Highlights of East Africa Safari
Days 1, 2 and 3 - Gorilla Tracking, Volcanoes National Park
After arriving in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, you will be met by your driver who will drive you through lush, cultivated valleys to the Volcanoes National Park for 3 nights. This afternoon you have the time to relax and prepare for one of the most amazing wildlife experiences in Africa – Gorilla Tracking. The Volcanoes National Park is one of the wildlife successes of Africa. Over the years since the Genocide in the 1990s, tourists have been coming to track gorillas here, and the revue generated from this has allowed Rwanda to not only protect but grow the gorilla population. Revenue generated by tourists has also allowed Rwanda to develop other national parks and reintroduce animals that had previously been extinct in the country.
This morning you meet your team, trackers, and guide for your gorilla tracking on the slopes of the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. After a short briefing at the park headquarters where you will learn more about the family of gorillas, you will be tracking, you head off on your gorilla safari. Trackers head out ahead of the team to find where the gorilla family is so they can guide you in the general direction. After you find the family of gorillas, you get to spend 1 hour with them as they go about their daily lives. This is one of the best wildlife experiences in Africa and one that few get to experience.
Tracking on the slopes of the Volcanoes National Park can be tough going and so it is recommended to be fit before embarking on a gorilla adventure.
Day 4 - Kigali
This morning you have the chance for an additional activity in the Volcanoes National Park before heading back to Kigali. En route to your hotel, you can visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial. This is a moving tribute to the horrific atrocities that took place across Rwanda in the 1990s.
Days 5, 6 and 7 - Serengeti National Park
You have an early start to get your scheduled flight direct into the Serengeti National Park. Renowned for forming part of the great wildebeest migration that moves between the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Masai Mara in Kenya. The herds follow the rains and are constantly on the move in search of fresh grasses that sprout after the rains, so your location will depend on the time of the year you travel. Typically, the herds are the in the south to give birth around December time and then start moving north through the western corridor, making it to the northern part of the Serengeti around June or July time. They then move between the Serengeti and Masai Mara between July and October when they start to move back south through the eastern corridor.
The Serengeti is largely open grassland with rocky outcrops and a few forested areas along the rivers. These huge open grasslands are the perfect habitat for cheetahs, making this one of the best places in Africa to see these spotted cats. Lions, leopards, and hyenas make up the rest of the large carnivores while elephants, buffalo, giraffes, zebra, topi, and other antelopes make up the majority of the herbivores. Spend your days on morning and afternoon game drives in search of the migration as well as the other plentiful game.
Days 8 and 9 - Ngorongoro Crater
From the Serengeti you move to the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater, an extinct volcano crater teeming with wildlife that includes black rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, buffalo, giraffe, topi, wildebeest, zebra, more. The view from the crater rim is spectacular, but it is when you get down to the bottom that you get to experience your own National Geographic documentary. Spend a full day down on the crater floor.
Days 10, 11 and 12 - Zanzibar
After all the excitement of your gorilla tracking and Serengeti Safari, you deserve a few days of relaxing on the beach of Tanzania. From the Ngorongoro Crater, you get a flight to the spice island of Zanzibar. Your time can be spent as active or relaxing as you want. Simply relax on the white sandy beaches beneath the palm trees for a few days or take part in some of the many activities on offer. These range from snorkeling, to boat excursions, fishing, scuba diving, and Stonetown city tours. All of these can be arranged by the hotel.
