14 Days Serengeti, Masai Mara & Gorilla Trekking Experience

The earliest morning flight will bring you to the Arusha region, where you will be met for a transfer to Arusha National Park. During the city hum you may spot the city getting replaced by birdsong and the peppery scent of eucalyptus. A park ranger welcomes you at the Momella Gate and helps you get started on a walking trail. During this journey, you will see giraffes drifting among acacia trees like cranes, their legs sketch-stilt thin against Mount Meru’s emerald skirt. While you may feel tiny in this volcanic amphitheater, there is a sense of calm and safety from nature’s pace, which is slow and deliberate here. After a picnic lunch at the Maundi Crater rim, you set out for an afternoon game drive. You navigate in loops around shallow soda lakes where flamingos are actively painting the water pink. As always, baboons hang out on the edge trying to hide their longing gazes towards your biscuits. By late afternoon, you are back in Arusha, your cheeks dusty red testifying to the adventures of the day. Overnight options • Budget: Charity Hotel • Standard: Gold Crest Hotel • Luxury: African Tulip Hotel Start point Kilimanjaro International Airport, Moshi, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania 07:00 - 07:30

Leave Arusha and drive towards Tarangire. On the way, you make an impulsive stop to buy some breakfast pastries from the market. With the dawn daylight pouring over the market, you purchase what you needed. Before long the smooth as asphalt road disappears, and just like that, you are in Tarangire. Here dusty roads lined with massive baobab trees standing like petrified thunderheads greet you. Tarangire feels much warmer and wild. Elephant families parade through the golden fields with calves trunk-tapping every termite mound they encounter. You enjoy a break by the Tarangire River and watch zebras nervously line up to take a sip, twitching their ears at the sound of a distant lion’s cough. Late in the day, you climb to a rocky kopje and watch elephants march across the sky as the sun sets in shades of burnt orange. Life feels perfectly balanced then. To top it off, your guide hands you an ice-cold Tusker. Overnight Options • Budget: Sangaiwe Tented Camp • Standard: Tarangire Simba Lodge • Luxury: Lemala Mpingo Ridge

As morning breaks lavender, Tarangire calls for your attention. The Rift Valley wall looms green and mysterious. The road climbs over coffee estates in Karatu, and in the blink of an eye, you are transported to a cloud forest filled with dripping ferns, and cool enough air to fog your breath. In Ngorongoro. lion and cheetah, giraffe and zebra await—an incredible game drive in the famous Ndutu area. Mid afternoon, Maasai herders walk their cattle along the rim road, dressed in red shúkà cloaks that snap in the wind. You relax at the lodge, sip hot cocoa with Amarula, and listen to the crackling fire. Outside, darkness covers the crater while the stars shine. You feel its heartbeat—an entire ecosystem breathing under the stars. Overnight options • Budget: Karatu Safari Camp Lodge • Standard: Africa Safari Karatu • Luxury: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

The gate opens at 06 am, and by 6:15 you are already descending the steep track which is foggy and requires the use of headlights. As soon as the wheels touch the crater floor, wildlife fills the viewfinder. This includes buffaloes huffing in the cold, flamingos brushing the soda lake, and hyenas on their way home from shenanigans early in the morning. Your guide herds toward a lion pride lounging beside the road, and one of the lionesses yawns and looks your way. Zebras act as judges for your sandwich devouring skills as you enjoy the mid-morning picnic under a fever tree. The later part of the day, however, features a solo black rhino trudging sluggishly across the grass- an oddly stylish sight. Light during this part of the day transforms into syrupy. After this, you ascend to the rim just as the bowl behind you shimmers golden. Since two nights were reserved in the crater, there is no hurry to start. Tonight's plan is to enlist the help of distant jackals and the calm lullabies of stargazing. Overnight options • Budget: Karatu Safari Camp Lodge • Standard: Africa Safari Karatu • Luxury: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Depart from Ngorongoro and as you drive passing through the Naabi Hill Gate, which marks the transition from the green highlands to the open Serengeti plains. You will witness the numerous herds of wildebeest that populate every horizon. In this area, there is an abundance of wildebeests as far as one can see coupled with the blend of low-frequency rumble brays. Emotions start surging in and you notice people cheerfully head out for their holidays. Looking out from the land cruiser window, the wind wisking away your hat, heart beating in sync with the rhythmic hooves on the road. After lunch continue with your very first game drive in the Serengeti. It comes with stunning views and wildlife such as cheetahs on top of termite mounds, lilac breasted rollers diving for bugs, and even some bruised looking storm clouds that swirled dramatically in the distance. Enjoy the serene night views with your tent bathed in lantern light and lulled to sleep by the hyenas' distant whooping. Overnight options • Budget: Africa Safari Ikoma (Safari Tent). • Standard: Africa Safari Ikoma (Bungalo). • Luxury: Four Seasons Safari Lodge.

As the sun rises, the essence of dawn brings out the lions “finishing breakfast” thirty to forty ribs of a wildebeest sauna-ing in the light. While leopards are able to camouflage very well, a solitary one is surprising all by crossing the path with a twitching tail like a metronome. After lunch is served, the guide takes off for the next game drive and whispers “Lions”. As expected the cubs are climbing over an uninterested mother while the body of several adult lions meld seamlessly with the granite landscape. While on our way back to the camp, sunset paints the sky crimson and dust motes shimmer in the headlights illuminating wondrous particles. As afternotes, your lunch or dinner for the day and timings depending on your visit entitles you to a witnessed drive witnessing the dramatic movement of the great wildebeest migration. Overnight options: • Budget: Africa Safari Ikoma (Safari Tent). • Standard: Africa Safari Ikoma (Bungalo). • Luxury: Four Seasons Safari Lodge.

Day seven’s early morning start allows you to traverse above the Serengeti in a hot air balloon. A hot air balloon furnace roar warming your face and at 300 metres the Serengeti showcases wildbeest lines and mirror hippo pools. Breakfast served is champagne in the bushes which feels earned post the experience. Following your idyllic interaction, you head to Grumeti River where crocodiles remain perfectly still and zebras take their time to cross. The anticipation is astounding, but when a zebra makes the first move, it triggers an explosion of water. Everyone in the car cheers! Tonight’s campfire tales are all going to be about who spotted what first. Overnight options • Budget: Africa Safari Ikoma • Standard: Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge • Luxury: Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Wake up and have your breakfast before leaving the Serengeti. Start your journey to Kenya through Isebania border. When you reach the border, go through the necessary procedures and get your paperwork sorted. Buckle up for the long ride up north while you enjoy the scenery. After a couple of hours driving, the grass starts to thin out and you are greeted with several sightings before finally arriving in Masai Mara. Your camp is a charming canvas tent with a canopy of lanterns suspended among thorn trees. The dinner discussion is nearly drowned out by the distant growling of lions—indicating the night hunts are beginning somewhere in the Serengeti. Overnight options • Budget: Lechanda Tourist Camp/Enkorok Mara Camp • Standard: Talek Bush Camp/Drunken Elephant • Luxury: Mara Serena Safari Lodge

Pour some coffee, enjoy the sunrise, and get ready for the day. Forget about your adventurous gear. Grab your Masai Mara game drive gear. Your very first game drive in Masai Mara with a registered guide will be around the Mara River, where you will switch off the engine and just wait. Vultures circle, crocodiles drift by like logs. Suddenly, “silence” followed by “thunder.” Wildebeest pour over the bank and hooves pound mud, creating splashes up to six meters. The experience is messy, primal, and unforgettable. In the afternoon, meet the Lion Cub. Children, ears are oversized for their head, long grass is a welcome wilderness. You linger and have several other encounters until light fades, then bounce back to camp where hot-water bottles await under crisp sheets. Overnight options • Budget: Lechanda Tourist Camp/Enkorok Mara Camp • Standard: Talek Bush Camp/Drunken Elephant • Luxury: Mara Serena Safari Lodge

Leave Masai Mara and drive straight to Nairobi to catch your flight to Entebbe. Upon arrival in Entebbe, on the ground, your new driver jokes in melodic Luganda as you pass street vendors selling roast plantain. By late you shall be picked by your safri guide before you are transferred to your Entebbe accommodation. Overnight options • Budget: Tilapia Lodge • Standard: Papyrus Guest House • Luxury: K Hotels

Day 11 – Queen Elizabeth: hoofbeats to hippos At dawn you drive leaving Kampala beyond and driving through the road heading west, enjoy your scenic views of skirts tea plantations and banana terracing until, like a magic trick, the rift valley opens beneath you. A late-afternoon boat on Kazinga Channel is pure high-definition safari: hippos blinking like grumpy sumo wrestlers, elephants trunk-spraying each other along the bank, pied kingfishers hovering then arrow-diving for fish. Camera card nearly full, heart definitely so. Overnight options • Budget: Pumba Safari Cottages • Standard: Elephant Hab Lodge/Buffalo Safari Lodge • Luxury: Elephant Plains Lodge/ Mweya Safari Lodge

Have an early morning game drive begins before sunrise paints the Kasenyi Plains gold observing the Queen’s lions laze belly-up, paw pads exposed like soft leather, elephants, antelopes and more. By mid-morning you head south toward Ishasha, fig trees dotted across a dreamy savanna. And there they are—lions draped over branches, tails dangling, catching the breeze like housecats on summer windowsills. You whisper “unreal” but the lions don’t care; they own the dictionary out here and finally arrive in Bwindi. You may opt for a morning Chimpanzee trekking experience before embarking on the transfer to Bwindi. This attracts extra USD 150 per person. Overnight options • Budget: Ride4Womain Safari Lodge/ Rafiki Lodge • Standard: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge/Buhoma Gorilla Camp • Luxury: Mahogany Springs

Early morning, you shall gather at the Gorilla tekking starting point, after a brifing, you shall depart to meet the magnificent gentle giants of Bwindi on foot. After a rustle, low grunt, finally, the silverback steps into a shaft of light. He locks eyes with you, a gaze that feels ancient and startlingly gentle. Your hour evaporates in heartbeats. Back at the trailhead, excitement turns to satisfied fatigue proceed for a drive that sees you in Lake Bunyonyi, a lake of 29 islands dotted like green buttons on satin for an evening of relaxation and dinner. Overnight options • Budget: Lake Bunyonyi Eco Resort • Standard: Acardia Safari Resort. • Luxury: Lake Bunyonyi Birds Nest.

Leave the scenic Lake Bunyonyi and start a long drive to Entebbe. After several stopovers and encounters, finally arrive at the airport before you are dropped off. End point Entebbe international airport, Entebbe - Post Office Subward, Wakiso, Uganda 18:00 - 18:30