Tanzania's Northern Parks, Then Rwanda's Gorillas
This 11-day private safari gives Tanzania’s northern parks a full week before you fly to Rwanda for the mountain gorillas. From Arusha, you’ll game drive in Tarangire National Park, spend a whole day on the floor of Ngorongoro Crater and explore the Serengeti for three days, then finish your time in Tanzania at Lake Manyara National Park.
On Day 8, you’ll fly to Kigali for a city tour and the Kigali Genocide Memorial, then trek mountain gorillas and golden monkeys in Volcanoes National Park. Our 8-day Great Migration safari moves faster and treks gorillas in Uganda; this tour adds Lake Manyara, more time in the Serengeti and a day in Kigali, and keeps the gorillas in Rwanda.
Why You’ll Love This Safari
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Trip Details
Trip Details
Price
Price on request. Tell us your dates and group size, and we’ll send you a quote.
Meeting point
Kilimanjaro International Airport, near Arusha, Tanzania (the tour ends in Kigali, Rwanda)
Availability
Year-round, 7 days a week
Duration
11 days
Group size
Min. 1 person
Included
- Park fees (for non-residents)
- Rwanda gorilla permit for Volcanoes National Park (one per person, non-resident)
- Golden monkey permit for Volcanoes National Park (one per person, non-resident)
- Game drives in Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and Lake Manyara in a 4×4 safari vehicle
- Flight from Kilimanjaro to Kigali (Day 8)
- Kigali city tour with the Kigali Genocide Memorial (Day 9)
- All activities (unless labeled as optional)
- All accommodations (unless listed as upgrade)
- A professional driver/guide
- Private safari vehicle: a 4×4 Land Cruiser, Toyota Prado or safari van, depending on group size
- All transportation (unless labeled as optional)
- All taxes/VAT
- Airport pickup in Tanzania and drop-off in Kigali
- Meals (as specified in the day-by-day section)
- Drinking water (on all days)
Not included
- International flights (from/to home)
- Additional accommodations before and at the end of the tour
- Tips
- Personal items (souvenirs, travel insurance, visa fees, etc.)
- Government imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees
- Porter fees
- Drinks other than drinking water
- Some meals (as specified in the day-by-day section)
What to bring
- Waterproof jacket
- Warm jacket (early mornings can be cold)
- Neutral-colored clothing (avoid bright colors)
- Long-sleeved shirt
- Long pants
- Good hiking shoes
- Gaiters (for mud and nettles)
- Hat
- Gloves
- Light backpack
- Sunscreen
- Snacks
- Face mask (worn near the primates)
- Binoculars
- Insect repellent
- Passport (you’ll fly from Tanzania to Rwanda)
Participation requirements
Min. age of 15 years old required to participate in this tour. No fitness test is required, but a reasonable level of fitness helps on the gorilla and golden monkey treks.
About your guide
Your safari will be led by an experienced local guide who will share facts about the wildlife, landscapes, and culture. Your guide is dedicated to ensuring your safari is safe, informative, and tailored to your interests.
What You’ll See & Do
Day 1: Arrival in Arusha
When you land at Kilimanjaro International Airport, your driver/guide will meet you and take you to your hotel in Arusha. The town sits at the foot of Mount Meru and is the usual starting point for safaris in Tanzania’s northern parks, including the four you’ll visit this week.
The rest of the day is free, so you can rest after your flight, unpack and get your camera gear ready. You’ll have dinner at the hotel and an early night before the drive to Tarangire tomorrow morning.
Meals Included: Dinner
Overnight: Gran Meliá Arusha
Day 2: Tarangire National Park
After breakfast, you’ll drive to Tarangire National Park, known for its big elephant herds and ancient baobab trees. You’ll spend the day on a game drive through the park’s grassland and river valleys, where you may also see giraffes, zebras, buffalo, lions and many kinds of birds. In the dry months, from about July to November, animals gather along the Tarangire River to drink.
Later in the day, you’ll leave the park and continue toward the Great Rift Valley to your lodge for dinner and the night. Tomorrow you’ll be up early for Ngorongoro Crater.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Nyota Rift Valley Lodge
Day 3: Ngorongoro Crater and On to the Serengeti
After breakfast, you’ll drive down the steep crater wall to the floor of Ngorongoro Crater for a full day of game viewing. The crater holds one of Africa’s highest concentrations of wildlife, including lions, elephants, buffalo, zebras, wildebeest, spotted hyenas and hippos. If you’re lucky, you may also spot an endangered black rhino.
Late in the day, you’ll climb back out of the crater and drive on to Serengeti National Park, watching the highlands give way to open plains. You’ll reach your lodge or camp in the Serengeti in time for dinner.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Lodge or camp in the Serengeti
Day 4: A Full Day in the Serengeti
Today you’ll explore Serengeti National Park on game drives across its wide grassland, the classic setting for an East African safari. The open plains make it easier to spot predators, so keep watch for lions, cheetahs and leopards, along with elephants, giraffes and big herds of zebras and wildebeest.
Your guide will decide where to go based on recent sightings and the season. The Serengeti’s herds move through the year as the Great Migration follows the rains, so where you find them depends on when you travel. You’ll return to your lodge or camp in the evening for dinner.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Lodge or camp in the Serengeti
Day 5: More of the Serengeti
You’ll have another full day in the Serengeti, heading to a different part of the park to see how the landscape and wildlife change. In places, rocky outcrops called kopjes rise from the grass, and they are good spots to look for lions and leopards resting in the shade.
Spending three nights here gives you time to stay longer at a good sighting or go back to an area where your guide has seen something interesting. Tell your guide what you’d most like to see before your last evening in the Serengeti.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Lodge or camp in the Serengeti
Day 6: Serengeti Morning Game Drive and Drive to Lake Manyara
You’ll spend the morning on a last game drive in the Serengeti, keeping an eye out for big cats and the herds they follow, with your guide filling you in on the park’s wildlife. Then you’ll leave the plains and drive back through the highlands toward Lake Manyara.
It’s a long drive, with stops on the way, and you’ll reach your lodge in the Great Rift Valley, less than an hour’s drive from Lake Manyara National Park, later in the day. You’ll have dinner there and a quieter evening after three busy days on the plains.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Nyota Rift Valley Lodge
Day 7: Lake Manyara National Park and Return to Arusha
Today you’ll explore Lake Manyara National Park, which lies below the steep wall of the Great Rift Valley. The park is small but varied, with green forest, open grassland and the lake shore. Look for elephant herds and colorful birds, and keep an eye on the trees for the park’s well-known tree-climbing lions.
This is your last game drive in Tanzania, and a gentle end to the safari part of your trip. Afterward, you’ll drive back to Arusha and check in at your hotel for dinner and the night.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Gran Meliá Arusha
Day 8: Flight to Kigali
After an early breakfast, your driver/guide will take you to Kilimanjaro International Airport, where you’ll catch your flight to Kigali. Your Rwanda driver/guide will meet you on arrival and take you to your hotel in the city center, where the rest of the day is free.
Rwanda is known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, and Kigali spreads across several of them, with clean streets and views in every direction. Have a quiet evening and dinner at the hotel, since the next two days take you to the mountain gorillas.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight: Hotel des Mille Collines
Day 9: Kigali City Tour and Drive to Volcanoes National Park
In the morning, your guide will show you the main sights of Kigali on a city tour, including the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where exhibits explain the events of 1994 and how Rwanda has rebuilt since.
In the afternoon, you’ll drive north to Volcanoes National Park, which takes about two and a half hours. The road winds through green hills, terraced farms and villages, with the Virunga volcanoes coming into view near Musanze. You’ll check in at your lodge in the foothills, less than an hour’s drive from the park, for dinner and an early night before the gorilla trek.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight: Ingagi Park View Lodge
Day 10: Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park
After an early breakfast, you’ll check in at park headquarters, where the rangers’ briefing starts at 7:30 AM and each group is assigned one of the park’s habituated gorilla families. Then you’ll set off through the forest on the volcano slopes to find them. The trek can take two to five hours, depending on where the family is. When you reach the gorillas, you’ll have one hour to watch them feed, rest and interact.
After the trek, you’ll stop at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Ellen DeGeneres Campus, where exhibits explain gorilla research and conservation. Then you’ll return to your lodge for dinner.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Ingagi Park View Lodge
Day 11: Golden Monkey Trek and Return to Kigali
On your last morning, you’ll have an early breakfast and then trek into the bamboo forest of Volcanoes National Park with park guides to find a troop of golden monkeys. These lively, endangered monkeys have bright orange-gold coats and move quickly through the bamboo as they feed, which makes them fun to watch and photograph.
Back at the lodge, you’ll have lunch and then drive back to Kigali, where your guide drops you at Kigali International Airport for your flight home.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Frequently Asked Questions
The 8-day safari covers Tarangire, the central and northern Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, then golden monkeys in Rwanda and a gorilla trek in Uganda. This 11-day tour moves more slowly, with three days in the Serengeti, Lake Manyara National Park and a Kigali city tour, and both primate treks are in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. You won’t cross into Uganda, so you only need visas for Tanzania and Rwanda.
It depends on when you travel. The wildebeest and zebra herds move between the Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara with the rains, so they are in different areas at different times of year, and river crossings happen only in certain seasons. They can never be guaranteed. The Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire and Lake Manyara all have resident wildlife year-round. Tell us your dates and we’ll tell you what to expect.
No fitness test is needed, but the trek can be steep and muddy, and a reasonable level of fitness helps. Most gorilla treks in Volcanoes National Park take two to five hours, though they can be longer or shorter depending on where the family is and the conditions. Rain can make trails slippery, so bring waterproof gear. Wear a face mask near the gorillas and golden monkeys to protect them from coughs and flu. Porter fees are not included.
We quote the price for your dates and group size. It includes your Rwanda gorilla permit, a golden monkey permit, park fees, game drives in Tarangire, Ngorongoro, the Serengeti and Lake Manyara, the flight from Kilimanjaro to Kigali, ten nights’ accommodation, meals as listed, your driver/guide and airport transfers. Rwanda’s gorilla permit is $1,500 per person, and permits are limited, so book about six months ahead for July and August. A 50% deposit confirms your booking.
For how gorilla permits are priced and booked, see our gorilla trekking permit cost guide and our guide to the full cost of a gorilla trek.
The tour starts at Kilimanjaro International Airport near Arusha and ends at Kigali International Airport, so book your international flights into one and out of the other. You’ll need a visa for Tanzania and another for Rwanda, which issues visas on arrival or online in advance. The East Africa Tourist Visa covers Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, but not Tanzania. Visa fees are not included in the tour.
