Enjoy the Tanzania Uganda safari will start in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, then cross to Ngorongoro Conservation Area and crater and finalize with Uganda’s Bwindi Forest National Park.

You will visit the two popular Tanzania wildlife destinations. Ngorongoro Crater is often called Africa’s Eden and the 8th Natural Wonder of the World. Serengeti is well known for the wildebeest migration which can’t be seen anywhere else in the world.

Day 1: Game Drives in Serengeti National Park

After breakfast, you will be joined by the tour guide of Active African Vacations and start off the 4 hours journey to Serengeti national park.  The name “Serengeti” originates from the Masai word “Siringitu” and means “endless plains”. You will see why the Masai gave this region this name as the grassland Savannah stretches to the horizon in the South and is only interrupted by the so-called kopjes.

The plains are the perfect hunting grounds for leopards and other big cats; you will have a good chance to view these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat through the open roof of the vehicle. In the afternoon, you will reach the destination for the day, the Seronera Valley in the central Serengeti area.

You will camp for the night and stay in “safari styled” tents enjoying a good meal in the middle of the African bush.

Day 2: Game Drive in Serengeti to Ngorongoro

After breakfast, you will continue the game drive through the Serengeti National Park. You will sight hundreds of wildebeests and zebras and often lions and other big cats such as leopards and cheetahs in the Seronera Valley.

After lunch at a picnic site, you will drive in the direction of the Ngorongoro Crater. As soon as you have reached the edge of the crater, the caldera opens up before you and you will have a remarkable view of this impressive natural wonder. You will camp for the night on the crater’s edge and enjoy the fantastic view as the sun goes down.

Day 3: Game Drives in Ngorongoro Crater then back to Arusha

After an early breakfast at daybreak, you will drive down into the crater. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest unbroken caldera and has unbelievable wildlife diversity. On the grass steppe and in the acacia tree woods, you will find almost all species that are found in the East African Savannah with the exception of topis, Masai giraffes, and impalas.

You can observe the “Big Five” (lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, and leopard) within a couple of hours. Later you will drive to Arusha for departure to Entebbe in Uganda.

Day 4: Transfer from Entebbe to Bwindi

Upon arrival at Entebbe airport, you will be welcomed by the tour guide /driver and enjoy country side views as you drive to Bwindi national park. Reach in the evening and check in at your preferred hotel and overnight.

Day 5: Gorilla tracking in Bwindi National Park

Rise up very early in the morning and have breakfast and thereafter proceed to the park offices for briefing about the gorillas and allocation of gorilla groups and guides.

Thereafter get into the tropical rain forest and search for the mountain gorillas starting from where they were the previous day until you find them. You will find them doing their daily chores of feeding their young ones, climbing trees and others just relaxing. Take your best photographs having switched off your flash.

This whole exercise takes a maximum of 1 hour and then return to the park offices for your gorilla tracking certificate. Drive back to the hotel for lunch and some relaxation

The park has four Gorilla sectors including Ruhija, Rushaga, Nkuringo and Buhoma, a maximum of eight people is allowed to trek each Gorilla family and permits is charged at a cost of 700 USD per each person. Visitors who are interested in a gorilla habituation experience can do it from Rushaga.

Visitors can also visit the Batwa pygmy community, take forest walks, spot birds and view other primates like Chimpanzees. Talking about chimpanzees, Bwindi is one of the few national parks in the world where mountain gorillas and chimpanzee live together. The chimps may be sighted while tracking the gorillas.

Visiting the Batwa pygmies: To see the original people who lived in Bwindi forest for thousands of years. Unfortunately, they have now been evicted from the forest and forced to resettle outside the park. Visiting the Batwa pygmies is a great opportunity to learn about their culture and get involved in some of their cultural activities. Expect to see traditional dance performances while listening to stories about how they used to hunt and gather fruits in the forest.

Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable forest park involves choosing the right accommodation. There are several luxury and budget accommodation options available. The final choice depends entirely on your personal choice, preference and budget. The luxury lodges can go as high as $1500 per night while the budget ones can go as low as $80.

After that experience, take off to Lake Bunyonyi for relaxation before transferring to Entebbe for your flight. Lake Bunyonyi is popular for its green and lush terraced hills that are punctuated with a plethora of over 200 bird species. The place combines the art of water birds and some migratory birds. This makes it a perfect ideal for many bird enthusiasts. A dive into the Nyombi swamp reveals a variety of assorted birds.

A magical place, especially with a morning mist rising off the placid waters, it has supplanted the Ssese Islands as the place for travelers to chill out on their way through Uganda, and has a selection of gorgeously remote and bucolic places to stay on distant islands, where you’ve only the birds for company.

Visit the infamous Punishment Island (Akampeine). Among the Bakiga in the area, any girl who got pregnant before marriage was taken and abandoned in Akampeine Island to die of hunger or drowning (girls were not taught how to swim). Getting pregnant was an abomination then because no one would pay bird price for a girl who had gotten pregnant before marriage.

The intention of leaving the girl to die in the island was to send a strong message to the rest that getting pregnant before marriage was unacceptable. Nothing would be done to the man who made the girl pregnant. The girl couldn’t identify the man who impregnated her for fear of being left to die. Some of the girls were rescued by the men who had made them pregnant, those who had a secret crush on them or poor bachelors who couldn’t afford bride price. Transfer to Entebbe for your flight back home.