30-Day Ultimate Africa Private Expedition

Cape Town

You'll be picked up at the airport and driven to your hotel. The rest of your day is open, so head to the V&A Waterfront area and walk around at your own pace. If art interests you, the Zeitz MOCAA Museum is worth checking out.

Kruger National Park

After breakfast, a local guide takes you through Cape Town's historic centre. You'll see the Castle of Good Hope, City Hall where Mandela gave his famous speech, and the colorful Bo-Kaap neighborhood. If the weather cooperates, ride the cable car up Table Mountain for views across the city. The afternoon is yours to do as you like.

Victoria Falls

This day is completely flexible. Stay at the hotel and relax, shop around, or explore Cape Town on your own. There's also an optional full-day Cape Peninsula tour available. You'd head along the Atlantic coast through Sea Point and Camps Bay, stop at the fishing village of Hout Bay, then go to Cape Point Nature Reserve to see wildlife and where two oceans meet. The tour includes afternoon tea at Rhodes Memorial before returning.

Nairobi

After breakfast, check out and head to Franschhoek, South Africa's wine and food hub. Spend the afternoon walking through this charming village with over 300 years of French Huguenot history. Browse craft shops, art galleries, and antique stores, or visit the Huguenot Memorial. You can also hike the surrounding mountains or cycle through vineyards if that appeals to you.

Amboseli National Park

After breakfast, you'll spend the day exploring Franschhoek wineries using the included Wine Tram Hop-on-Hop-off Experience. Make your way to the tram stop and board the double-decker or open-air tram that winds through rolling vineyards. Jump off at various wine estates for tastings, cellar tours, and vineyard walks at your own pace, then hop back on to continue exploring.

Tarangire National Park

You'll transfer back to Cape Town, about an hour away, for your included flight to Kruger National Park, which takes 2 hours and 25 minutes. A guide meets you on arrival and takes you to your accommodation. The rest of your day is at leisure before dinner at the hotel.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

This is a full-day open vehicle game drive, roughly 10 hours total. After an early breakfast, head out looking for the Big Five (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, buffalo) and over 135 other mammal species plus 500 bird varieties. The park's diverse habitats offer good chances to spot wildlife. You'll return in late afternoon for dinner.

Serengeti National Park

Today you're free to relax around the resort. If you want more safari time, there's an optional half-day open vehicle game drive in the afternoon at 12:30pm winter or 1:30pm summer, returning at 5:30pm or 6:30pm depending on season. An English-speaking ranger and transport back are included.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

You'll transfer to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, about 45 minutes away, for your included flight to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, which takes 1 hour and 45 minutes. A local representative meets you and takes you to your hotel in town with easy access to the falls. The rest of your day is open.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

After breakfast, join a guided tour of Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side. Walk through the misty rainforest along the falls, stopping at viewpoints including the Main Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Rainbow Falls, the Boiling Pot, Cataract Island, and Livingstone Island. You'll see the millions of liters of water dropping over the edge. The afternoon is free, though sunset Zambezi River cruises and helicopter flights over the falls are optional.

After breakfast, your guide drives you about an hour into Botswana to explore Chobe National Park on a combined land and water safari. Start with a boat game drive on the Chobe River, where you'll spot large elephant herds, crocodiles, and birds from the water. Then transfer to a safari vehicle for land-based viewing and lunch overlooking the Chobe River. You'll return to Victoria Falls late this afternoon back in Zimbabwe.

You have a free day to relax at your hotel or explore Victoria Falls on your own. The town has various activities and attractions you can discover at your own pace.

After breakfast and some free time, transfer to Victoria Falls Airport for your included flight to Nairobi, Kenya, which takes 3 hours and 15 minutes. A local representative meets you at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and takes you to your hotel for the evening.

After breakfast, meet your Kenyan guide for a tour briefing before heading to Amboseli National Park, about 3.5 hours away. This iconic park sits under Mount Kilimanjaro and is known for large elephant herds, cheetahs, and emerald-green swamps. This afternoon, you'll do a game drive where your guide introduces you to the park before returning for included dinner.

After an early 6:30am breakfast, you'll spend the full day watching wildlife in Amboseli National Park. See elephant bulls with impressive tusks against Mount Kilimanjaro's snow-capped peak as a backdrop. After lunch, do an evening game drive before sunset, then return to the lodge for dinner.

You'll start a 4-hour journey from Amboseli toward Tanzania, crossing the Namanga border, then continue to Arusha and Tarangire National Park. The park is named for its river and hosts elephants, zebra, wildebeest, gazelle, buffalo, eland, waterbuck, lion, giraffe, and exceptional birds. An afternoon game drive lets you see the park's wildlife. Note that both guide and vehicle change at the Tanzania border.

After an early 6:30am breakfast, you'll do full-day game drives through Tarangire National Park. The views across the Maasai Steppe with mountains on the horizon are great, and the park is known for its large elephant population and iconic baobab trees. During migration season, you might see up to 3,000 elephants, 25,000 wildebeest, and 30,000 zebras. After lunch, continue game drives into late evening before returning to the lodge for dinner.

After breakfast at 7:30am, head to the village of Karatu. Spend time doing community activities and seeing local culture. Walk through the bustling market, talk with vendors, and stroll through the charming village before settling in for the evening.

After an early 6:30am breakfast, you'll head to the Ngorongoro Crater, a major natural wonder. You'll have chances to see the entire Big Five including the small population of critically endangered black rhinos. After a picnic lunch in the crater, you'll move toward the Serengeti, crossing the central plains with their endless rolling grass savannahs. Depending on the season, you'll transfer to your lodge in either central or southern Serengeti to increase chances of seeing the wildebeest migration.

After breakfast around 6:30am, drive to Northern Serengeti for full-day game drives across the vast rolling plains. The Serengeti is famous for hosting the world's largest annual animal migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebras traveling roughly 800 km. Year-round you'll see lions (the park has Africa's largest lion population), leopards, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, and many antelope and bird species. In September, watch for wildebeest crossing the Mara River. An optional hot air balloon ride departs at 5am and ends around 9am with breakfast included.

After breakfast, head to the airstrip for your onward flight to Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya for the next two days. You'll get chances to see the Big Five and may witness the wildebeest migration crossing from Serengeti into Masai Mara. Luggage is limited to 15kg per person in soft-sided suitcases. Your guide will change upon arrival in Kenya.

After breakfast at 6:30am, you'll do a full-day adventure in Masai Mara National Reserve with packed lunch. The reserve's diverse habitats hold magnificent lions, leopards, cheetahs, zebras, wildebeest, giraffes, buffaloes, and elephants. As you navigate lush plains and meandering rivers, you might see hippos and crocodiles. Watch the skies for abundant birdlife. You'll return to the lodge as the sun sets for campfire drinks and dinner.

After breakfast, start your 4-hour journey back to Nairobi. Check into your hotel once you arrive, have lunch, and spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the city or relaxing at the hotel.

Transfer to the airport for your included flight to Entebbe, Uganda, which takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. Meet your representative at Entebbe International Airport and transfer to a cosy guesthouse in a quiet residential neighborhood with beautiful gardens. Rooms are private with en-suite bathrooms, ceiling fans, and mosquito nets. Relax this evening with included dinner at the hotel.

Around 9am, take a speed boat on Lake Victoria to Mabamba Swamp, known for its rich birdlife and 300 different bird species. Transfer to a motorised traditional canoe for the best views of this wetland. Look for the rare and prehistoric-looking Shoebill Stork. After the tour, return to Entebbe for lunch at a local restaurant. This afternoon around 5pm, enjoy a sundowner cruise on Lake Victoria with snacks and drinks, watching local fishermen cast nets as the light fades. Return to your hotel for dinner after sunset.

After breakfast, meet your guide and head toward Queen Elizabeth National Park. Stop at the Uganda equator crossing along the way for photos and lunch. This is Uganda's oldest and second largest park, located at the base of the Rwenzori Mountains and covered by savannah plains with abundant game. Depending on when you arrive and your energy, you can optionally join a game drive spotting leopards, gazelles, elephants, lions, buffaloes, hippos, and more. Your accommodation sits on the escarpment edge overlooking the park in a spacious canvas tent with a permanent grass-thatched roof.

This morning, go on a chimpanzee trekking excursion in either Kalinzu Forest or Kyambura Gorge forest where these primates live. You might see other species including black and white colobus monkeys, olive baboons, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, and grey-cheeked mangabeys. Return to the lodge for a sumptuous lunch, then take a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel connecting Lake Edward to Lake George. Watch buffaloes, elephants, waterbucks, crocodiles, and the highest concentration of hippos, plus colorful waterbirds like crested eagles, pelicans, and cormorants.

After breakfast, drive south through breathtaking evergreen mountain countryside for approximately 4 hours to reach Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Check in at your lodge and relax before your big day tomorrow when you'll have the chance to see mountain gorillas.

This is the main event! An early start brings you to the visitor's reception centre for a briefing about the park. Once assigned guides, you'll head into the forest searching for rare mountain gorillas, the highlight of most Uganda tours. Bwindi is the only African forest with both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, plus five other primate species, 113 mammal species, over 200 butterfly species, and 360 bird species. Your guide will point out gorilla signs including dung, nests, and chewed bamboo shoots. Once located, you'll spend a maximum of one hour with these animals. Trekking can be wet, muddy, and strenuous with challenging terrain, but encountering a habituated gorilla family dominated by a great silverback male is worth every difficulty.

This morning fly back to Entebbe. Upon arrival, day-use accommodation at a nearby guesthouse is arranged so you can freshen up and make the most of your last day. After checking in, browse craft shops for final souvenirs or simply relax before your private transfer to the airport for your departure flight back to Nairobi this evening.