Gorilla's, Lakes, & Game Parks - Nairobi to Kigali

A mixture of wildlife, culture & stunning landscape this tour takes in the best of East Africa. From Africa's rift valley with its wildlife to the banks of the Nile & on to the Rainforest Gorilla's.

Travel through Kenya and Uganda visiting the famous game parks of East Africa with a maximum of 16 person in our custom built full size expedition truck. With over a metre of legroom at each seat sit back, relax and experience the wonders of the wildlife, local customs, stunning landscape and the rainforests of the last Gorilla's.

We provide the services of an expert photographer and digital download facility on all our overland tours, a unique feature making us stand out from the others!
One of our crew (normally the Tour Leader) is a full-qualified, semi-professional, photographer who will be available to give advice on photographic (and video) techniques; and will organise “workshops/tutorials” on photographic subjects and techniques (eg landscape, wildlife and bird photography, night shots, close-ups and portraits) to assist our guests to improve their photographic technique. We also provide a laptop computer with multi-card reader for those clients with digital cameras to enable you to download your memory cards and burn those special memories to CD or DVD while on tour.

Tour price includes all highlights (inclusive activities worth £750), all ground transport except Zanzibar, all road tolls and vehicle taxes, camping and cooking equipment and services of 3 crew.

Local Payment - US$560 - Local Payment covers all food (3 meals a day - provided by our now legendary Cook) and camping fees for the whole tour. This is payable to the tourleader at the start of the tour in US dollars only.

+27215562853

Itinerary / Highlights

Day 1 to 3
Leaving Nairobi we head for the Nakuru region on the Great Rift Valley. We spend the first three nights on a large working farm not far from the small town of Nakuru and close to the Nakuru National Park. Next morning we take a full day's game drive into the Nakuru National park with a local operator with a good chance of seeing Rhino and even the elusive Leopard as well as a number of other game species. Our third day in the area is given over to a local community project - this could be helping paint a school, or helping with some building work. It will be good fun and will enable you to mix with the locals. We would like you to give something back to the locals so we will fund half the cost of the project and we hope that clients would be happy to pay the other half but to a maximum of US$25 per person. CAMPING

Day 4
The next morning we stop of in Nakuru town for a little shopping before driving north to Eldoret spending the night at a scenic campsite just outside of town. CAMPING

Day 5 to 7
Today there is a drive of about 250km crossing the border into Uganda. The border crossing can be slow but it can be an interesting experience. Once over the border we drive to Jinja, were the Nile meets Lake Victoria and we camp beside the Nile. The next two days are given over to the various activities on offer in the area. The rafting here is amongst the best in the world with several grade-five rapids providing an exhilarating experience. We also see some typical village life along the river. Alternatively there is the opportunity to visit Bujagali Falls and the Source of the White Nile, an excellent village walk, a vibrant community project known as Soft Power which supports education, quad biking or even bungy jumping! CAMPING

Day 8
Continuing along Lake Victoria we head for Kampala/Entebbe visiting Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Reserve on Lake Victoria, where orphaned chimpanzees have been relocated under the management of a group of dedicated conservationists, including the Jane Goodall Institute. Ngamba Island is part of the Koome group of islands located on Lake Victoria 23km south of Entebbe, Uganda. It consists of approximately 100 acres, 98 of which are forested and separated from the visitor's area by an electric fence. Ngamba Island was officially opened to visitors in October 1999 and is currently home to 45 orphaned chimpanzees, many of which have been confiscated and brought to the island since its opening. As well as viewing the chimps, we can canoe or simply relax. CAMPING

Day 9 to 10
Leaving Lake Victoria behind us we head south west ascending into the highlands heading for Lake Bunyoni. We have a day to relax here, enjoy the impressive landscape and excellent bird life at a scenic camp on the lake shore. CAMPING

Day 11-13
Today we head to Ruhengeri and Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda as this is the best place to see the gorillas. Our plan is for each member of the group to visit the gorillas once. It may not be possible for the group to all visit the gorillas on the same day. Owing to the nature of the terrain and the need to explore in order to find the gorillas, there are no paths to follow in Virunga and our guides will occasionally need to cut a way through the undergrowth. At times there are some steep ascents and descents over muddy slopes, so strong footwear is essential. You must expect a minimum of three hours walking to find the gorillas. Despite the challenging terrain, the jungle scenery makes the walking very interesting, and to be close to the gorillas in their natural habitat is an experience you will never forget. An adult male can weigh up to 195kg, a female up to 100kg, and a male can reach 1.7m in height. The gorillas are almost exclusively vegetarian and are quite destructive eaters, which makes them unpopular with the farmers lower down the mountain slopes, as they have been known to wreck a whole field of crops just to eat one plant. For this reason, and also because of poaching, the gorillas are very carefully protected. We can venture to within three metres of the gorilla families with reasonable safety as, in spite of their reputation; they are gentle creatures and are not known to attack unless very severely provoked. Also, we do not venture any closer because the gorillas are very susceptible to human disease - please note that anyone with a cold or any similar ailment may not be allowed near to gorillas. CAMPING

Day 14
Our final day we drive to Rwanda's small and attractive capital, Kigali. Rwanda is a country widely remembered for the genocide of 1994 in which over a million people were killed. There is a moving and disturbing museum that commemorates this time in their history. However, Rwanda is trying to look forward as well as back and our clients can help bring money into the area by spending time in the market here and sampling the local restaurants. Hotel - own expense.

Other Details

Accommodation Details

Semi-participation camping safari. We provide spacious tents, which take you about 5 minutes to erect/take down, with high density foam mattresses and pillows, so all you need to bring is a sleeping-bag/sheet, pillow-case and your personal items.

Departure Dates, Options & Prices

Departure Dates:-
8th July 2012, 18th November 2012,
26th June 2013, 7th July 2013,14th November 2013

Price: £1495 *(Price includes activities worth approximately £750)
Local Payment: US$560:- Local Payment covers all food (3 meals a day) and camping fees/accomodation, for the whole tour. This is payable to the tourleader at the start of the tour in US dollars only.

+27215562853