12 Days Uganda Gorilla Trekking and Serengeti Safari

Your safari begins when you arrive at Entebbe International Airport. Your Friendly Gorillas guide welcomes you, helps with your luggage, and transfers you to your hotel in Kampala.
This day gives you time to recover after your flight before the Uganda section begins. You settle into your hotel, review the route with your guide, and prepare for the drive to Bwindi the next morning.
Your guide explains the gorilla trekking plan, luggage tips, road transfer expectations, lodge category, and regional flight connection to Tanzania later in the itinerary.

After breakfast, your guide picks you up from the hotel and starts the journey to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda.
The drive takes you through towns, roadside markets, farms, banana plantations, and cattle areas. Depending on timing, you may stop at the Equator for photos before continuing toward Mbarara for lunch.
After lunch, the scenery becomes more dramatic as you approach the Kigezi highlands. You pass terraced hills, small villages, winding roads, and cooler highland landscapes.
Bwindi has different gorilla trekking sectors, including Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga, and Nkuringo. Your lodge depends on the confirmed gorilla permit sector. At Friendly Gorillas, we match the lodge to the permit sector so guests avoid unnecessary movement on trekking morning.
Arrive in the evening, check in, have dinner, and rest.

Wake up early, have breakfast, and transfer to the park headquarters for the gorilla trekking briefing. This is the main highlight of the Uganda section.
The ranger guides explain the trekking rules, forest safety, gorilla behavior, and how to behave once you meet the gorillas. After briefing, you enter the forest with ranger guides and trackers.
The trek may take a shorter or longer time depending on where the gorilla family moved overnight. Bwindi is a natural rainforest, so the trails may feel steep, muddy, and uneven in some areas.
When you find the gorillas, you spend up to one hour with them. You may watch a silverback resting, mothers feeding, young gorillas playing, or the family moving through the forest.
This hour gives the itinerary its deepest emotional value. The Serengeti offers scale and drama, but Bwindi gives guests a close, quiet, and personal wildlife encounter.
After the trek, return to the park offices and receive your gorilla trekking certificate. Your guide then transfers you back to the lodge for lunch and rest.

After breakfast, leave Bwindi and transfer to Lake Bunyonyi. This shorter scenic drive gives guests time to recover after gorilla trekking.
Lake Bunyonyi adds balance to the itinerary. Instead of rushing back to Entebbe immediately after the trek, guests enjoy calm water, terraced hills, island views, birds, and a peaceful highland setting.
Spend the afternoon at leisure or add an optional canoe ride, motorboat trip, island visit, or community experience as you explore the second deepest African lake.
There is so much to do here. Just ask your guide and he should be able to give you a couple of options to make your relaxation worth-while.
This day improves the you experience because it gives them time to rest before the Tanzania safari section begins.

After breakfast, begin the return journey to Kampala or Entebbe. This is a long travel day, so an early start works best.
The drive takes you through Kabale, Mbarara, and central Uganda. You stop for lunch along the way and continue through rural towns, farms, and roadside markets.
This buffer night in Kampala or Entebbe is important. It reduces the risk of connecting a long road transfer directly with an international or regional flight. It also gives guests time to rest before flying to Tanzania.
Arrive in Kampala or Entebbe, check in, and relax.

After breakfast, your guide transfers you to Entebbe International Airport for your regional flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania.
On arrival, your Tanzania safari team welcomes you and transfers you to Arusha. This day helps guests settle into the Tanzania section without rushing straight into the parks.
Arusha is the main gateway to the northern Tanzania safari circuit. Guests use this stop to rest, review the safari plan, and prepare for Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro.

After breakfast, leave Arusha and drive to Tarangire National Park. Tarangire gives guests a strong first Tanzania wildlife experience without the longer drive required to reach Serengeti on the same day.
The park is known for elephants, baobab trees, seasonal wildlife movement, and open landscapes. Your guide takes you on a game drive while looking for elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, buffaloes, antelopes, birds, and predators when luck allows.
This day gives guests a smooth introduction to Tanzania’s savannah wildlife after the rainforest and lake scenery of Uganda. It also breaks the route before heading deeper into the northern circuit.
Enjoy lunch during the day and continue with game viewing before transferring to your lodge or camp.

After breakfast, leave Tarangire and drive toward Serengeti National Park. This is a longer but rewarding travel day through northern Tanzania’s safari landscapes.
You pass through the Ngorongoro highlands and continue toward the Serengeti plains. The journey gives guests a sense of scale as the landscape opens into one of Africa’s most famous wildlife regions.
Depending on timing, you may enjoy game viewing as you enter Serengeti. The park offers chances to see lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, buffaloes, hyenas, antelopes, birds, and other wildlife.
The benefit of this day is arrival into a completely different safari environment. Bwindi gave the forest. Tarangire gave elephants and baobabs. Serengeti now gives open plains, predator country, and classic wildlife drama.
Arrive at your camp or lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Wake up early for a full day of game drives in Serengeti National Park. The early start helps guests enjoy cooler temperatures, softer light, and better chances of active wildlife.
Your guide explores productive wildlife areas based on the season, recent sightings, and you interests. Central Serengeti is a strong area for big cats and general wildlife throughout much of the year.
Guests may see lions resting on kopjes, elephants moving through the plains, giraffes browsing, zebras and wildebeest grazing, hyenas moving across the grassland, and birds across different habitats.
A full day in Serengeti gives real value because the park rewards patience. Wildlife changes by hour, and good sightings often come from spending enough time in the field.
You may return to camp for lunch or carry a packed lunch for a longer day out, depending on the final plan.
Return to your camp or lodge for dinner and overnight stay

After breakfast, enjoy a final Serengeti game drive as you begin the journey toward Ngorongoro for yet another incredible adventure.
This day gives guests one more chance to enjoy the Serengeti before moving to the crater region.
Your guide may follow wildlife routes based on what has been active during your stay.
After the game drive, continue toward the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The scenery changes again as you move from open plains into higher, cooler landscapes.
You overnight near Ngorongoro or Karatu, depending on the lodge category and final route. This positioning helps guests start the Ngorongoro Crater experience early the next morning.

After breakfast, descend into Ngorongoro Crater for a game drive. This is one of the most scenic wildlife days in Tanzania.
The crater floor offers a compact and beautiful wildlife environment. Guests may see elephants, buffaloes, zebras, wildebeest, hippos, antelopes, hyenas, lions, birds, and other animals depending on the day.
Ngorongoro adds a strong final safari chapter because it feels different from Serengeti. The scenery is enclosed, dramatic, and easy to appreciate, especially after the wide plains.
After the crater experience, ascend and drive back to Arusha. Arrive in the evening, check into your hotel, and relax before departure day

After breakfast, your driver transfers you to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your outbound flight.
If your flight departs later, guests may add a short Arusha experience, coffee visit, souvenir shopping, or day room depending on timing.
This marks the end of your 12 Days Uganda Gorilla Trekking and Serengeti Safari with Friendly Gorillas Safaris