Challenge:

Adventure

Destination:

*Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya

Departure Dates From:

18/05/2008

Duration:

9 weeks

Kitty:

£ 576

Uganda - The Wildlife Journey, 67 days from Entebbe to Cape 

These trips depart once or twice per month. The trip costs £900, with a local payment of £576, this should be paid on the first day of your trip locally.

UGANDA

We collect you at Entebbe airport on the evening prior to the tour, camping that night at the Entebbe Backpackers and Campsite. From here the following morning we visit Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Lake Victoria. This 100 acre forested island provides a safe haven for the 32 orphaned chimpanzees that are now free to roam the island. The focal point of the visit is the opportunity to get close to the chimps at the supplementary morning feeding a raised walkway allowing for easy viewing. Following this we enjoy a traditional meal including locally caught fish.

Returning by mid afternoon we drive through to the capital, Kampala, to spend the night.

Leaving Kampala early we visit Mpambire Village to admire the work of the traditional royal drum makers and perhaps bargain for a drum to take home, before a stop over at the equator for photos. We arrive in the south west region near the Virungas to camp at beautiful Lake Bunyoni sitting in the steep, terraced Mfumbiro Hills. The lake is known as 'the place of little birds'. Weaver birds who plait complex globular homes may be seen in the trees and perhaps an elegant crowned crane, the national bird. During our stay at Bunyoni there is time for a swim or to canoe on the lake.

We currently trek in the Parc Nacionale de Volcans in Rwanda where Dian Fossey worked for many years with the gorillas. Taking the scenic drive up to Kisoro on the border with Rwanda our approach provides fabulous views of the park's three volcanoes which is the home of the mountain gorilla. Alternatively we trek in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, again reached via Kisoro, or alternatively via Buhoma village.

As we set off for our gorilla trek through the plantations the local women can often be seen and heard singing as they work in the fields. The walk allows you to experience an extraordinarily rich and varied ecosystem, Bwindi, in particular, being a forest that survived from the Pleistocene, so has species of animals and plants that have died out elsewhere. But the gorillas are what we are looking for - rare and special gentle giants, a species of which there are approximately only 700 left.

Local villagers entertain us with traditional dancing and singing during our stay near the gorilla parks. In the months when we do not visit the Masai Mara, Queen Elizabeth National Park is our next destination. The cruise on the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth allows us to view Nile crocodile, buffalo, Uganda kob, hippo and elephant as well as an immense amount of bird life and game drives allow us our first experience of game drives to view more of Africa's wildlife before travelling to Jinja, the legendary Source of the Nile.

With a free day by the Falls there is time for white water rafting on rapids grade 3 to 5 amidst lush tropical vegetation in the equatorial sunshine. Alternatively you can swim, fish, take a village walk or relax by the Falls, or there is the possibility to be involved in some volunteer community project work.

KENYA

Driving towards Nakuru we overnight at an a working upcountry farm nestled into the Mau Escarpment before entering Lake Nakuru National Park, famous for its soda lake which attracts greater and lesser flamingo. To see numbers of these birds rising off the lake like a pink cloud is breath taking. Game drives also allow us to view the other wildlife in the park such as lion, leopard, giraffe, zebra and rhino before we camp in the park. Our next stop is Lake Naivasha and Joy Adamson's Elsamere for afternoon tea in the grounds, the black and white colobos monkeys coming down to sit on the lawns at this famous conservation centre. Birdlife including herons, darters and storks can be found around the lake margins. In the evening we watch the hippo come out onto the lawns.

A walk or cycle in Hells Gate National Park is next on the itinerary, the Maasai Cultural Centre within the park being well worth a visit.

On the months when the migration arrives we now drive the dusty road through to the world famous Masai Mara as up to 1.4 million wildebeest and a multitude of zebra and other antelope arrive on the well watered undulating plains of the Mara from the Serengeti. We game drive for a day in search of the herds and the big cats that are usually close by before travelling to Nairobi, via the Rift Valley Lookout for panoramic views across the Rift.

Our stay in Nairobi allows us to visit Langatta Giraffe Park and Sheldrick's Animal Orphanage for the rhino and elephant feeding as well as the elephant play session. We enjoy a meal out in one of Nairobi's restaurants.

TANZANIA

Across the border to Tanzania we now enter the world famous Serengeti National Park by land cruiser. We camp in this 14,000 square kilometre park which is home to lion, leopard and cheetah pursuing the vast herds of wildebeest, gazelle, antelope and zebra on their seasonal migration. The herds usually start to return to the Serengeti in December heading for the southern plains of the Serengeti where they usually calve early in the year.

Descending 2,000 ft into the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest extinct volcano, we can view rhino, hippo, lion, elephant, hyena, buffalo, zebra, impala, wildebeest, cheetah, monkey, ostrich and flamingo. The Maasai living on the crater rim still shun modern ways, continue to dye their hair with ochre and live on a diet of milk and blood obtained from their cattle. We visit a traditional Boma (village) during our safari in the region.

From the Crater we travel to the Snake Park in Arusha, via the village of Mto Wa Mbu, and opportunities to shop for spears, bead work and ebony carvings. Time in Arusha also allows for a camel safari and a group barbecue.

Dawn brings the possibility of views of Kilimanjaro on our way to the bustling city of Dar Es Salaam on the Indian Ocean. Arriving into Dar Es Salaam early evening we park up on the coast to enjoy a seafood barbecue and camp for the night listening to the waters lapping nearby. The next morning we transfer by ferry for four days on the exotic spice island, Zanzibar, the tour leader travelling over with the group.

ZANZIBAR ISLAND

Arriving in Stone Town, the capital, you will find a maze of narrow, winding streets, coral brick houses, bazaars to explore, and crystal clear coral waters in which to swim and snorkel and where the dolphins may join you. The diving is some of the best in Africa with diving facilities found along the coast. You can take a spice tour, visit the red colobos monkeys and Prison Island with its giant tortoise. For a little history, a visit to a former slave camp can be arranged. Otherwise take time to relax on the palm fringed white beaches. We stay in local beach cottages and enjoy fresh seafood. Motor bikes and jeeps can be hired to tour the island. On our return to the mainland we transit through Mikumi National Park to Malawi.

MALAWI 'Africa's warm heart'.

Travelling the entire length of the lake, we make regular stops at the popular bays, the beaches providing excellent camping. We can fish with the locals, take village walks, and enjoy a wide variety of water sports, including water skiing and scuba diving. Local craftsmen sell ornate hardwood carvings including traditional Malawi chairs. There is always a welcome from the villagers for a meal and for a game of foot ball!

ZAMBIA - ZIMBABWE

We travel through Zambia to Lake Kariba, stopping enroute in Zambia's capital city of Lusaka to replenish supplies. At Lake Kariba, the stay on a houseboat gives us a break from camping. The houseboat staff do the cooking and the boats are fitted out with a jacuzzi and tender boat so we can get up close to game by the shore and can fish as well in the lake. After a relax on the lake we head to a game ranch where we can take walks in the African bush with lion.

Our next stop is Matopos National Park where we will do a rhino trek and game drives. Alternatively we may visit Hwange National Park for some animal magic on guided walks and game drives in the 14,600 square kilometre reserve.

We arrive by the mighty Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is comprised of five separate falls. In flood season over 545 million litres of water crash down the 100 metre height of the Falls along a width of the 1,688 metres.

White water rafting, on the Zambezi on what are regarded as some of the best rapids in the world, is a Must. Alternatively you can riverboard or just take a leisurely canoe trip. A 'Flight of the Angels', over the Falls, offers a unique appreciation of one of nature's greatest wonders. Also, for the ultimate rush you can bunji jump from a bridge across the river, or try the abseil/gorge swing. Later, a sundowner cruise is the perfect way to complete the day watching hippo loll in the Zambezi as the sun sets.

BOTSWANA

Travelling into Botswana, Chobe National Park is our next stop. Giraffes browse the treetops and elephants lumber through a park rich with game. Via the Makgadikgadi Pans we come to Maun where you can take a two day safari into the Okavango Delta in a mokoro, the traditional dugout canoe of the Delta boatsmen. Poled through the tranquil, crystal clear waterways and beds of papyrus reeds, home to some of Africa's finest bird life and unusual flora, we camp on the islands and take guided game walks.

NAMIBIA

Following the Kavango River we visit Popa Falls, and then on to Rundu a tranquil river camp and then perhaps a short river crossing to Angola, then on to the Hoba meteorite, the world's largest. We come now to Etosha National Park. The local Owambo people call it 'the place of dry water.' The Pan's blinding white surface covers an area the size of Switzerland and in summer violent squalls transform it into a vast shallow lake, providing a breeding ground for thousands of flamingoes. A vast array of animals exists around the Pan, including elephant, lion, gemsbok, zebra, black rhino, giraffe, cheetah and leopard. We camp within the park and take early morning and evening game drives, visiting floodlit water holes at night.

Leaving Etosha we visit a Cheetah Park, and then drive on to Twyfelfontein the following day to view the rock paintings. Driving a small section of one of the loneliest stretches of coastline in Africa, the Skeleton Coast, flanked by bone-bleaching desert, we come to Cape Cross, and the Seal Colony, a breeding colony of 200,000 Cape fur seals. And then to Swakopmund, home to some of the finest open sea fishing in the world with the option of flights over the Namib Desert and the Skeleton Coast. We stay in a lodge to give us a break from camping and for the adrenalin junkie there's also quad biking, sand boarding, dune buggies and tandem skydiving. Township tours are also available .

The Namib Desert is a desert wonderland - Sossusvlei, Namib Naukluft National Park offering thousand foot sand dunes to explore. Guided walks give us a fascinating insight into the world of the desert and some of the rare inhabitants of this barren environment such as the toktokkie, Skoog's lizard and the hairy -footed gerbils.

Fish River Canyon, reputedly the second largest in the world is a breath taking sight. From here we stop in Ai-Ais Hot Springs, with its weird lunar landscape, to relax in thermal pools created by the hot springs before enjoying some time in and by the Orange River.

SOUTH AFRICA

Through the wine areas of Cape Province, we come to our journey's end at Ashanti Lodge, Cape Town. The Travel Shop can assist you with all you may now wish to do - including the Garden Route, visiting Robben Island, diving for the Great White, wine tours, the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, excellent surfing and so much more. We have our last meal together against the extraordinary backdrop of the 1,000 metre high Table Mountain.

WHAT YOU GET:

OPTIONAL EXTRAS: