8-Day East Africa Safari with Serengeti Balloon Ride and Gorillas

You will be picked up by your driver-guide waiting at the airport in Arusha and transferred to your hotel in Arusha, where the guide will brief you.

Have an early morning breakfast and start your drive to Serengeti National Park. The park is approximately 325 km away from Arusha, and the drive may take up to 7 hours. Enjoy the beautiful scenic drive, which may be rewarded with some wildlife sightings along the way.

On arrival at the lodge, relax, unwind, enjoy the pool, and take in the beautiful scenery as you seize the day.

The day has finally come when you will explore the plains of the world-famous Serengeti in search of the wildlife sightings you have dreamt of. What you will see during the day will depend on the season and luck, but your driver-guide will make every effort to meet your expectations.

This morning, you will take a hot air balloon ride to view wildlife from a vantage point and explore different parts of the park in record time. This thrill of a lifetime is crowned with a sumptuous bush breakfast served upon landing at the end of the balloon flight.

Continue with your full-day game drive in search of the Big Five, zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, topis, waterbucks, giraffes, impala, dik-dik, elands, hippos, hartebeest, roan antelopes, honey badgers, cheetahs, hyenas, warthogs, kudu, klipspringer, and more.

Enjoy the sunset as you drive back to the lodge to catch up and share stories while reminiscing about the day's adventures.

This morning, you will check out of the lodge with fond memories and embark on your drive to Maasai Mara. Enjoy a game drive on the way and then transfer to the Isebania border. The drive may take about two hours, excluding border crossing.

Continue to yet another world-famous wildlife national park in southwestern Kenya, Maasai Mara National Reserve.

On arrival at the beautiful lodge, you will check in and relax for the rest of the evening.

Have an early morning breakfast before commencing the full-day exploration of the Mara. This park has the highest concentration of wildlife, and it is every wildlife lover's dream to visit the Mara.

Your game drive may reward you with sightings of graceful giraffes, cheetahs, elephants, wildebeest, lions, rhinos, leopards, buffaloes, hyenas, warthogs, gazelles, jackals, roan antelopes, elands, zebras, hartebeests, duikers, topis, foxes, wild dogs, and many more animals. The birdlife in this park is also flourishing, and birders will be spoilt for choice.

You may choose to visit these Maasai communities after the game drive. The Maasai people have a rich, exciting culture that has been well preserved over the years.

Have an early breakfast before your transfer to the airstrip for your regional flight from Mara to Kihihi Airstrip in Uganda via Kisumu.

On arrival in Uganda, your driver-guide will pick you up and transfer you by road to Bwindi. Check in at the lodge and later go for a community walk to gain an understanding of how the people in this area live.

Have an early breakfast and then proceed to the park office for a briefing before the tracking begins. Allocation of which gorilla family you will be tracking is done after the briefing. Depending on which family you have been allocated, you will join a group of other travellers, a ranger, and an armed guard. Gorilla tracking may take between 2-8 hours depending on the gorillas' activities and movement. The gorilla tracking activity is strenuous and requires physical fitness.

You will hike up and down the steep terrain in this dense forest, but the sight of these great apes is worth the hike. You will be allowed one hour to view the gorillas before you exit the forest. Return to the lodge to relax for the rest of the day.

Have breakfast and, depending on your flight departure time to Entebbe, you will be driven back to the airport for your flight to Entebbe.