8-Day Great Migration Safari & Gorilla Adventure

Day 1: Arusha to Tarangire National Park

You’ll leave Arusha in the morning and head for Tarangire National Park, where big herds of elephants roam among old baobab trees. You’ll spend the whole day on a game drive, scanning the grassland and river valleys for lions, giraffes, zebras, buffalo and the many other animals that live here. Tarangire is good for wildlife in every season, so it makes a strong first day.

In the evening, you’ll leave the park and drive to your lodge in the highlands near Karatu for dinner and the night.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Karatu Classic View Lodge

Day 2: Tarangire to the Central Serengeti

After breakfast, you’ll drive up through the Ngorongoro Highlands and down onto the plains of Serengeti National Park, looking for wildlife from the moment you pass the park gate. The central Serengeti holds animals all year round, and its open grassland is good country for spotting predators.

In the afternoon, you’ll go out on a game drive in search of lions, leopards, cheetahs and elephants, along with the large herds of grazing animals they follow. Then you’ll check in at your tented camp inside the park for dinner.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Serengeti Classic View Camp

Day 3: Central Serengeti to the Northern Serengeti

After breakfast, you’ll head north, game viewing as you go and watching the landscape change from open plains to rolling hills and woodland. The northern Serengeti is one of the best areas to see the Great Migration while the herds are there, with big columns of wildebeest and zebras followed by lions and other predators.

This part of the park is also known for the Mara River crossings, when the herds plunge into the water. Crossings happen only in the migration season and are never guaranteed, so your guide will plan the day around where the animals are. You’ll reach camp in the evening for dinner.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Serengeti Classic View Camp

Day 4: Northern Serengeti Game Drive and Drive to Ngorongoro

You’ll start with an early morning game drive in the northern Serengeti, when the animals are most active. Look for lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and buffalo while the light is soft and the air is still cool.

Later in the morning, you’ll begin the long drive south toward the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, watching the scenery shift from plains to forested highlands as you climb. By the afternoon, you’ll reach your lodge, less than an hour’s drive from the crater, ready for an early start tomorrow.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Amani Eserian Ngorongoro Lodge

Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater and Flight to Kigali

After breakfast, you’ll wind down the crater wall to spend the morning game viewing on the floor of Ngorongoro Crater. The crater holds a dense population of animals, including lions, elephants, buffalo, zebras, wildebeest and hippos, and if you’re lucky, you might spot an endangered black rhino.

At midday, you’ll climb back out of the crater and drive toward Arusha, where your time in Tanzania ends, then transfer to the airport for your flight to Kigali. In Rwanda, you’ll be met and taken to your overnight stop, ready to start the gorilla part of your trip the next morning.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Kigali

Day 6: Kigali to Volcanoes National Park

Your Rwanda driver/guide will meet you in Kigali and set off north to Volcanoes National Park in Musanze. The drive takes about two and a half hours through Rwanda’s green, terraced hills, with the Virunga volcanoes rising ahead as you get close.

You’ll reach the park area in the late afternoon. If you’d like to stretch your legs, your guide can take you on an easy walk through a nearby village to see daily life in the foothills. Then you’ll settle in at your lodge for dinner and an early night before the golden monkey trek.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge

Day 7: Golden Monkey Trek and Transfer to Uganda

After an early breakfast, you’ll check in at park headquarters in Volcanoes National Park for a short briefing, then walk into the bamboo forest to find a troop of golden monkeys. The trek usually takes two to three hours, and the monkeys are lively and fun to photograph as they feed and jump between the stems.

After the trek, you’ll visit the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund to learn about gorilla research and conservation. Lunch is back at your lodge, and in the afternoon you’ll cross the border into Uganda and drive to your lodge near Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge

Day 8: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi and Return to Kigali

Breakfast is early today. Your guide drives you to the Bwindi park headquarters for the trekking briefing, and then you’ll follow experienced rangers into the forest to find a habituated gorilla family. The trek can take two to five hours, depending on where the gorillas are. Once you reach them, you’ll have one hour to watch them feed, rest and interact.

Back at the lodge, you’ll have lunch, then drive back across the border to Kigali, where your guide drops you at your hotel or Kigali International Airport for your flight home.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch