Remember that Doing things for the first time is exciting and fun, but it can also be a bit scary. Especially when it comes to safaris – a situation that puts you in a new country, meeting new people and surrounded by wild animals! That’s it, once you know you’re in good hands, the anxiety vanishes and you’re left with the freedom to make the most out of your adventure.  travelling as a group, well this is fun too, if you are a kind of person  who loves to meet and make new friends. Safari travels are a wonderful way to mix adventure and relaxation thus creating ever lasting memories.

Type of accommodation: Mid range.

Xavier safaris has an excellent taste of good and  Affordable Mid-range lodges& hotels that are the perfect combination of value-for-money and comfort. Mid-range hotels often feature bigger rooms than budget hotels, with more amenities. You’ll find hotels in the city center as well as hotels with beautiful exciting neighborhoods.

Countries: Xavier safaris has travelled to many African countries choosing the best national parks worth visiting. Traveling to more than one country on one trip saves money and time,

Safari price: Xavier safari has signed agreements with some airlines, hotels, lodges and cam e up with a price that fits travelers in this era.

ROUTE MAP

Detailed itinerary

Day 1: Arrival to Kanombe Airport Kigali

As soon as you arrive to Kanombe Airport, Our Professional guide (me) will be waiting to pick you up and transfer you to Kigali city. If you arrive early you will have activities like shopping at the local craft markets, Kigali city tour and Genocide memorial sites.  

Accommodation: Five To five Hotels.

Meal plan: Breakfast & Dinner.

Activity: City tour, craft market or Genocide Memorial (Depending on the time you arrive)

Travel time: 30 minutes

Day 2: Transfer to Cyangugu Via Kibuye

After breakfast your guide will drive you to Cyangugu – Rusizi district where you will spend your night but you will drive though small towns, tea plantations, farm lands and the rolling hills mounting between 1200 meters to 2000 meters above sea level, we will have our lunch at Home Saint Jean Hotel in Kibuye – Karongi district with the beauty of Lake Kivu as one of the most beautiful wonders of Rwanda. After lunch we will continue drive on a lake track with continuous view of the lake and its islands then later arrive to Cyangugu. Your hotel is located on the escarpment of Lake Kivu one of the cleanest lake in the world, good for swimming.

Accommodation: Emeraude Kivu Resort

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Activity: Road Trip

Travel time: 6 hours

Day 3: Chimpanzee trekking in Kyamudongo

Today you will experience some serious monkey business! Nyungwe National Park boasts the highest number of primate species in the world, including the chimpanzees. Approximately 3,000 chimpanzees live in the wild in Rwanda, which makes it a perfect place to spot them! (For those who opted to go Chimpanzee tracking and paid for your permit this is your best opportunity to track them. An experienced ranger will take you to the chimp tracking in the morning or afternoon; you might also see other monkey species that live here. Once you locate the chimpanzee you will have a full hour of eye-to-eye contact with them. Since they are wild animals, we can never guarantee you to see them and might have to settle with hearing their hoots and hollers. For those who don’t like going for Chimpanzee tracking there is an option for you, Nyungwe Water fall Hike will be a rewarding experience

Accommodation: Emeraude Kivu Resort.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Activity: Chimpanzee tracking

Day 4: Nyungwe to Kigali

Oooops! it time to get back to civilization, this morning after you lovely breakfast, you will park up and head to Kigali the city of Rwanda,  the fast growing city in Africa, after the genocide that wiped thousands of Rwandan people. You will arrive in the afternoon, and have a short city tour before its dark.

You will visit the craft market, food and fruits market and Kigali commercial town center.

Then later you will head your hotel.

Accommodation: Five to Five Hotel.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Activity: City tour

Travel time: 6 hours

Day 5: Travel to Akagera National park

In the morning you will have early breakfast and head straight to Akagera national park with is located in the east north of the country Rwanda, it will take you 3 hours to get there by lunch time. After lunch you will have a late afternoon boat ride to look for hippopotamus, bird life, crocodiles and animals coming to swim or drink water.

Accommodation: Akagera Game lodge.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Travel time: 3 Hours

Activity: Boat ride

Day 6: Akagera National park- Game Drive

This morning at around 7am you will have a full day game drive in Akagera national park of Rwanda where you will look for  lions, zebras, topis, giraffes, Leopard, hippos, different species of birds and not to mention great scenery. This park has a different scenic view and many lakes pounded in the park through the national park.

Accommodation: Akagera Game lodge.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Activity: Game drive full day

Day 7: Transfer to Kisoro Uganda

This morning at 8:00 am after your morning breakfast you will leave Akagera national park and head to Kisoro located south western Uganda. We will drive via Kigali town up to the rolling hills until we reach the Cyanika border, we then cross to Uganda the pearl of Africa, we will arrive in for late lunch.

Accommodation: Travellers Rest Hotel Kisoro.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Activity: Road trip

Travel time: 6 Hours’ drive

Day 8: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Forest

Today is the big day for gorilla trekking for those who have paid for their gorilla tracking permit, meet Uganda’s gentle giant! For most people this is the absolute highlight of their tour in Uganda. The gorillas you will track belong to one of nine habituated family groups who can tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period every day. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest boasts mountain gorillas and Duikers. It also hosts five other species of primate, 113 species of mammal, over 200 butterflies and 360 birds. (Each Gorilla Permit costs $600).

En route, your guide will point out signs of previous gorilla activity, including dung, nests and chewed bamboo shoots. Your track will be an exciting journey along forested slopes, entwined vines, bushes and bamboo before you eventually reach the gorilla family. The time taken to track the gorillas can be as few as 2 hours to as many as 7 hours. Once the gorillas have been located, your group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly humbling and emotional experience. This is a fantastic and privileged opportunity to get up close and personal with Uganda’s very own ‘Gorillas in the Mist’. For those who will not participate in the gorilla tracking, you will have to visit the short pygmies the Batwa tribe the shortest people who used to leave in the Bwindi forest over 100years ago, you will visit the pygmy’s home where they will demonstrate how they used to live in the forest, they will share with you their stories of their lives and how they have managed to live by themselves as the Batwa tribe in a community.

Accommodation: Travellers Rest Hotel Kisoro

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Travel time: 3-7 hours of gorilla tracking.

Activity: Gorilla tracking

Day 9: Zendaire Primary School – Kihiihi

This morning after our lovely breakfast, we will head  to Zendaire primary school located in Kanungu district, in a town called Kihiihi, the school will be expecting us for half day, you will have fun at this school, thus you will visit every class room and have a chance to talk to the children. We will have lunch at the school and later head to savannah hotel where we will spend a night. You will stay in nice spacious rooms. The coffee and local meals are wonderful and there are plenty of different species of birds in the gardens.

Accommodation: Savannah Hotel Kihiihi

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Travel time: 3 hours

Activity: School visit

Day 10: Ishasha –Tree climbing lions

Today you drive to Ishasha and have a game drive in this part of Queen Elizabeth national park to look for tree climbing lions, Topi, Leopard, Kobs, Elephants and hippos. You will have packed lunch by the hippo pool on Ishasha River. Then in the afternoon at around 4pm you will head to the northern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park where we will spend a night.

Accommodation: Park view safari lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.

Travel time: 1 hour to Ishasha & 2 hours to Lodge

Activity: Game drive in Ishasha

Day 11: Games drive, Boat ride on Kazinga Channel

This morning at 6:30 you will have a wonder full game drive in Kasenyi area north east of Queen Elizabeth national park for 3 hours where you will find lions, Waterbuck, warthog, Kob, Elephant, Leopard. After the game drive we will drive to Mweya peninsular jetty where we will have a boat ride on the Kazinga channel at 11am, we will look out for animal like elephants, buffalo, Kobs and others come to either take a bath or drink water, but don’t forget the crocodiles and hippos also live here. This boat ride is rewarding and not a must to miss. After the boat ride you will have lunch and later proceed to Igongo cultural hotel in the out skirts of Mbarara town.

Accommodation: Igongo Cultural Center Hotel

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Travel time: 4 Hours.

Activity: Game drive & boat ride

Day 12: Game drive, Transfer to Entebbe

This morning you will have a game drive to find Zebra, warthogs, Impala, Eland and Kudu, most of the animals like Kudu, bushbuck and Eland are shy animals. The game drive will last for 4 hours. After lunch you will drive to Entebbe for your last night in Uganda.

Accommodation: Lake Victoria View Guest House.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Travel time: 1.5 Hours.

Activity: Game drive

Day 13: Entebbe to Kilimanjaro (Flight to Tanzania)

This morning after our lovely breakfast, depending on the flight to Kilimanjaro we head to Entebbe airport which is 15 minutes’ drive, you will travel with your Guide to Tanzania, the flight will take between 3 hours to 4 hours depending on the stop in Nairobi or you might have a direct flight. You will arrive to Kilimanjaro Airport and then you will transfer to Arusha a city in northern Tanzania and the capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, Arusha has a temperate climate. The city is close to the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Lake Manyara National Park, Olduvai Gorge, Tarangire National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Arusha National Park on Mount Meru.

Accommodation: Green mountain Hotel.

Meal plan: Breakfast, & dinner.

Travel flight time: 4Hours.

Activity: Flight

Day 14: Lake Manyara N.P.

Today, after an early breakfast, you will be traveling to the first national park of this trip: Lake Manyara National Park. This is a small but very beautiful park offering breathtaking views, excellent game viewing and an incredible array of birdlife. You have a chance to spot zebra, baboon, warthog, giraffe, impala, elephant, hippo, wildebeest and the rare tree climbing lion.

Your accommodation for tonight is Endoro lodge.

Accommodation: Endoro lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & Dinner

Activity: Game drive

Travel time: 2 hours

Day 15: The Serengeti

After breakfast, you depart for the most famous safari park in Tanzania, on your way to Serengeti National Park you will have a stop and visit Olduvai Gorge – the cradle of manking. The Serengeti hosts the most extensive population of wild animals on earth and has a complex and untouched ecosystem. Serengeti means “endless plains” in the language of the Masai, a description that the Serengeti completely lives up to. These endless plains have to be experienced to be fully appreciated! You visit the heart of the Serengeti, Seronera Valley. This valley might be termed as the ‘classic’ Serengeti; short grass plains with all different kind of wild animals ranging from the impressive lion to the naughty mongoose. From the park entrance you game drive towards your accommodation for tonight. After the incredible impressions of the Serengeti.

Accommodation: Serengeti Tortilis camp

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & Dinner

Activity: Game drive

Travel time: 2 hours

Day 16: Game drives in Serengeti National Park

Early in the morning you leave the camp for a full day safari! Most of the national park is open and grassy. Ultimately, the success of any safari lies in the number and quality of encounters with big cats. There are thousands of lions in the Serengeti and you have a fair chance to see cheetahs, although they are difficult to spot. And when it comes to leopards, the Serengeti rarely disappoints! We will find you a nice picnic spot to enjoy your packed lunch and then you slowly continue your safari back to Serengeti Tortilis camp.

Keep your eyes open since you still have chances to see all kinds of animals roaming the plains, hidden behind bushes or resting in a tree. You never know when and were exactly you will spot wildlife. Back at the lodge you will have an excellent dinner and some time to relax.

Accommodation: Serengeti Tortilis camp

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & Dinner

Activity: Game drive

Day 17: Game drives in Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater

Today you enjoy a long game drive on your way out of the beautiful Serengeti and continue to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. In the afternoon, you will have a game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater! As an UNESCO World Heritage Site the crater offers a unique biosphere which has remained virtually unchanged since the dawn of time. There are very few places in the world where you can find such a large population of wildlife throughout the year. Deep within the crater, enclosed by towering walls, you have a good chance of spotting ‘The Big 5’: Lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. For the latter two you need a bit of luck as they tend to shy away. Approximately 30 000 animals live on the crater floor! After this great experience, you drive to Tloma lodge to enjoy dinner and an en-suite fireplace.

Accommodation: Tloma lodge (Garden Rooms)

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & Dinner

Activity: Game drive

Day 18: Departure to your flight back home.

After an early breakfast, you will depart early to Mto Wa Mbu village. Get an inside look at the homes and exquisite crafts of Mto wa Mbu’s many tribes. Here you will get a chance to meet the locals and learn about banana beer, Makonde wood carvings, and the tribe painting techniques, kisu and tingatinga. A stroll through the village provide a great introduction to everyday life in Africa.

Today is unfortunately the last day of your trip Xavier safaris! This is the end of hopefully a wonderful tour through Rwanda, Uganda & Tanzania.

Accommodation: Not included,

Meal plan: Breakfast & lunch,

Activity:  Mto Wa Mbu village/ Airport

Travel time: 6 hours

SAFARI PRICE:

Solo traveler pays: $7687

2-8 people traveling together: each person pays  $ 5,680

Uganda 18 Days safari (What you are paying for)

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