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Rwanda's Gorillas & the Wildlife of Tanzania 
$7,680 per person, based on double occupancy. Single supplement: $1,695.
Trip Details
See the tour brochure (pdf)
On the WWF Travel blog: Gorilla Trekking: 'A Profound Wildlife Experience'
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Trip Overview
Search for endangered and mystifying mountain gorillas during a guided trek through the forests of Rwanda’s Volcano National Park. Then explore the wildlife-rich savannahs of Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Maasai Mara Reserve in Tanzania.
Trip Itinerary
Monday–Wednesday, March 1-3: U.S. / London / Nairobi / Kigali / Ruhengeri
Depart the United States en route for London. You’ll have a full day in London before your overnight flight to Nairobi. Upon arrival, take a short flight to Kigali, Rwanda, then drive approximately two hours to Ruhengeri. Gorilla Mountain View Lodge (Meals aloft; L,D)
Thursday, March 4: Volcano National Park
Early this morning, meet your local guides and porters at the nearby headquarters of Volcano National Park, which is a part of the Virunga Conservation Area, and embark on your trek to look for mountain gorillas. Gorillas here live on the slopes of ancient volcanoes in high-elevation, misty forests. Dense bamboo thickets give way to a combination of large meadows and a dense herbaceous vegetation zone highlighted by moss-laden hagenia and hypericum trees.
The trek could last from four to seven hours (or more) depending on when you spot the gorillas. There is an hour limit to the time you spend observing these majestic creatures once you spot them. Afterwards, return to your comfortable lodge. Gorilla
Mountain View Lodge (B,L,D)
Friday, March 5: Ruhengeri / Kigali
The morning is free to enjoy the forest around your lodge or participate in a second, optional gorilla trek. You’ll then return to Kigali. Transfer to your hotel in the heart of the city. Kigali Serena Hotel (B,L,D)
Saturday, March 6: Kigali / Serengeti National Park
Drive to the airport for a flight to Serengeti National Park, the jewel of Tanzania’s protected areas, with more than three million
large mammals roaming its plains. You will be in the famed Grumeti River area in the Western Corridor, which is famous for its huge crocodiles and hippo pools. This afternoon, go on your first safari.
Your camp for the next two nights is on the Mwamveni Hill, which offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the plains and
Mbalageti River. The camp has luxuriously appointed tented chalets with private bathrooms and verandas, plus a swimming
pool, bar and lounge loft. Kirawira Camp (B,L,D)
Sunday, March 7: Serengeti National Park
Continue your visit to Serengeti National Park with several outings to look for wildlife. You are in a particularly beautiful part of the Serengeti, where you will have excellent opportunities to see such predators as lions, leopards and cheetahs and their prey, which includes giraffes, topi, Bohor reedbuck, Defassa waterbuck, buffalos and impalas. The sun-warmed granite boulders, called kopjes, are favored by male black-maned lions and leopards. The open grassland is home to large groups of Thomson's and Grant's gazelles, spotted hyenas, jackals and such birds as Double-banded Coursers, Yellow-throated Sandgrouses, Red-capped Larks, Fischer's Sparrow-larks and Capped Wheatears. Kirawira Camp (B,L,D)
Monday, March 8: Serengeti National Park
Continue exploring the Serengeti on a wildlife drive eastward to your next lodge, arriving in the late morning. Your drive will take your through the Seronera Valley, where towering yellow fever trees and palm thickets line the Seronera River and and its hippo pools. This is an excellent area for leopards and their prey. Your lodge is nestled in acacia woodland on the edge of an escarpment overlooking the vast plains of the Serengeti. Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge (B,L,D)
Tuesday & Wednesday, March 9 & 10: Ngorongoro
After breakfast, get set to discover great herds of wildebeest as you drive south to the Naabi Gate. At this time of year the herds are massing and giving birth, and other wildlife will be present as well. Later, drive from Naabi to the Olduvai Gorge, one of the world’s most important paleoanthropological sites; In 1959, Louis and Mary Leakey found fossil evidence of the 1.7-million-year-old predecessors to modern man.
The next day’s outing begins early in the morning, when you take an amazing journey via Land Rover to the floor of the crater. As you descend, look for Maasai as they take their cattle down the steep walls of the crater. The crater – 1,800 feet deep and 102 square miles – has more than 25,000 large mammals, mostly zebra and wildebeest. Look for leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, elephants and impalas. The crater is also a good place to see black rhinos and lions. At the crater’s soda lake, marvel at the colorful flamingos that are among more than 100 bird species here. Explore the savannah bottom before you return to the rim for lunch. Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge (B,L,D daily)
Thursday, March 11: Arusha / Depart
Transfer to the airstrip for a short flight to Arusha. Spend the day exploring the area or relax in your dayroom. After dinner, transfer to the airport for your international flight. Dayrooms at the Mountain Village Lodge (B,L,D Meals Aloft).
Friday, March 12: London / U.S.
Arrive in London and take a connecting flight back to the United States. (Meals aloft)
Optional Extension
Zanzibar, March 11-16, 2010: Explore historical sites and gorgeous beaches on this island off the coast of Tanzania March 11-16. Zanzibar possesses a World Heritage Site in Stone Town, with its winding alleys, bustling bazaars and grand houses. Explore cultural sites, see the rare red colobus monkey at a nature reserve and spend time snorkeling, swimming and enjoying Zanzibar’s beaches. Accommodations are at an elegant luxury resort set in two historic seafront buildings and in thatched bungalows at a cliff-side lodge.
Cost: $2,795 per person, based on double occupancy; single supplement $895.
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