Gorillas & Masai Mara - Camping Reverse
Gorillas & Masai Mara - Camping Reverse
Gorillas & Masai Mara - Camping Reverse
15 Days Starting in Kigali and ending in Nairobi
Visiting: Kigali, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Budongo, Budongo Forest, Murchison Falls National Park, Jinja, Eldoret, Lake Nakuru National Park, Masai Mara, Nairobi
Tour operator:
Tour code:
WYUR
Guide Type:
Fully Guided
Group size:
6 - 18
Age range:
16-99
Special diets catered:
Please inform Exodus of specific dietary requirements
Tour operated in:
EnglishTour Overview
The Masai Mara, a vast grassland teeming with animals, has an astonishing amount of wildlife, including lions, cheetahs and, at certain times of the year, the wildebeest migration. Lake Nakuru National Park has an incredible variety of birds plus a healthy population of white and black rhinos while Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to hippos, elephants, buffalo, leopards and elusive tree-climbing lions plus a huge variety of birds. Murchison Falls is one of the most impressive national parks in Africa, renowned for scenic beauty, spectacular falls and abundant wildlife, including elephants, buffalo, Ugandan kobs (antelope), leopards, and more than 450 bird species. But the trip highlight is undoubtedly an hour with mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. This close-up encounter is arguably the most sensational wildlife experience of them all.
Highlights
Itinerary
Day 1 : Start Kigali
Location: Kigali
The adventure begins in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. This evening’s welcome briefing is the perfect opportunity to meet your guide and get to know your fellow travellers.
Accommodation: Beauséjour Hotel (or similar)
Day 2 : Morning Kigali; Afternoon To Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Location: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Rwanda is a country widely remembered for the genocide of 1994, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed. There is a moving museum in Kigali that covers this period, which we visit this morning. After lunch, we cross the border into Uganda and drive towards Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, the home of wild mountain gorillas.
Accommodation: Virunga Hotel & Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 3 : Trek To See Mountain Gorillas In Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Location: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
You will probably remember today for the rest of your life as we spend a full hour in the company of a family of mountain gorillas! Owing to the terrain and need to explore to find the gorillas, our trek doesn’t follow a path; instead, our guides cut a route through the undergrowth. After a safety briefing, we are assigned to a gorilla family group and begin our trek. Expect a minimum of three hours of walking on irregular terrain; steep ascents and descents over muddy slopes are the norm. Strong footwear is essential and we recommend hiring a local porter to help you carry your bag/camera equipment and provide a steady, supportive hand (porters are arranged and paid for locally on the day).
Seeing wild mountain gorillas in their natural habitat is an experience you will never forget. An adult male can weigh up to 430lb (195kg), a female up to 220lb (100kg), and a male can reach 5ft 7in (1.7m) tall. They are almost exclusively vegetarian and quite destructive eaters, which makes them unpopular with the farmers lower down the mountain as they have been known to wreck a whole field of crops just to eat one plant. For this reason, and poaching, the gorillas are very carefully protected. Gorillas are gentle creatures and are not known to attack unless very severely provoked. The family groups we trek to see are habituated to human presence but to prevent over familiarisation our time with them is limited to one hour. If the permits for gorilla families close to where we stay are unavailable, there may be more permits for other areas of the park, although this will mean a longer drive to the start of the trek.
Accommodation: Virunga Hotel & Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 4 : To Queen Elizabeth National Park
Location: Queen Elizabeth National Park
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today, we drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP). The park, the most popular and accessible savannah reserve in Uganda, resides in a fertile, equatorial area and has beautiful scenery. It is primarily associated with grassy savannah plains, but also includes leafy rainforests, dense papyrus swamps and natural volcanic crater lakes. As a result, it has one of the highest biodiversity ratings of any game reserve in the world, including 95 recorded mammal species and more than 610 bird species.
Accommodation: Simba Safari Camp (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 5 : Full Day In Queen Elizabeth National Park
Location: Queen Elizabeth National Park
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We explore QENP on a game drive this morning, searching for elephants, lions, buffalo, leopards, hyenas, jackals, topis, kobs, bush bucks and various others. In the afternoon, there is an optional boat trip of about two hours along the Kazinga Channel to view one of the largest concentrations of hippos in the world (reported to be about 30,000) and other game with excellent birding. The game drive continues in the afternoon for those who do not join the boat trip.
Accommodation: Simba Safari Camp (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 6 : To Budongo
Location: Budongo
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We have a long drive today covering about 280mi (450km) from QENP to Budongo. The drive goes north along the eastern length of the Rwenzori Mountains, where we can see the glaciated peaks, weather permitting. We pass through tea and sugarcane plantations, stopping for lunch en route, and expect to arrive in Budongo in the late afternoon.
Accommodation: Simba Safari Camp (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 7 : Chimpanzee Tracking In Budongo; To Murchison Falls
Location: Budongo Forest
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We depart early this morning for Budongo Forest, home to the largest number of chimpanzees in Uganda, to trek in search of chimps and other wildlife. The walking is fairly easy due to the well-maintained trails and reasonably flat terrain. While trekking in the depths of the lush green forest, we are surrounded by bird song and hope to see velvet and colobus monkeys, wild pigs and, of course, chimpanzees. Once a chimp family is found, we have an hour with these fascinating creatures, to watch them interact and play with each other. In the afternoon, we drive to Murchison Falls, where we spend the next two nights.
Accommodation: Sambiya River Lodge (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 8 : Full Day In Murchison Falls National Park
Location: Murchison Falls National Park
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We have an early morning game drive in Murchison Falls National Park. We transfer by ferry to the north side of the Nile where we embark on our game drive. The area is home to elephants, giraffes, buffalo and Ugandan kobs, plus the predators: lions and leopards. After lunch, we travel by boat up the Nile, passing hippos and crocodiles, searching for elephants and waterbuck that come to the river to drink. The cruise lasts about three hours and we travel upstream to the bottom of the falls, stopping near the Devil’s Cauldron, the place where the water bursts through the narrow gorge and creates an outstanding rainbow.
Accommodation: Sambiya River Lodge (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 9 : To Jinja
Location: Jinja
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After a short game drive through the park, we leave Murchison Falls and drive to Jinja, a journey of about six hours. Passing through untouched forest and tree plantations, we arrive in Jinja around 3pm, and the rest of the afternoon is free to relax.
Accommodation: Adrift Camp (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 10 : Free Day For Optional Activities
Location: Jinja
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today is free to choose from a range of optional activities. White-water rafting in Jinja is considered among the best in the world, with a half- or full-day route that varies from quiet pools and forested islands to thunderous rapids and drops. There are several grade V rapids to navigate including Big Brother, Overtime and Silverback. If rafting doesn’t appeal, you can visit the source of the White Nile, one of the two major tributaries of the Nile.
Accommodation: Adrift Camp (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 11 : To Eldoret
Location: Eldoret
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We drive about 155mi (250km) to Eldoret, which should take about eight hours, including a border crossing into Kenya. The border crossing can be slow but we leave plenty of time and you’ll no doubt find the experience interesting!
Accommodation: Green Wood Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping – upgrades and wifi available
Day 12 : To Lake Nakuru National Park; Game Drive
Location: Lake Nakuru National Park
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We depart Eldoret in the morning after breakfast and drive to Lake Nakuru National Park, one of the finest small parks in Kenya, where we spend the day on a game drive in the park. The park is widely known for having an impressive population of black and white rhinos, which are relatively easy to spot in the open savannah. Fever trees line the park and are a well-known spot for leopards to laze in, while one of the most impressive sights is the vast flamingo population. Owing to flooding, the alkaline content of the lake has changed in recent years; as a result, the flamingos no longer tend to be found in such large numbers, but this can change depending on the rainfall.
Accommodation: KWS Campsite (or similar) – full-service camping
Day 13 : To Masai Mara; Late Afternoon Game Drive
Location: Masai Mara
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today we travel into the Masai Mara, a vast grassland teeming with life. Here wildebeest, gazelles, topis, zebras and buffalo abound in the rolling savannah, and never far away lay the predators: cheetahs, lions and hyenas. Between mid-August and late October, one of the greatest spectacles on Earth takes place in the Mara: the annual migration of thousands of wildebeest, gazelles and zebras trampling across the long grass. Nothing is guaranteed on safari, but with the help of our brilliant guides you should see and learn a huge amount about the Masai Mara wildlife as we drive through the park this afternoon.
Accommodation: Mountain Rock (or similar) – full-service camping upgrades available
Day 14 : Full Day In The Masai Mara
Location: Masai Mara
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Enjoy a full-day game drive in the Masai Mara to increase our chances of encountering many of the wildlife species in the reserve. We find a quiet spot inside the park to enjoy lunch by our vehicle, looking out across the plains. There is also an optional hot-air balloon safari at sunrise, which includes champagne and breakfast.
Accommodation: Mountain Rock (or similar) – full-service camping - upgrades available
Day 16 : Drive To Nairobi And Depart
Location: Nairobi
Meals Included: Breakfast
We depart after breakfast for Nairobi, travelling up through the Rift Valley escarpment and looking back on classic African views with acacia trees scattering the vast landscape.
Group flights usually depart in the evening. For clients who have booked land only, the trip ends on arrival in Nairobi.
What's Included
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14 breakfasts, 13 lunches and 13 dinners
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All accommodation (see below)
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All transport and listed activities
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Tour leader throughout
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One chimp permit and one gorilla permit
What's Not Included
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Travel insurance
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Single accommodation (available on request)
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Visas or vaccinations
Accommodation
On this trip into the wilds of Africa, we embrace our adventurous spirit and spend 13 nights camping. It's a back-to-basics experience, but the camping is full-service, which means the tents are put up and taken down by our crew. We use two-person tents and provide mattresses and all other equipment you’ll need (except a sleeping bag and pillow). East African campsites vary in terms of facilities – do not expect hot showers, flushing toilets or Western standards of cleanliness. Upgrades to a room are available at some locations – these can only be booked and paid for locally. In Kigali, we stay in a small hotel.
Worth knowing
We have more than one accommodation option on some nights, which means that where we stay may differ to what is listed in the daily itinerary. The accommodation we select around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is dependent on the gate we are using to access the park.
Food
Virtually all meals are included and are prepared for you by our chef and crew. They are adept at catering for large groups of hungry travellers!
Breakfasts usually include cereal, toast and hot food such as porridge or eggs. Lunches tend to feature a range of sandwich options plus a fruit selection. Dinners usually feature soup, a main (a mix of local and international cuisine) and dessert (typically fruit salad). All cooking equipment is loaded onto the overland vehicle and so our crew are ready to prepare food wherever we stop – don’t worry about going hungry on this trip! You also have time to stock up on snacks and drinks along the journey.
For meals not included, it would be a good idea to allow a further US$100 to cover these.
Check out our Q&As
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What is the maximum group size?
18
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Are children permitted to take part in the tour?
16+ age people can go on this tour.
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Are the local guides on the tour English speaking?
Yes
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What is the standard of the hotels on this tour?
The camping is full-service
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What happens if I need to change my holiday date once I’ve booked?
If you wish to make any changes to your booking, particularly if you need to alter any flights booked through us, please let us know as soon as possible. There is a booking or flight amendment fee of £40 per change and flight amendments often incur extra airline costs depending on the changes to be made and if the ticket has been issued or not.
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How long has the tour company been trading?
Exodus has been trading since 1974
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What documents will I receive before I travel?
Your final joining instructions and flight details, if booked with us, will then be sent out 2 to 3 weeks before departure. If you would like a hard copy posted, or if you require these any earlier, please contact the customer operations team. We advise that if you are booking connecting travel before receiving these, please ensure you leave plenty of time.
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Do you operate a “single share” option and how does it work?
Travellers are welcome to opt to share a room with a tour member of the same gender for no additional charge. If you'd like your own room, we can request a single supplement so that you will have your own room throughout.
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Can I join the tour once it has departed?
You are welcome to meet the group after the tour has departed however there is no reduction in rate for joining a tour after the departure date.
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Transfer as credit to Future Tours
Exodus Adventure Travels allows you to transfer existing payments to a future tour to avoid cancellation fees if you can't travel and inform exodus adventure travels, 43 days before departure.
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Low Deposit
Exodus Adventure Travels requires a minimum deposit of 25% or the full booking value, whichever is less, with the final balance not due until 90 days before departure.
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Cancellation Policy
We don't charge a cancellation fee, here is a summary of exodus adventure travels charges.
Up to 70 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of deposit.