Serengeti Ngorongoro Tarangire with Uganda Gorillas Golden Monkey Trek Safari - 8 Days

Serengeti Ngorongoro Tarangire with Uganda Gorillas Golden Monkey Trek Safari - 8 Days

Day 1:  Transfer from Arusha to Tarangire National Park.

Your Serengeti Ngorongoro Tarangire Safari starts from your hotel in Arusha.  We will then head for Tarangire National Park where you can marvel at the colossal termite mounds and the ancient baobab trees. The picturesque scenery and diverse bird life assist in creating the tranquil ambiance of the Tarangire National Park. The great elephant population is an extremely remarkable sight. African elephants are the largest land mammal and adult males can weigh as much as seven tonnes. Tarangire’s varied wildlife includes lions, giraffes, warthogs, ostriches, impalas, cheetahs, mongoose, buffaloes, and baboons. When your game drive comes to an end, we will take you to the Lake Manyara where you will get dinner and overnight.

 Accommodation options (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Lake Manyara Serena Lodge

Moderate: Fanaka Lodge

Low Budget: Kizumba Tinted campsite or similar

Day 3: Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro  

We will begin our day with an early morning game drive in the central Serengeti. The savannah
is an active landscape and the air is flooded with the melodies the birds create as the regenerated
sunlight starts to illuminate the full landscape. Your guide will study the prints on the ground to
pursue predators.

We will then travel to the Ngorongoro Crater. The property has global importance for biodiversity conservation due to the presence of globally threatened species, the density of wildlife inhabiting the area, and the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and other animals into the northern plains. Extensive archaeological research has also yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution and human-environment dynamics, including early hominid footprints dating back 3.6 million years. Several animal and bird species are found here. Lions, Elephants, Buffalos, Black Rhinos, Cheetahs, spotted hyenas, Impalas, Gazelles and others may be spotted here.

 Accommodation options  (all on a full board basis)

Up-market:  Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Moderate: Anga’ta Tented Lodge

Low Budget: Simba Public Campsite or similar

Day 4: Ngorongoro Conservation Area, transfer to Arusha and onwards to Entebbe (flight not included in tour cost).

After an early morning breakfast, we will hurry to Ngorongoro Crater, as it is the best time to
spot animals. On this day, we will enjoy a game drive around the crater and stop for a picnic
lunch at a small lake within the park. The lake is home to many hippos and migratory birds, so
guests will be sure to enjoy the visit! Due to the animal “oasis” created within the crater, there is
a high possibility of spotting every member of ‘The Big 5’. The group comprises some of the
strongest animals in Africa – the ferocious lion, the giant elephant, the stealthy leopard, the
charging rhino, and the mighty water buffalo. Ngorongoro Crater is truly an amazing place. Did
you know it was formed over two million of years ago? A large volcano erupted, collapsing the
volcano, but left a perfectly unbroken crater, known as a caldera. Within the amazing crater, you
can expect to view the playful zebra, lumbering hippo, swift wildebeest, and cackling hyenas. In
addition, there are flocks of graceful flamingos along the Soda Lake, while hungry hawks and
vultures circle the sky in search of their next meal of discarded carcasses. Beautiful storks, ibis, and
cranes are popular water birds in the crater, a sight not to miss.

After a lovely afternoon of animal sightings, we will finally start our journey back to Arusha. If you are not ready to go home, you can continue your holiday in Rwanda, or Uganda with Gorillas and Wildlife Safaris.

Accommodation in Entebbe options (Bed, Breakfast)

Up-market: Protea Hotel Entebbe

Moderate: 2 Friends Beach Hotel Entebbe 

Low Budget: Papyrus Guesthouse Entebbe

Day 5: Driving to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (the mountain gorillas' home)

We shall arrange for the tour guide to meet with you at your previous night's hotel in Entebbe at 07:00 hours before starting the gorilla trek tour.  We shall drive heading to the mountain gorillas' sanctuary of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The Bwindi Forest is located some 500 km from Entebbe, and we could take ±7 hours to cover it by road.

En route, there is a local community popular for making local drums and crafts and a fruit market. Stop over, admire, and buy yourself souvenirs. Proceed to the Equator line taken as one beautiful scenery in Africa - the pathway of the sun and take photographs. 

Bwindi Accommodation options (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Four Gorillas Lodge | Chameleon Hill Lodge

Moderate: Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge | Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge

Low Budget: Gorilla Haven Lodge Rushaga 

Day 6: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Our first primates' encounter with the endangered primates is with the Bwindi mountain gorillas today when we enjoy gorilla trekking in the deep afro-montane jungles.

From your previous night's accommodation, the driver guide will be meeting you and driving to the Bwindi Park office for a briefing before trekking into the jungles in search of the mountain gorillas. Before your actual trek, there is normally a team that surveys and locates where the gorillas are so that the park rangers have a bit of an idea as to where to find the gorillas. So, after the pre-trek briefing, you will be allocated to a gorilla tracking group. Some gorilla groups require a bit of driving (normally 20-30 minutes) while for others, it is just a walk to the trek trailhead.  Your gorilla trek passes through the thick undergrowth of the forest where the paths are just made for the day. and when you finally get closer to the mountain gorillas, you should be sensing their presence by the dung smell, broken tree branches, and previous night's nests.   The walking can sometimes be tough and long, but when you catch a glimpse of the magnificent silverback, any discomforts will be quickly forgotten. When the gorillas are sighted, visitors will be guided to within 6 meters from the gorillas and sit around them for a whole hour while gazing into their big round eyes.

While most of today's forests are no more than 12,000 years old, Bwindi's vegetation has been weaving itself into tangles over at least 25,000 years, in the process accumulating a lengthy species list. This includes 310 species of butterfly, 51 reptiles, 200 trees, 88 moths, and an exceptional 120 types of mammals including 10 primates. The latter includes chimpanzees, L'Hoest's, red-tailed and blue monkeys, black and white colobus, baboons, and Bwindi's most famous resident, the mountain gorilla.

Bwindi is a prime destination for birdwatchers. Its 350 species include seven which are IUCN red data listed and 90% of all Albertine rift endemics, species which are difficult or impossible to see in any other part of East Africa.

Bwindi Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Four Gorillas Lodge | Chameleon Hill Lodge

Moderate: Ichumbi Hotel Kisoro

Low Budget: Gorilla Haven Lodge Rushaga |  Rushaga Gorilla Camp 

Day 7: Golden Monkey Tracking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

It is our day for another endangered primates' encounter, this time tracking the golden monkeys in Mgainga Gorilla National Park. After breakfast transfer to the Mgahinga National Park headquarters for briefing and later begin the hike over the volcanic terrain in search of golden monkeys in the bamboo forests.

The Golden Monkey may not be the most well-known primate, but is certainly an enjoyable, little creature that is worth visiting. It is a small curious monkey, golden in color, and loves to scamper around the trees. Golden monkeys are named after their golden-orange fur, and like mountain gorillas, are also considered endangered species. Conservation efforts have been put in place by the Uganda Wildlife Authority to ensure that the monkeys are protected – especially from poachers.

There is a habituated family of monkeys in Mgahinga, where tourists can track and stay with them for a period of four hours depending on where they nested the previous night and how far it is from the starting point.

It is estimated that Mgahinga Gorilla National Park has between 3000-4000 golden monkeys grouped in troupes of the 30s led by a principal adult male. Golden monkeys are primarily to be found in the bamboo forest that skirts the lower slopes of the volcanoes. They are quite more active in the bamboo canopy.  Golden monkeys are opportunistic feeders. What they feed on could be the availability of fruits, leaves of bamboo trees, shoots of bamboo, shrubs, flowers, and invertebrates, and these make it restricted to the highland forest, mostly the bamboo forest.

Golden monkey tracking starts at Mgahinga Gorilla National Park headquarters at 7:30 a.m. for a pre-tracking briefing (on the dos and don’ts of tracking the golden monkeys). The actual trek begins at 8:00 a.m. Hiking through the forests to see the golden monkeys is not as strenuous as gorilla trekking because golden monkeys live in lower areas, so tourists do not track for more than 3 hours. When tourists encounter the golden monkey family, they are given one hour  (0r 4 hours in case you are doing the habituation experience) to spend with them (to take photographs and observe their behavior). With this activity, there is no minimum number of tourists who track each group, and the age limit is 12 years.

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Four Gorillas Lodge

Moderate: Ichumbi Hotel Kisoro

Low Budget: Gorilla Haven Lodge Rushaga 

Day 8: Departure to Entebbe (Daily flights to Entebbe can be booked as well)

We shall be ending the Serengeti Ngorongoro Tarangire with Uganda Gorillas Golden Monkey Trek Safari with a drive back to Entebbe.

We check out from the lodge/ camp at 8 am for a drive down the grassed and terraced escarpments of southwestern Uganda while taking in the breathtaking sights of the hills of the region dubbed ‘the little Switzerland of Africa’.

This area is a highly fertile, mountainous region with steep-sided hills covered from top to bottom in neatly terraced cultivated rows. Not to miss as we traverse Mbarara are the impressing longhorn Ankole cattle. A remarkable highlight of this journey is the Equator line and surely you will cross it as we have a brief stop here.

We will be in Entebbe in the evening before your flight back home.

Tour Prices for the Serengeti Ngorongoro Tarangire with Uganda Gorillas Golden Monkey Trek Safari - 8 Days

Included in the prices for the Serengeti Ngorongoro Tarangire with Uganda Gorillas Golden Monkey Trek Safari - 8 Days

• Accommodation for the safari as indicated on the program (on a full-board basis)
• 1 gorilla permit per person
• Golden Monkey trekking permit
• Sightseeing as noted in the trip itinerary
• Park fees
• Entry fees
• Ground transportation using customized safari vehicles
• Services of good English-speaking tour guides
• Additional guides/porters where appropriate

Excluded

• Flight tickets and departure taxes
• Travel documentation (visas)
• Travel and medical insurance
• Optional excursions
• Excess baggage charges
• Tips and gratuities for your guides and accommodation staff
• Laundry
• Beverages other than mineral water in the vehicle and at mealtimes with meals
• Items of a personal nature