Gorilla, Game Parks & Zanzibar

Depart this morning from the Boulevard Hotel in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and climb the escarpment to stop at your first viewpoint overlooking the Great Rift Valley. After snapping some photographs, descend into the magnificent Rift Valley, which has been home to the Maasai tribes for centuries.

Watch the side of the road to see them tending their flocks and herds. Arrive at your campsite, Acacia Camp, in the early evening in time to relax as the sun sets over the vastly beautiful Masai Mara.

Today you will have the wonderful opportunity to explore the great plains of the Masai Mara Reserve, widely considered to be Africa’s greatest wildlife reserve.

Discover this ‘Garden of Eden’, with its gently rolling grasslands and abundance of game on morning and afternoon game drives and be on the lookout for Africa’s Big 5. The Mara also plays host to the Great Migration, so if you happen to visit while this incredible event is taking place, you will see thousands of wildebeest crossing the plains to greener land.

Return to the camp and sit around the campfire, watching the sunset and sharing stories of the day’s sightings to round off this incredible day in the Mara

Depart from the Masai Mara early the next morning as you travel through the scenic tea plantations of Kericho before descending the Rift Valley Plateau. Reach Kisumu, Kenya’s harbour town on the banks of Africa’s biggest lake – Lake Victoria. Here you can replenish your supplies and spend the evening relaxing before the adventure continues.

Today you will cross the border into Uganda and travel via the lakeside town of Jinja – the source of the Nile River – to the capital city of Kampala. You’ll spend the next leg of the tour exploring this incredibly green and fertile country.

Depart Kampala early the next morning and drive further into the depths of Uganda to your base on the banks of Lake Bunyoni, the largest crater lake in Uganda. From here, depending on permits, you will head to either the Mgahinga or Bwindi National Parks in Uganda, the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Ruhengeri in Rwanda.

Spend the next few days taking turns to trek through dense and often muddy forests in search of the gentle and elusive mountain gorillas. Be prepared for a long and arduous trek as it is sometimes difficult to locate them, but know that it will be worthwhile when you finally come across a group of gorillas quietly going about their business. Sit back for an hour and watch these giants in their natural habitat.

This morning you will say goodbye to the dense Ugandan wilderness and travel over the equator for the second time as you return to the city of Kampala. Stop for a photo with one foot in each hemisphere. You spend another night at Kampala, with the opportunity to sample Uganda’s nightlife.

This morning you will have to choose between an exhilarating white-water rafting experience at the source of the Nile River or a visit to the Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary where you can assist in feeding the orphaned chimpanzees. Both of these provide an unforgettable experience.

Your overnight camp is on the edge of the Nile River where there is an abundance of resident birdlife, and some truly amazing photo opportunities from right outside your tent.

Today you can sit back and enjoy the passing scenery on a full-day drive back towards Kenya. After crossing the border you will enjoy lunch and stock up on supplies before travelling on to the town of Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest town and home to the small, yet beautiful, Lake Nakuru National Park.

This morning you will travel into Lake Nakuru National Park. The park is a sanctuary for black and white rhino, so keep an eye out as they are frequently seen along with other African wildlife including buffalo, giraffe, waterbuck, various antelope, leopard and the occasional hippo.

Spend most of the day enjoying game drives before you arrive at Lake Naivasha, your home for the night, in the late afternoon.

Spend today at Lake Naivasha, home to a multitude of birdlife, the most magnificent being the African fish eagle. Listen for its regal cry as you explore these beautiful lands surrounding this lake, the highest of the Rift Valley lakes at about 1 880 metres / 6 200 feet above sea level.

Your afternoon is spent at leisure and you may have the opportunity to enjoy some optional excursions, such as a boat ride to the Crescent Island Game Sanctuary, Hell’s Gate National Park or Elsamere, the retirement home of Joy Adamson, writer of the novel, , about Elsa the lion.

After breakfast you leave Naivasha behind and return to Nairobi, arriving in the early afternoon. Head to the Hotel Boulevard where those who are scheduled to leave the tour here will depart and others will join. Meet the new travellers on your way to your campsite for the night.