Kenya and Uganda: the Masai Mara and the Mountain Gorillas

Arrive in Nairobi

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to your hotel in Nairobi

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : Nairobi
• Environ 1 h de route

Soir

Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Kenyan dishes at a local restaurant.

Compris

• Pick-up at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)
• Welcome briefing with your guide at 6 pm
• Welcome dinner

Giraffes, orphaned elephants and a flight to the Mara

Nairobi to the Giraffe Centre and the Sheldrick nursery in Langata, then Wilson Airport to the Masai Mara by light aircraft

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Masai Mara
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

We start at the Giraffe Centre in Langata as it opens in the morning (we confirm opening times and booking at booking), before the school groups, where Rothschild's giraffes lean over the feeding platform at eye level. Late in the morning the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust opens its elephant nursery to the public for one hour, and we confirm the time and any booking at booking: the keepers bring the orphaned calves out for their milk feed and a mud bath while a keeper explains how each one was found.

Après-midi

After a sit-down lunch nearby we drive about ten minutes to Wilson Airport for an early-afternoon light-aircraft flight to a Mara airstrip, about 45 to 60 minutes, instead of a five to six hour drive on the road. Our 4x4s with pop-up roofs and our driver-guides meet the plane, and the game drive starts on the airstrip: the road to camp is the first look at the Mara, in the low afternoon light.

Soir

Dinner is at camp, our home for three nights.

Compris

• Giraffe Centre in Langata at opening
• Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant nursery public hour (time and booking confirmed at booking)
• Sit-down lunch in Nairobi
• Light-aircraft flight from Wilson Airport to the Masai Mara
• Afternoon game drive from the airstrip to camp

A full day in the Masai Mara

Camp to the Masai Mara National Reserve and back

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Masai Mara

Matin

We leave camp at about 6:30 am, with coffee and a snack, because the first hours after dawn are when lions and cheetahs are most active and the light is soft. A picnic breakfast comes later, out on the plains. This is a whole day in the reserve with two 4x4s, so nobody sits in a middle seat and the driver-guides can split up and share sightings by radio. We head towards the Mara River, where from about July the wildebeest and zebra herds may gather to cross; crossings happen on the animals' timetable, so we wait at a sensible distance and move on if nothing stirs. Elephants, buffalo, giraffes, topi and hippos in the river pools are likely; leopards are a matter of luck.

Soir

Lunch is a picnic in the shade of a tree, and we are back at camp in the late afternoon for a shower before dinner.

Compris

• Full-day game drive in the Masai Mara National Reserve, reserve fees included
• Picnic breakfast and lunch on the plains
• The Mara River, when the herds are there

On foot with a Maasai guide, and a Mara sundowner

Camp, community land beside the reserve and an evening game drive

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Masai Mara

Matin

A slower morning. If you have booked the optional balloon, you are collected before dawn and float over the plains at sunrise, then join the group for breakfast. After breakfast a Maasai guide and an armed ranger lead a walk of about two hours on community or conservancy land next to the reserve, where walking is allowed: tracks in the dust, the medicinal plants, and the small things you miss from a vehicle. Later the guide takes us to a Maasai homestead whose families welcome visitors, where we hear how cattle, school and conservation fit together. The middle of the day is yours at camp, in the shade.

Soir

In the late afternoon we drive out once more and stop on a rise for a sundowner as the light goes gold over the grass, then back for dinner and the night sounds of the Mara.

Compris

• Walking safari of about 2 hours with a Maasai guide and ranger
• Visit to a Maasai homestead
• Late-afternoon game drive with a sundowner

Activités en option

• Hot-air balloon over the Mara at sunrise, with a bush breakfast (price shown at booking)

From the Mara to Lake Victoria

Masai Mara airstrip to Wilson Airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, then Entebbe

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Entebbe
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

One last short game drive takes us to the airstrip for a mid-morning light-aircraft flight back to Wilson Airport in Nairobi.

Après-midi

From there it is about 20 km to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where your bigger bag meets you, and we have lunch at the airport before the regional flight to Entebbe, about an hour and a quarter over Lake Victoria. Overland trips take two long days to drive this far, with a slow land border; flying makes today a travel day, not an endurance test. Kenya and Uganda share the same time zone, so there is no clock change. Our Ugandan guide team and the 4x4s meet us in Entebbe for the short drive to a hotel on the lake shore.

Soir

The evening is free: walk down to the water, or eat at the hotel or nearby.

Compris

• Short game drive to the airstrip
• Light-aircraft flight from the Masai Mara to Wilson Airport
• Transfer from Wilson Airport to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
• Lunch at the airport
• Flight from Nairobi to Entebbe
• Transfer to your Entebbe hotel

Fly west to the Kazinga Channel

Entebbe to Kasese by domestic flight, then by road over the equator to Queen Elizabeth National Park

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Queen Elizabeth National Park
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A short morning flight takes us west to Kasese, at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains, in about an hour and a quarter; the road would be seven to eight hours. Our Ugandan 4x4s, which have driven out with the bigger bags, meet the plane. It is about an hour to the lodge, crossing the equator on the way, where we stop at the marker for a photo. Queen Elizabeth National Park spreads between Lake George and Lake Edward, joined by the Kazinga Channel.

Après-midi

After lunch at the lodge we take the afternoon boat along the channel, about two hours on the water: hippos in dense pods, buffalo and elephants coming down to drink, crocodiles on the banks and a crowd of pelicans, cormorants and fish eagles. The boat gets you closer to the animals than any vehicle can.

Soir

Dinner is at the lodge.

Compris

• Domestic flight from Entebbe to Kasese
• The equator marker on the way to the park
• Kazinga Channel boat, about 2 hours
• Queen Elizabeth National Park fees

Kasenyi at dawn and the crater lakes

The Kasenyi plains, then the explosion crater drive

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Queen Elizabeth National Park
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

Back at the lodge by late morning for brunch, the middle of the day is free: sleep, read, or sit with binoculars over the channel.

Après-midi

In the late afternoon we take the explosion crater drive north of the channel, a track along the rims of old volcanic craters, some dry, some holding lakes, with Lake George and, on a clear day, the Rwenzori Mountains in the distance.

Soir

Dinner is at the lodge. If you would like to see chimpanzees, tracking in Kyambura Gorge is an option this morning instead of Kasenyi.

Compris

• Dawn game drive on the Kasenyi plains
• Late-afternoon explosion crater drive

Activités en option

• Chimpanzee tracking in Kyambura Gorge in place of the dawn drive (permit price shown at booking)

Ishasha's lions, then to Bwindi

Kazinga Channel area to the Ishasha sector, then to Buhoma at Bwindi

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bwindi (Buhoma)
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Matin

We leave after breakfast at about 8 am and drive south for about two and a half hours to Ishasha, the park's quiet southern sector. Here we spend about two hours on a game drive looking for the lions that rest in the branches of the big fig trees, something only a few places do; they are not always up there, but the search also turns up topi, buffalo and elephants.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal before the last two hours to Buhoma, climbing out of the plains into the green hills on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. We arrive in the afternoon at the lodge where we stay for three nights.

Soir

Your guide checks your trekking kit before dinner.

Compris

• Game drive in the Ishasha sector, about 2 hours
• Sit-down lunch on the way
• Kit check with your guide at Buhoma

Mountain gorillas in Bwindi

Buhoma park headquarters into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bwindi (Buhoma)

Matin

After an early breakfast we walk to the park headquarters at Buhoma for the 7:30 to 8 am briefing by Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers. The group splits across two habituated gorilla families, because each takes at most eight visitors a day, and every guest has a porter to carry a bag and give a hand on the steep parts.

Soir

Trackers go out ahead to find where the family nested last night, so the walk can be two hours or six, up and down slopes of thick, wet forest, sometimes cutting a way through. When you reach the gorillas you have one hour with them: the silverback feeding, the young ones tumbling, and the quiet sound of them pulling at leaves. Masks are worn close up. Lunch is packed for the forest. Back at the lodge, the afternoon is yours to rest and download your photos.

Compris

• Uganda gorilla permit, one per guest
• Ranger briefing and gorilla trek from Buhoma
• One hour with a habituated gorilla family
• A porter for each guest
• Packed lunch on the trek

Bwindi at an easy pace

Buhoma: the Munyaga waterfall trail and the village

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bwindi (Buhoma)

Matin

A day built for the legs to recover and for the forest itself, which most trips leave the morning after the trek. After a late breakfast a park guide leads the trail along the Munyaga River to a waterfall, about three hours there and back under tree ferns, with chances of black-and-white colobus, red-tailed monkeys and some of Bwindi's many birds. Bwindi is a UNESCO World Heritage site for that richness.

Après-midi

We are back for lunch at the lodge, and the afternoon is free. Some guests walk through Buhoma village with a local guide to meet craftspeople and growers; others simply sit on the deck and watch mist come in over the trees. If you would like a second hour with the gorillas, a second permit can be requested at booking for today, subject to availability.

Compris

• Munyaga waterfall trail with a park guide, park fee included
• Lunch at the lodge

Activités en option

• A second gorilla permit for today, subject to availability (price shown at booking)
• Buhoma village walk with a local guide

Through the hills to Lake Bunyonyi

Buhoma to Lake Bunyonyi via Kanungu and Kabale

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Lake Bunyonyi
• Environ 4 h de route

Soir

The lake sits at about 1,960 m in the highlands near Kabale, scattered with small islands and ringed by steep cultivated slopes, and it is cool enough here for a fire in the evening. Lunch is at the lakeside lodge, then the early afternoon is free to rest. At about 4 pm a boat takes us between the islands as the light softens, past fishermen in dugout canoes, with a stop to hear the story of Akampene, the small island once used as a punishment. Dinner is at the lodge. The lake is free of bilharzia, so a swim off the lodge's jetty is an option if the day is warm.

Compris

• Drive from Bwindi to Lake Bunyonyi with a coffee stop
• Lunch at the lodge
• Late-afternoon boat among the islands

Activités en option

• Paddling a dugout canoe on the lake (price shown at booking)

Over the Kanaba Gap and back to Entebbe

Lake Bunyonyi to Kisoro over the Kanaba Gap, then a domestic flight to Entebbe

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Entebbe
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive about two hours west to Kisoro on a road that climbs through the Kanaba Gap, where on a clear morning the volcanoes of the Virunga range line up along the border with Rwanda and Congo.

Après-midi

We stop at the viewpoint before dropping down to Kisoro for lunch and a short domestic flight back to Entebbe, about an hour and a half, instead of a seven to eight hour drive. Our vehicle takes the bigger bags back by road. In Entebbe you have the late afternoon free at the hotel on the shore of Lake Victoria, time to repack and rest.

Soir

In the evening we gather for a farewell dinner with your guide and the group, to share the photos and stories of the trip.

Compris

• The Kanaba Gap viewpoint over the Virunga volcanoes
• Lunch in Kisoro
• Domestic flight from Kisoro to Entebbe
• Farewell dinner

Entebbe gardens and home

Entebbe Botanical Gardens, then Entebbe International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 15 min de route

Matin

A gentle last morning. At about 9 am, after breakfast, a local guide walks the group through the Entebbe Botanical Gardens on the shore of Lake Victoria, laid out in 1898, where black-and-white colobus monkeys and great blue turacos are often seen in the old trees and fish eagles call over the water. The walk takes about an hour and a half on flat paths, and you can leave it early if you prefer to pack. We are back at the hotel by late morning, then it is about ten minutes to Entebbe International Airport (EBB). Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye.

Soir

Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to join the gardens walk, or ask us for a late checkout or an extra night if your flight is in the evening.

Compris

• Entebbe Botanical Gardens walk with a local guide
• Drop-off at Entebbe International Airport (EBB)