Grand East Africa Combination Safari, 19 Days

to your Nairobi Hotel, with bed and breakfast.

Early in the morning, you are picked up from your Nairobi Hotel and driven to Lake Naivasha, arriving in time for lunch. In the afternoon you visit Hell's Gate and can take part in activities such as cycling among the animals and a boat ride ( followed by dinner and overnight at Fish Eagle Tented Camp.

After breakfast, continue to Masai Mara, arriving in time for lunch. An afternoon game drive follows, then dinner and the night at Sentrim Tented Camp or AA Lodge.

After breakfast, set out on a full-day game drive with a packed lunch, which also includes a visit to the Mara river to see crocodiles and hippos. Dinner and overnight follow at Sentrim Tented Camp or AA Lodge.

Following breakfast, go on a game drive that includes a visit to a Masai village to learn about their culture. Dinner and overnight follow at Sentrim Tented Camp or AA Lodge.

After breakfast, the day brings game drives in both the morning and the afternoon, then dinner and overnight at Sentrim Tented Camp or AA Lodge.

Once breakfast and check-out are done, you go on to the Isbania border, where a vehicle collects you for the trip to Serengeti park.

SECTION 2 > SAFARI IN TANZANIA)

Highlights (world class): views of Mt.Kilimanjaro, Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro crater, Serengeti National Park

Clear immigration, get picked up, and transfer to your Arusha lodging, where an itinerary briefing is given and our unique gifts are handed out.

Lodging: Planet Lodge or equivalent, with dinner.

Another early start and breakfast, and then we head into Serengeti park to begin our safari and game viewing on vast plains broken only by stands of acacia trees and the odd kopje. Large herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle are normally seen. Resident animals such as giraffes, buffalo and elephants are always plentiful, as are big cat predators like lions, cheetahs and the elusive leopard. We may be lucky enough to see the entire ‘Big 5’ here! We break for lunch at the lodge and then spend the afternoon on our 2nd game drive of the day.

Lodging: Mbugani Tented Camp or Sound of Silence.

We spend one more full day in this wonderful park, getting up early again. Time can be spent at the

Hippo pool, watching these majestic animals laze in the cool water alongside the crocodiles, or watching a big pride of lions that is sometimes hunting the many wildebeest and even the zebras that travel with them.

We then move from the open plains to the kopjes. These volcanic rocky outcrops shelter a wide variety of animals, including lions, and from the top we can look out across the vast grasslands of the Serengeti. This varied and interesting landscape offers the best of game viewing, and we hope to see all of the plains game: elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lions, and ideally the leopard and cheetah. We will also see interesting birdlife, from the elegant secretary birds to, possibly, the flightless ostrich.

Following an early breakfast, we make the short drive to the Ngorongoro crater, a UNESCO World heritage site. We go down more than 600 meters to the floor of this volcanic crater, where we explore the forest areas that monkeys and elephants call home, along with the lake area where flamingos may be seen. We then visit the open savannah plains where lions roam and hunt, and we will see big herds of wild buffalo. With luck, you will spot the endangered Black Rhinoceros.  Picnic lunch in the crater. Late in the afternoon, we take the short trip to Karatu town and stay overnight at Eileen's Tree Lodge

- Arusha town
At about 08:00am, once breakfast is finished, we set off for Tarangire, around 1.5hrs away. Covering approximately 2,850 km², this is one of the country's most diverse reserves, and it shines in the dry season, when migratory wildlife returns in large numbers to the permanent waters of the Tarangire River. Huge herds of wildebeest, zebras, elephants, eland and oryx stay in Tarangire until the rains arrive and they move again toward greener grazing. Following the game safari we drive to Arusha. Lodging at Planet Lodge.

Today is free, so you can pair your safari with an Arusha cultural tour or town experience. You might do some last-minute shopping with a slow walk through Maasai Market and the National Natural History Museum. When it is time to leave the hotel for the airport, we will arrange a transfer to match your flight schedule.

Clear immigration, get picked up, and transfer to your Arusha lodging, where an itinerary briefing is given and our unique Tanzania gifts/souvenirs are handed out. This is the first day of the trip, and as you land at about 7:30 pm, our driver-guide will meet and welcome you.Then you are driven to Hotel Okapi for dinner and overnight.

Meals: half board (H/B)

: Drive to Volcanoes national park.
Wake up in the morning and enjoy a relaxed breakfast. You then go on a city tour of several places of interest, such as the Genocide memorial, parliament, Science university, and the local markets. Stop for lunch and some refreshments. After that comes a 2 hours drive to the volcanoes national park, arriving in the evening and checking in for dinner and the night at mountain gorilla view lodge.

Meals on F/B

:Gorilla trekking day
You wake up very early and have breakfast, then go to the park headquarters for a briefing on the dos and donts around these primates and the allocation of your gorilla family to trek. Next you enter the forest for the actual gorilla trekking experience. Finding the primates takes between 2-6 hours, depending on how they move. Once you find them, you are given one hour to spend with them and take pictures. Afterward you go back to your hotel, filled with the experience, for relaxation, dinner, and the night.

:Drive to Nyungwe forest national park
Wake up very early and have breakfast. You then get into your safari jeep for a 7-9 hour drive through the southern part of the country, with lunch en-route. You arrive late in the evening and check in for dinner and the night at Nyungwe hill top view hotel. Meals on F/B

:Chimpanzee trekking
You get up early and have breakfast. Then you drive for 1hour to Kyamudongo forest, the actual chimpanzee tracking spot. You enter the forest and begin the chimpanzee tracking itself. Afterward you go back to your hotel for lunch and some refreshments. In the afternoon you take a nature walk that lasts until late evening, when you return to your hotel for dinner and overnight.

:Departure day
This is the last day of the trip. You have an early breakfast and then begin the drive back to Kigali, with lunch on the way. You arrive late in the evening, and since your flight is on this date you are dropped at the airport, which marks the end of the trip.