Eastern Africa Riches

EASTERN AFRICA RICHES
16 DAYS SEMI-PRIVATE EXCLUSIVE TOUR

JULY/AUGUST 2022 & 2023 DEPARTURES

$7425 USD per person / double occupancy

See the best that East Africa has to offer. No other tour compares in the number of experiences and locations. You will be fully immersed in East African history, culture, wildlife and recreation. Start in Rwanda - a country with a significant past. Onward to the Impenetrable Forest to come face to face with the gorilla. Make your way along the Equator and Lake Victoria heading to a stop-over in Nairobi. Arrive at Masai Mara - the epicenter of the Wildebeest migration; enjoy the Mara environment by land and balloon safaris. Experience local culture when visiting a local village. Travel south into the Serengeti! Perhaps the best known wildlife zone in all of Africa! Take in all that is offered from here to Kilimanjaro! Finally, end up on the beach in Zanzibar before heading home.

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Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport anytime this evening, you will be met by our driver and transferred to your hotel to rest.

Overnight Kigali

After breakfast this morning, our driver/guide will collect you at your hotel with your luggage. After a short briefing, we head for a guided tour of Kigali and visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Afterwards you depart for the Rwanda/Uganda border entering Uganda and travel northwest to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for approximately 2.5 hrs. You have a brief stop at the border to clear with customs and then continue to your lodge to check-in for dinner and overnight.

Learn about: Kigali Genocide Memorial

Overnight Bwindi

Wake up early, enjoy an early breakfast, then proceed to the National Park headquarters to meet your guides for the day. Complete the park formalities, and then embark on a spectacular mountain Gorilla Trekking Adventure in search of these amazing animals. Once you spot them, you'll spend time observing these gentle giants - a rare, moving, awesome and exciting adventure that will leave you with long lasting memories of a truly unique experience. The trekking will be strenuous; up to 6 hours or longer at a relatively high altitude, and you’ll enjoy taking photographs after which you will descend back to the lodge. In the afternoon, relax around the lodge.

Learn about: Gorilla tracking in Bwinidi Impenetrable Forest

Overnight Bwindi

After breakfast, we leave very early in the morning and travel toward Kampala. Enroute through the Kigezi region, known as the ‘Switzerland of Africa’ we stop for lunch in Mbarara. After, we’ll have another brief stop at the Equator to take pictures and later proceed to Entebbe, arriving late in the evening.

Overnight Entebbe

Today we have an early breakfast and depart to Entebbe International Airport for your flight to Nairobi. Upon arrival you will be met and welcomed, then depart to the world renowned David Sheldrick Elephant sanctuary where you will visit orphan elephants at close range during their daily mud and feeding. You have a chance to participate in conservation efforts through direct contribution to the trust or fostering an elephant. Later, pay a visit to the Giraffe Center for a chance to feed the endangered Roths-child giraffes with food pellets as they lick from the palm of your hand - an exciting experience. After, drive to the hotel with check-in followed by late lunch. Then embark on an evening game drive at Nairobi National Park, the only park in the world close to a capital city where you will search for the lions, rhino, buffalo, cheetah, zebras, topi and hyena among others. Return back for dinner and overnight.

Learn about: David Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary

Learn about: The African Fund for Endangered Wildlife - Giraffe Centre

NOTE: The Nairobi Giraffe Manor is not included in the cost, subject to availability once exact dates are determined. It has to be booked a year in advance. If available, it will be an extra cost with guests paying directly, bearing in mind it’s an expensive hotel, and can be overbooked. Here you will have a chance to dine with the Giraffes, as they pop their long necks on your dining table, an exciting experience, dinner and overnight.

Overnight Nairobi.

After breakfast depart for the Maasai Mara Game Reserve – the land of vast migrating animals. Travel via the Great Rift Valley and enjoy a stop for sightseeing and photography. You arrive at the camp in time for lunch.

At 4pm set out for an evening game drive. This is the best time as most wildlife will be out after the heat of the day. Search for the plenty of wildlife the Mara is renowned for.

The Mara Reserve covers 1510km2 of incredible wide-open landscapes and fertile riverine woodlands, following the looping meanders of the Mara and Talek rivers in southwest Kenya. One glimpse is enough to explain its appeal; it is typical open savannah, with a mass of amazing wildlife. Wherever you go in the vast Masai Mara Park you will easily see the Mara offers wildlife in such variety and abundance that it is difficult to believe. Over 450 species of animals have been recorded here: see rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffe, wildebeests, zebras, buffalo, warthogs, hyenas, jackals, wild dogs, buffalo, many kinds of antelopes and birds. It is also common to see lions either basking after a heavy meal, or surveying the plains for their next meal. Cheetahs and leopards are harder to spot, but reasonably common.

It is in the Mara that perhaps the most spectacular event of the natural world takes place - the annual Great Migration of wildebeest and zebra in July and August when millions of these grazers move north from the Serengeti in search of lusher grass before turning south again in October for the new life circle to begin after a life threatening trek past the strong jaws of the East Africa crocodile found within the Mara and Talek rivers. Always following on their heels are the predators of the savanna- lion, cheetah, wild dog, jackal, hyena and vultures.

Return to camp for dinner.

Overnight Masai Mara at the tented camp located 5 minutes from the park main gate.

Wake up early this morning. You will be picked up and set-off for a Hot Air Balloon safari to explore the vast Maasai Mara from the air and gain a new perspective on the Mara ecosystem and its abundant wildlife. After your flight you return to the camp.

Later you will be picked up with your packed lunches and embark on a full day game drive, this offers you a greater chance to spot a diverse array of wildlife, lunch will be under the shade of a tree in the wilderness. Continue with your game drive followed by a visit to the Maasai cultural village to learn about their ancient rich history, culture and traditions, untouched by modern civilization. You will enter their traditional huts and be entertained by dancing performed by Maasai Morans (warriors) and Masai women in resplendent colourful attire, as you join them.

Return to camp for dinner.

Overnight Masai Mara

Another full day is set aside today for game viewing in Kenya's finest wildlife park, the Masai Mara National Reserve. Our full day game drive takes us in search of Africa's Big Five and the plethora of other wildlife inhabiting this vast Kenyan game reserve. On clear days, the Mara offers fantastic orange-tinged sunsets that make for spectacular photos. On clear days, the Mara offers fantastic orange-tinged sunsets that make for spectacular photos. Visit the crossing point during the yearly wildebeest and zebras migration. Stop to enjoy your lunch under the shade of a tree. Later continue with the game search finally returning back to your camp for dinner and overnight.

Overnight Masai Mara

After breakfast, we drive to the Kenya/Tanzania border at Isebania, crossing over into The Serengeti world renowned park. Here virtually every sort of wildlife can be spotted - both prey and predators dominate the habitat. Arrive at your tented camp for lunch. Embark on an evening game drive in search of the abundant wildlife the Serengeti is well known for. Return to camp for dinner.

Overnight on the Serengeti

After breakfast this morning, enjoy a daytime game drive. The great diversity of Serengeti wildlife is also evident here. Look for buffalo, hippopotamus, elephant, giraffe, antelope, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle, lions, and in season the spectacular migration of the wildebeest. Later in the day, we venture out again for an afternoon game drive. Everywhere there are animals, monkeys and, yes, birds...but look closely and you will thrill to the huge jungle cats - lion, leopard and cheetah just watching the world go by.

Overnight on the Serengeti

After breakfast, depart with your packed lunch to Ngorongoro Crater. En-route visit the Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world; it has proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evolution. A steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley that stretches across East Africa, it is about 48 km (30 mi) long, and is located in the eastern Serengeti Plains within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The gorge takes its name from the Maasai word ‘oldupai’ which means "the place of the wild sisal" as the East African wild sisal (Sansevieria ehrenbergii) grows abundantly throughout the gorge area.

Continue on to the Ngorongoro Crater. Be prepared for some remarkable views down into the crater and the awesome panorama of the world’s largest, unflooded and unbroken caldera. Approximately 25,000 large animals including the black rhinoceros, the African or Cape buffalo, the hippopotamus, the blue wildebeest, Grant's zebra, the common eland (Taurotragus oryx), and Grant's and Thomson's gazelles. Although thought of as "a natural enclosure" for a very wide variety of wildlife, 20 percent or more of the wildebeest and half the zebra populations vacate the crater in the wet season, while Cape buffalo stay.

Descend the 600 meters into the crater for a game drive with lunch at a picnic site.

Later ascend the crater and drive to your lodge for dinner.

Overnight Karatu

After breakfast, we will drive to Lake Manyara famous for its unique tree climbing lions. A good network of tracks and roads in the park allows for excellent game viewing opportunities. Other animals include buffalo and elephant. With luck, you will also see the tree climbing lions, leopard and black rhino. Lesser flamingos and Egyptian geese are some of the birds seen here.

Overnight Karatu

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the Arusha Airport for your flight to Zanzibar and its white sandy beaches for your three nights beach hotel stay. Enroute to the airport you will be able to see the spectacular Mount Kilimanjaro - weather permitting.

Depending on your flight departure date and time, upon arrival in Zanzibar in the morning, you will be met by our driver and proceed on a Spice Island Tour. This tour will take you to the countryside where you will visit a number of spice plantations including cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric, vanilla, nutmeg. The tour involves much more than spices and you will also have a chance to see the iodine plant, heena bush, ylang-ylang, the lipstick tree, cocoa, cassava, dasheen cocoyam and coffee plantations. You will have the opportunity to explore the Zanzibar richness of mouth watering tropical seasonal fruits like jackfruit, pineapples, bananas, green coconut, dourian, love apple, rambutan, soursop and starfruit. All in all, a perfect tour for the senses! Settle for lunch, followed by the Stone Town Tour, then proceed to the main City market, which was opened in 1904. You will get a comprehensive view of the Stone Town architecture, its sand and stone ancient-built houses (some of them have Arab/Indian with carved doors with brass studs), and carved balconies. Also visit the old post office and Freddy Mercury house. Our next stop will be at the Anglican Cathedral of Christ, on the site of the Old Slave Market. From here we continue our tour to Sultan Palace Museum, House of wonders (Beit-el-ajaib), next to this you can also see the Old Arab Fort. The Old Stone Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site where the fascinating walking routes will visit: Main City market of Darajani, Anglican Church, Slave Market, Hindu Temple, Hamamni Baths, Palace Museum, House of Wonders, Old Arab Fort, Forodhani Garden, Spices and Souvenirs Shops.

After your tour, the driver will drop you off at your accommodation.

Overnight Zanzibar

This day is spent at leisure. Enjoy the sun, sand, sea and food. Take a stroll at the white sandy beach off the coast of the Indian Ocean, or relax by the pool after a marvelous trip.

Today you may visit a location of your choice. A round-trip transfer to any single point on the island is available to you. Departure and return time of your choosing.

Today you will be transferred to the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam for your onward flight home.

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Accommodation

• Kigali: The Manor Hotel Kigali ****
• Bwindi: Gorilla Valley Lodge ***
• Entebbe: Entebbe Palm Hotel ****
• Nairobi Osoita Lodge ***
• Masai Mara: Oldarpoi Mara Camp ***
• Serengeti: Mapito Tented Camp ***
• Karatu: Bougainvillea Safari Lodge SC
• Zanzibar: Reef & Beach Resort Jambiani ***

All accommodation subject to substitution with similar based on availability at time of booking.

Inclusions

• Guaranteed departure for minimum 6 travellers
• Accommodation as stated in the program (or similar as available at time of booking) based on double occupancy
• Meals as indicated by B/L/D
• Ground and water transportation as indicated in the program
• Transport in 4×4 Mini Van in Kenya
• Transport in 4×4 Land Cruiser in Tanzania
• Guaranteed window seating with open top for easy photography
• Flight Entebbe-Nairobi
• Flight Arusha-Zanzibar
• Professional Tour guide
• English speaking driver guide
• 1 x Gorilla trekking permit per person
• All applicable Game Park entrance fees
• Complementary walking sticks per person
• Kigali City tour + Genocide Memorial visit/tour
• Balloon Safari in Masai Mara
• Masai Mara village experience
• Spice Tour in Zanzibar
• Stone Town Walking Tour in Zanzibar
• Round-trip transfer within Zanzibar on one day
• Flying Doctors Society membership for emergency evacuation

Exclusions

• International airfare
• Cost of obtaining passport and visas
• Gratuity for your professional driver guide, Porterage/ waiters at hotels
• Personal expenses such traveling insurance, excess baggage fee, communication charges that include, laundry, emails, faxes and phone calls beverages including luxury champagne, luxury spirits, beer, wines during meals or meals not indicated in the itinerary

Optional

• Single private room supplement of $990 USD
• Pre-tour Kigali extension
• Post-tour Zanzibar extension
• Upgrades to luxury accommodations
• Overnight stay at Giraffe Manor (requires significant advance booking)

* Pricing based on double occupancy and includes early booking bonus
* CAD pricing based on foreign currency as at time of publication and will be recomputed at time of booking
* 45% deposit due upon booking; final due 6 months before departure
* Cancel 6+ months before departure, penalty of 25% of total trip cost; non-refundable on final payment
* Cancellation/Interruption/Emergency Medical travel insurance mandatory

While every attempt is made to ensure accuracy some elements are subject to change due to availability, safety or factors beyond our control. E&OE.

PAYMENTS AND DATES

^Tour is based on USD. CAD based on USD forex as of publication date; CAD amounts will be determined at time of payment.

NOTICE OF RISK AND RESPONSIBILITY: This trip will include encounters with wild animals where the behavior of wild animals cannot be predicted or controlled. Travellers acknowledge that they are fully aware of and appreciate the real dangers and risks while tracking or on safari arising from the presence of wild and dangerous animals and the real risk of suffering bodily harm, injury, death and/or damage to or loss of property that may arise as a result of an encounter with and/or the presence of such animals while on this trip. Additionally, medical facilities may not be of the quality experienced at home and access to evacuation and/or suitable medical supplies and support may not be as readily available as to which one is accustomed. While precautions and safety measures are taken, no one can guarantee traveller safety while traveling. Travel insurance covering cancellation, interruption and emergency medical is mandatory for this trip. All travellers are voluntarily participating in this trip and have voluntarily purchased this trip from their agent or supplier with the full understanding of these risks. All travellers assume and agree to accept any and all risks to their safety and security during the course of their travel to Africa on the trip and release their travel agent, travel agency and all suppliers/operators furnishing services for the trip from any claims that may arise during the course of their participation in the trip.