17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari

17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari

Overview

17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari gives you the opportunity to come close to the gentle giants known as the Gorillas and the chimpanzees in their habitat not forgetting the wildlife and bird species that are found in different national parks.

Day1. Welcome to Uganda

On the start of your 17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari our tourist guide / driver will be waiting at Entebbe International airport to pick you up and then transfer you to your accommodation for dinner and an overnight depending on your time of arrival.

Accommodation: Via via guest house

Meal plan: Dinner only

Day2. Transfer to jinja for an adventure trip

Early morning after breakfast, you will be transferred to Jinja for a white water rafting experience on the Nile. This can take either full or half day depending on your choice and also visit Jinja town and some craft shops for your souvenir shopping. Thereafter, you will return in the evening at your hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Via via guest house

Meal plan: full board

Optional activity

Source of the Nile boat cruise

Day3. Transfer to Kibale national park

Today, after an early morning breakfast, your guide will transfer you to Kibale national park with stop-overs along the way. Upon arrival, you may opt for a nature walk or relax as you wait for chimpanzee tracking the next day.

Accommodation: Isunga lodge

Meal plan: full board

Day4. Chimpanzee tracking

Early morning after breakfast, you will visit the park headquarters for briefing and then start the tracking Chimpanzees and 10 other primates including red colobus, blue, red-tailed and gray-cheeked mangabeys. The guide will provide detailed information as well as answering your questions that may arise. This primate walk is both informative and enjoyable. In the afternoon, visit the Bigodi swamp and community around the Kibale forest National Park.

Accommodation: Isunga lodge

Meal plan: full board

Day5. Amabere ga Nyina Mwiru Caves, Tooro Palace, Crater Lakes – Queen Elizabeth Park

Today after breakfast early in the morning, we will have a cultural tour to the ‘Amabere ga Nyina Mwiru’ caves located 10 km from Fort Portal town and also hike to the explosion craters surrounding this area. Return back to fort portal town for lunch, in the afternoon visit the ‘Tooro’ Kingdom palace. In the evening we drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park for about 2 hours following the mystical Rwenzori Mountain ranges for much of the journey.

Accommodation: Irungu forest safari lodge

Meal plan: full board

Day6. Game drive and afternoon boat cruise

After breakfast, you will go for an early morning game drive in the park with the massive Rwenzori Mountains as a backdrop provides excellent opportunities to see lions, leopards, giant forest hog, Cape buffalo, elephants, defassa waterbuck, Uganda Kobs, Topi and bushbuck. Queen Elizabeth National Park’s diverse Eco-system of grassy plains, tropical forest, rivers, swamps, lakes and volcanic craters is home to an incredible abundance of wildlife.

In the afternoon, your guide will take you for a unique 2- 3 hour boat cruise on the famous Kazinga Channel and into Lake Edward. This boat trip passes through possibly the highest concentration of hippos. Many animals may be seen drinking at the water’s edge. This will give you excellent opportunities for photography, bird watching and game viewing. The prolific bird life is colorful and stupendous with well over 500 resident species

Accommodation: Irungu forest safari lodge

Meal plan: full board

Day7. Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park

Today we drive through the Kigezi highlands region of Uganda also known as the “Switzerland of Africa” providing views of terraced hillsides and winding roads to Bwindi Impenetrable forest which is about 4 hours journey.

Accommodation: Gorilla mist camp

Meal plan: full board

Day8. Gorilla tracking

Gorilla tracking is a day to remember on your 17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari.

The Bwindi forest is a spectacular and incredibly dense rain forest which offers a dramatic steeply forested landscape. You will arrive at the park headquarters early in the morning (7:00am) for briefing by the UWA staff before going to trek. Don’t forget to carry along your tracking gear which includes raincoats, jungle boots and more. The trekking will take a couple of hours (2 -7 hrs) depending on how far the gorillas might have moved. In groups of 8 people, your guide will lead you through the numerous pathways created for the tourists and eventually you’ll find your way to the rare & shy gorillas. A certificate is awarded by UWA at the end of every gorilla trekking experience. Later relax at your lodge which will give breathtaking views of the park.

Accommodation: Gorilla mist camp

Meal plan: full board

Day9. Transfer to Lake Mburo national park

Check out after breakfast in the morning for a 4 hours’ drive to Lake Mburo National Park with a stopover in Mbarara town for Lunch. This is the best place in the country to see zebras. Lake Mburo has 5 lakes and is mainly savanna with scattered acacias trees. The park features animals such as impalas, elands, roan antelopes, reedbucks, klipspringers and topis, as well as buffaloes and hippos. Adjacent to the park are the ranches of the Bahima (Ankole) tribe, who herd the famous long-horned Ankole cattle that are a common sight here. Take an afternoon boat ride on the Lake & see a variety of birds and hippos and evening game drive.

Accommodation: Eagles nest lodge

Meal plan: full board

Day10. Drive to Entebbe-Nairobi

The 10th day of your 17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari take you to Kenya- Nairobi city.

Early morning after breakfast, go for a safari walk in the park accompanied by your guide and later return to your lodge for Lunch. Check out in the afternoon and depart for Kampala which is 3 hours away with a stop-over at the Equator line. Your guide/ driver will later drop you in Kampala or at Entebbe International airport for your evening flight.

Accommodation: Emerland hotel-Nairobi

Meal plan: full board

Day11. Transfer to Masai Mara

Depart after breakfast for Masai Mara with a stopover at the Rift valley. Check in, lunch and afternoon game drives when you begin your search for the wildlife found in Masai Mara. Thereafter return in the evening for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Zebra Plains Mara Camp

Meal plan: full board

Day12. Full day game drive in Masai Mara

You will spend a full day exploring this world renowned reserve during your game drives. Your expert safari driver / guide with in-depth knowledge of the vast reserve will help you locate Lions, Elephants, Rhino, Leopard, Buffalo, Burchell’s Zebra, Hippos, Elands, Spotted Hyena, Topi, Hartebeest, Warthog, Black Backed Jackal, Mongoose, Masai Ostrich, Secretary Bird, Marabou Stork, Martial Eagle, Vultures, Egrets among several other mammal and bird species that call Masai Mara home. You simply need to have your animal checker guide ready, and get ready for the adventure.

Between the months of June and September, Masai Mara hosts the world’s biggest wildlife spectacle; the annual wildebeest migration when over 1.2 million wildebeest and Zebra cross over from northern Serengeti into Masai Mara in search of greener pastures, especially the red oat grass which is a delicacy to the marauding Gnus. If you travel during these months, your guide will dedicate time to trailing the migrating herds both in the savannah and along the banks of the Crocodile infested Mara River.

Accommodation: Zebra Plains Mara Camp

Meal plan: full board

Day13. Transfer to Serengeti national park

After breakfast, we will pack up again and leave the Masai Mara, with a picnic lunch en route to the Serengeti. Cross Kenya – Tanzania common border at Isebania and Serari then proceed to Serengeti National Park (via Ndabaka). Serengeti means ‘endless plains’ and is derived from the Maasai language. The park lies on a high plateau between the Ngorongoro Highlands and the Kenya and Tanzania border. If time permits, we shall have an en-route game drive. Dinner and your overnight stay will be at a deluxe safari camp.

Your overnight stay is at Serengeti Heritage Luxury Tented Camp.

Accommodation: Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp

Meal plan: full board

Day14. Full day exploring Serengeti national park

Spending another day at the Serengeti translates into better game viewing and photography experience. Enjoy every single moment of your safari in the Serengeti National Park, summed up as ‘one of the most unique areas in the world’. The Serengeti contains the largest remaining concentration of plains game in Africa, on a scale, which has no parallel anywhere else in the world.

Accommodation: Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp

Meal plan: full board

Day15. Serengeti National Park – Ngorongoro Crater

You’ll have an early breakfast at 6:00 am, thereafter, depart for Ngorongoro with picnic lunches as you are about to conclude the 17 Days wildlife safari. Descend in to the crater floor for the half day crater tour. There are only two roads that connect the crater rim with the crater floor, one for driving down, one for driving up and another that goes both ways. The crater is roughly 20 km/12 miles wide and 600 m/2,000 ft deep. Once you’ve reached the top of the caldera it takes about 45 minutes to descend to the crater floor. The floor is home to a rich and highly concentrated wildlife. Some 20,000 mammals of size live there, including about 20 black rhinoceros, making the crater the best place in Tanzania to see the rhino.

The crater floor also has one of the highest carnivore densities in the world. Lions, cheetahs, hyenas and jackals are commonly seen, while leopards may be seen with some good luck. You will spend most of the day in the crater.

Lastly, dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Farm of Dreams Lodge

Meal plan: full board

Day16. Ngorongoro Crater – Tarangire National Park

After breakfast, you’ll drive to Tarangire National Park with lunch en-route. On arrival, you’ll have an afternoon game drive through Tarangire. Tarangire National Park is 2850 square kilometers making it the sixth-largest park in Tanzania, offering the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti.

Tarangire is also known for its large herds of elephants which can be viewed at close range. Other animals likely to be seen throughout Tarangire are wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, gazelle, rhino, warthog, impala, python, lion, leopard and over 50 species of birds. Your accommodation will be at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge hence the climax of your 17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari.

Accommodation: Lake Burunge Tented Camp

Meal plan: full board

Day 17. Transfer back to Arusha town to catch up with your flight back home

You’ll have an early pre-breakfast game viewing drive in search of the predators and grazers.

Depart the Tarangire national park for Arusha to arrive in the evening.

You’ll be transferred to your Arusha hotel/ residence/ airport and depart for your flight home and this marks the end of your 17 Days wildlife of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania Safari.

No accommodation

Meal plan: Breakfast and lunch

Included

Park fees (For non-residents)

All activities (Unless labeled as optional)

All accommodation (Unless listed as upgrade)

A professional driver/guide

All transportation (Unless labeled as optional)

All Taxes/VAT

Round-trip airport transfer

Meals (As specified in the day-by-day section)

Drinks (mineral drinking water on all the days)

Domestic flight as mentioned in the itinerary

Excluded

International flights (From/to home)

Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour

Tips (Tipping guideline US$10.00 pp per day)

Personal items (Souvenirs, travel insurance, visa fees, etc)

Government imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees