About This Journey
This is the trip that stops people asking which country to choose. Fourteen days, three countries, and the two things East Africa is famous for — mountain gorillas and the Great Migration — which happen to live nowhere near each other.
It opens in Uganda with a gorilla trek in Bwindi, deliberately placed early because the permit is dated and non-refundable and belongs where a delayed long-haul flight cannot destroy it. Then Kenya's Masai Mara, then across to Tanzania for the Serengeti and the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater.
The three legs are joined by short scheduled flights. Driving this route would cost you the better part of a week; flying it costs you three half-days. One East Africa Tourist Visa covers Uganda and Kenya, though Tanzania always needs its own.
Trip Highlights
- A full hour with a habituated mountain gorilla family in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
- Three nights in the Masai Mara and three in the Serengeti — both halves of the migration ecosystem
- The floor of the Ngorongoro Crater, one of the few places to see black rhino
- Three countries linked by scheduled flights rather than days of driving
- The two experiences East Africa is famous for, in a single trip
- Runs as a private trip or a scheduled small-group departure
Day by Day
Land at Entebbe on Lake Victoria and transfer the short distance to your hotel. Your guide briefs you over dinner — this is a long itinerary with three border crossings in it.
- LuxuryProtea Hotel by Marriott Entebbe · Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort · Hotel No.5 Entebbe
- Mid-rangeBest Western Premier Garden Hotel · Boma Hotel Entebbe · 2 Friends Beach Hotel
- BudgetAirport Guest House · ViaVia Entebbe · Elementis Guesthouse
- Meals
- Dinner
A scheduled light aircraft south-west to Kihihi or Kisoro, whichever serves your permitted sector, in a little over an hour. The afternoon is deliberately unstructured before tomorrow.
- LuxuryBuhoma Lodge · Bwindi Lodge · Mahogany Springs Lodge
- Mid-rangeEngagi Lodge · Buhoma Haven Lodge · Gorilla Forest Camp
- BudgetBuhoma Community Rest Camp · Trekkers Tavern Cottages · Bwindi Backpackers Lodge
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
The ranger briefing at first light, then into the forest behind trackers who located the family at dawn. The walk is anything from one hour to six, on steep, wet, genuinely impenetrable ground. Hire a porter.
Then one hour with the family. Back at the lodge by mid-afternoon, filthy and quiet.
- LuxuryBuhoma Lodge · Bwindi Lodge · Mahogany Springs Lodge
- Mid-rangeEngagi Lodge · Buhoma Haven Lodge · Gorilla Forest Camp
- BudgetBuhoma Community Rest Camp · Trekkers Tavern Cottages · Bwindi Backpackers Lodge
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Fly back to Entebbe and connect to Nairobi, a scheduled hop of a little over an hour with several daily departures.
A travel day, but one that replaces two days of driving and a border post.
- LuxuryHemingways Nairobi · Giraffe Manor
- Mid-rangeEka Hotel Nairobi · Ole Sereni
- BudgetBoma Inn Nairobi
- Meals
- Breakfast, Dinner
A light aircraft to the Mara — forty-five minutes against a long road transfer. Settle in and head out for a late-afternoon game drive.
- LuxuryGovernors' Camp · Sand River Masai Mara · Naboisho Camp
- Mid-rangeMara Intrepids Tented Camp · Mara Ngenche Safari Camp
- BudgetTalek Bush Camp · Oseki Maasai Mara Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Two full days in the reserve. Lion is close to certain, cheetah likely on the open plains, leopard the genuine variable.
Between roughly July and October the migration herds are on this side of the border and the Mara River crossings become possible. Optional dawn balloon flight.
- LuxuryGovernors' Camp · Sand River Masai Mara · Naboisho Camp
- Mid-rangeMara Intrepids Tented Camp · Mara Ngenche Safari Camp
- BudgetTalek Bush Camp · Oseki Maasai Mara Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Fly south across the border into the Serengeti — the ecosystem the Mara flows into, and the same herds seen from the other side.
An afternoon game drive on the way to camp. We position your camp for the season rather than booking one address and hoping.
- LuxurySerengeti Serena Safari Lodge · Lake Ndutu Tented Lodge
- Mid-rangeSerengeti Sopa Lodge · Mbalageti Lodge · Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp
- BudgetSerengeti Mawe Camp · Serengeti Bush Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Two full days following the herds. Where they are depends entirely on the month — the southern short-grass plains for calving from December to March, the western corridor mid-year, the north and the Mara River from roughly July to October.
Optional dawn hot-air balloon flight over the plains, landing to a bush breakfast.
- LuxurySerengeti Serena Safari Lodge · Lake Ndutu Tented Lodge
- Mid-rangeSerengeti Sopa Lodge · Mbalageti Lodge · Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp
- BudgetSerengeti Mawe Camp · Serengeti Bush Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Game drive south out of the park, with a stop at Olduvai Gorge where the Leakeys' excavations rewrote the human origin story.
Your lodge stands on the crater rim, in time for the view down into the caldera before the evening cloud closes over.
- LuxuryNgorongoro Crater Lodge · Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
- Mid-rangeNgorongoro Sopa Lodge
- BudgetRhino Lodge
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Descend at dawn six hundred metres onto the crater floor — roughly twenty-five thousand large animals in a bowl twenty kilometres across, including the black rhino that make this one of the few places to complete the Big Five in a morning.
Climb out for lunch and continue to Lake Manyara: groundwater forest, big baboon troops, flamingo when the water is right, and lions that lie in the acacias.
- LuxuryLake Manyara Tree Lodge · Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
- Mid-rangeMarera Valley Lodge
- BudgetKaratu Simba Lodge
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
A short drive to Tarangire, a park of baobabs and river valley that gets a fraction of the Serengeti's visitors and, in the dry months, holds elephant concentrations that rival anywhere in Africa.
Afternoon game drive along the Tarangire River, where the animals gather once the seasonal pans dry out.
- LuxuryTarangire Treetops
- Mid-rangeTarangire Safari Lodge
- BudgetTarangire Simba Lodge
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
A final morning game drive, then the drive to Kilimanjaro International for your onward flight.
Zanzibar is a short hop from here and is the obvious extension if you would rather finish on a beach than an aeroplane.
- Meals
- Breakfast
What's Included
Included
- 13 nights' accommodation at your chosen tier, with all meals as indicated
- Uganda gorilla trekking permit, bought and confirmed before you travel
- Light-aircraft flights Entebbe–Bwindi–Entebbe, Nairobi–Mara and Mara–Serengeti
- Scheduled flight Entebbe–Nairobi
- Private or small-group 4×4 and driver-guide in each country
- All park, reserve, crater and conservation fees in all three countries
- Ngorongoro Crater floor descent fee
- Airport transfers and bottled drinking water in the vehicle
Not Included
- International airfares into Entebbe and out of Kilimanjaro
- East Africa Tourist Visa (Uganda and Kenya) and a separate Tanzania visa
- Travel and medical insurance, including emergency evacuation cover
- Porter on the gorilla trek (recommended)
- Balloon safaris and other optional activities
- Alcoholic drinks, tips and items of a personal nature
Accommodation
Protea Hotel by Marriott Entebbe
Buhoma Lodge
Hemingways Nairobi
Governors' Camp
Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
Tarangire Treetops
Ready to Plan This Safari?
Every trip we run is private and tailored around you — your dates, your pace, your budget. Tell us what you have in mind and one of our safari planners will craft it into a detailed, costed proposal.
Quoted per person sharing. This itinerary has more moving parts than any other we run — the gorilla permit, three countries' park fees and five internal flights. Fix the dates before booking international flights, because the permit is what everything else is built around.
