobi – Kenya

Have morning breakfast, head for a brief Kigali city tour and depending on your flight time out of Nairobi to your home country, you shall be transfer to Kigali airport, to catch up with your departure flight. End of the 16 Days Wildebeest Migration & Gorilla Trekking Safari.

Inclusions / Exclusions

Inclusions

Pick up and drop off from International Airports;
1 nights’ accommodation in Nairobi on bed and breakfast basis
Land cruiser Jeep 4×4 Safari Vehicle with pop-up roof for game view;
Experience English-Speaking Safari Guide;
1 Gorilla ($ 700) permit per person
All park entry, transit and crater fees;
Golden monkey permits ($ 100) permit per person
Chimpanzee permits
Kigali city tour
Canoe ride as listed
Visit to a Masai Village bordering Masai Mara (pay a donation of USD 25 per person locally),
Regional flights around East Africa (JRO – KGL & KGL – NBO)
All activities under the program;
All accommodation under the program on full board basis;
Three meals per day on the safari;
Bottled water throughout the safari;
Binocular (1 per safari vehicle);
Applicable government taxes on tour services, concession fees etc.
Flying Doctor Emergency Evacuation Cover (Must have valid travel insurance).

Exclusions

Drinks and beverages while at the tented camps & lodges;
Laundry at the tented camps & lodges and all other costs incurred at the hotels;
Change of plan or deviation from itinerary
International Flights(to and fro, your home country to Kenya), Visa (Kenya Visa, Tanzania Visa and East African Visa);
Government imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees;
Hotels/ lodges imposed increase fees
All things of personal nature;
Tipping for hotel and safari staff (highly recommended especially for your safari guides and drivers,
Medical / travel insurance (recommended)
All other items not listed in the inclusions list above.