Highlights
- See mountain gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
- Have an immersive experience at Ishasha Village
- Do a game-drive at Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Fly over the Serengeti on a balloon
- Picnic along the Ngorongoro Crater
Brief Itinerary
| Day | Highlights | Overnight |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Arrival at Entebbe | Entebbe |
| Day 2 | Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park |
| Day 3 | Wild Gorilla Trekking | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park |
| Day 4 | Optional Gorilla Trekking | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park |
| Day 5 | Ishasha Village & Queen Elizabeth National Park | Queen Elizabeth National Park |
| Day 6 | Queen Elizabeth Game & Culinary Experience | Queen Elizabeth National Park |
| Day 7 | Kihihi Transfer to Serengeti National Park | Serengeti National Park |
| Day 8 | Serengeti Balloon Safari | Serengeti National Park |
| Days 9-10 | Serengeti Game Drives | Serengeti National Park |
| Days 11-12 | Seronera Settlement | Serengeti National Park |
| Days 13-14 | The Ngorongoro Crater | Ngorongoro |
| Day 15 | Tarangire National Park - Depart Home |
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival at Entebbe
Today, you will be collected from Entebbe International Airport and transferred to Entebbe Town.
As the base of Uganda's only international airport, most foreign visitors enter the country through Entebbe. Located on the shores of Lake Victoria, this town is known for its friendliness and laid-back atmosphere. If you arrive early enough, you can spend time walking along the shores of the lake, shopping at Victoria Mall, and enjoying local food.
Day 2: Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Today, you will be picked up from your accommodation in Entebbe Town and transferred to Entebbe International Airport, from where you'll catch a flight to Kihihi. Once you arrive, a representative will be there to greet you and transfer you to a lodge within Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
You will be able to enjoy your evening at a comfortable lodging and the peaceful sounds of nature surrounding you.
Day 3: Wild Gorilla Trekking
Today, you will have the experience of a lifetime! Coming face to face with mountain gorillas is a rare opportunity, as only an estimated 880 remain in the wild. The chance to be within meters of these magnificent apes, sharing in their daily lives, and witnessing their natural behavior is an adventure you won't soon forget!
Experienced guides and trackers will accompany your party on an early morning trek into the dense rainforest on the mountain slopes. The guides know the park intimately and are acquainted with the areas where the gorillas reside.
Gorilla trekking can be moderately strenuous, with treks ranging from 30 minutes to six hours at high altitudes. Mountain gorillas are wild animals; as such, sightings are not guaranteed. However, viewing success rates are about 98%.
Following the trek, return to your accommodation and, if time allows, take an optional guided afternoon forest or community walk.
The minimum age for this trek is 15 years.
Day 4: Optional Gorilla Trekking
If seeing mountain gorillas once was not enough for you—or in the unlikely case that you were unable to see them on the first try–you can opt for a second gorilla trek.
As with all wildlife encounters, no experience is ever the same, so we encourage animal lovers and nature enthusiasts to head back into the forest.
Those who are not interested in a second trek can stay back in the lodge, and enjoy its amenities while taking in the surrounding nature.
Day 5: Ishasha Village Visit & Queen Elizabeth National Park
Today, you will transfer to the majestic Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Enroute to the park, you will stop at Ishasha Village for an immersive community visit. Agartha’s Taste of Uganda Tour is a community project near Ishasha Village. Agartha is a craftswoman, tailor, and organic subsistence farmer who welcomes visitors into her homestead and shares the cooking methods of the women of the Bakiga tribe. During this 30-45 min tour, Agartha weaves in stories of life as a Bakiga wife while encouraging you to taste what you have prepared together.
After this educational grassroots tour, you will continue onto Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda's most visited reserve. Tonight, you will rest at a comfortable campsite within the park itself.
Day 6: Queen Elizabeth Game & Culinary Experience
Start the day by savoring a delicious bush breakfast combined with an early-morning game drive. A personal chef will set up an intimate experience in a secluded wilderness spot where the food promises to be as memorable as the setting.
In the late afternoon, you can enjoy the sunset beside the Ntungwe River or from a scenic viewing point along the ridge overlooking Ishasha. Drink in the vast vistas and atmosphere of this beautiful area of the park.
Day 7: Kihihi Transfer to Serengeti National Park
This morning, you will set out early for Entebbe, where you will connect to Kogatende.
From the Kogatende Airstrip, you will transfer to a wilderness camp in the Serengeti National Park.
The park has also received national praise due to conservation and surveillance efforts for its black rhino population. These actions have allowed this critically endangered species to stabilize somewhat and provide hope for future preservation.
Day 8: Serengeti Balloon Safari
Early morning game viewing on a hot air balloon is an exhilarating experience you will struggle to capture in words.
The Seronera River provides the only permanent water in the central Serengeti, forcing resident wildlife to congregate in the valley. This area is particularly scenic with open plains, acacia woodlands, and many hippo pools. Being able to see this somewhat secluded part of the Serengeti from up in the air will leave you breathless.
Balloon safaris start early in the morning and last for about an hour, after which you can enjoy a sumptuous champagne bush breakfast. A memorable adventure, indeed!
Days 9-10: Serengeti Game Drives
You will enjoy the Serengeti's incredible game-viewing opportunities over the course of two days.
About 35 species of plains animals inhabit the reserve, particularly the so-called “big seven”: buffalos, elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos, cheetahs, and African wild dogs. Other animals frequently seen are baboons, caracals, civets, bat-eared foxes, genets, giraffes, hippos, honey badgers, hyraxes, mongeese, ostriches, servals, both Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, and vervet monkeys. There are also some 20 types of antelopes, including hartebeests, impalas, kudus, reedbucks, roans, topis, and waterbucks.
There is a profusion of birdlife as well, with over 500 species like bustards, cranes, eagles, herons, owls, storks, vultures, and the bizarre, long-legged secretary birds.
Days 11-12: Seronera Settlement
Continue your Serengeti adventure at the gorgeous Seronera Settlement.
Seronera’s network of river valleys ensure year-round water supplies and support an incredibly rich wildlife population with plenty of resident game: big cats, elephants, and buffalos. It also boasts several hippo pools.
During the right times of the year, Seronera sits on the path of the Great Wildebeest Migration—one of the most astonishing natural occurrences in the world.
You will spend two days going on safari in this astonishing area, taking in its natural beauty and wildlife watching.
At night, enjoy lodging at an eco-friendly camp. Gather around a cozy campfire and exchange stories with fellow guests.
Days 13-14: The Ngorongoro Crater
For the next two days, you will have the rare privilege of visiting the fascinating Ngorongoro Crater. This UNESCO World Heritage Site stands at 2,286 meters above sea level and is the largest inactive, intact volcanic caldera in the world.
Surrounded by very steep walls rising 610 meters from the crater floor, this natural amphitheater measures 19.2 kilometers in diameter and 304²km in area. It is home to up to 30,000 animals, almost half of which are wildebeests and zebras. On the crater floor, you can easily see buffalos, elephants, hippos, hyenas, jackals, lions, ostriches, servals, warthogs, bushbucks, elands, hartebeests, reedbucks, waterbucks, and vast herds of both Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles.
Thanks to anti-poaching patrols, the crater is one of the few places in East Africa where visitors can be sure of seeing black rhinos, with their numbers now approaching 25. Leopards and cheetas occasionally lounge in the trees of the forest surrounding the crater. Countless flamingos form a pink blanket over the soda lakes, and more than 100 species of birds not found in the Serengeti inhabit this conservation area.
You will spend the days game viewing in one of the most spectacular places on earth! Photographic opportunities are abundant, and it is not unusual to see four of the Big Five in a short time. Enjoy a picnic lunch alongside the lake on the crater floor while soaking up the magnificent scenery.
Day 15: Tarangire National Park - Depart Home
The last day of your trip will pack in just as much adventure as previous days. You will head south to Tarangire National Park, which gets its name from the river that threads its way through the length of the reserve.
It is famous for its dense wildlife population, which is most spectacular between June and September, the dry period. During this time, thousands of animals—elephants, buffalos, giraffes, elands, wildebeests, kudus, hartebeests, and the rarely seen oryxes—migrate from the dry Masai steppe to the Tarangire River looking for water. Lions, leopards, and other predators follow the herds.
Tarangire has the largest population of elephants of any park in the northern circuit and is also home to 550 varieties of birds.
After enjoying a game drive in Tarangire National Park, you will drive to Kilimanjaro Airport for your flight back home.
Map
