Responsible Tourism

Gorillas & Gameparks

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Highlights of this tour.

A fantastic 19 day journey by overland truck to game parks, the amazing Mountain Gorillas and soda lakes abundant in bird life as well as opportunities to go quad biking and white water rafting at the source of the Nile.
• Great Rift Valley
• Lake Naivasha
• Hells Gate National Park
• Virunga Mountains
• Mountain Gorilla trek (in Uganda or Rwanda)
• Kampala
• Lake Victoria
• Source of the Nile
• Bujagali Falls
• White Water Rafting
• Lake Nakuru National Park
• Giraffe Centre
An additional local payment of £170 is made to your tour leader at the start of your trip. The trip cost includes all travel in the truck, approx. 50% of meals, services of crew and all accommodation during the trip.
Our trips are led by two experienced crew who will share with you their knowledge and enthusiasm for travel to Africa.

Example of the itinerary.

Days 1 - 2 Our tour starts at 9 am driving north out of Nairobi into Africa's greatest natural feature, the Great Rift Valley. Stretching from the Dead Sea in Jordan down to Mozambique in Southern Africa, our first view is from the top of an escarpment. Overland trips to East Africa will allow you to experience absolutely spectacular scenery first hand, and the Great Rift Valley is a definite highlight. The valley floor seems to sweep on forever and is dotted with peaks and shimmering rivers and countless springs. Our journey takes us into the valley to Lake Naivasha. We camp near the lakeshore where Hippos sometimes feed at night! Here you can walk to Elsamere, the house of Joy Adamson of Elsa the Lion and Born Free fame, and enjoy a film of her life - and cream teas! You can also hire mountain bikes and cycle or walk through Hells Gate National Park - the only game reserve in Kenya in which you are allowed to walk.
Or for a less active but equably enjoyable game viewing experience visit the Crater Lake Game Sanctuary. Both offer excellent scenery & opportunities to spot hyrax, abundant bird & plant life along with several types of gazelle, impala and eland.

Days 3 - 4 We then continue west and travel to Uganda. A mountainous drive with spectacular scenery through the Nandi Hills brings us to our next stop at Eldoret. From here we cross the Kenya - Uganda border, and continue to Kampala.

Days 5 - 6 Kampala has had a turbulent past, but these days is a friendly and safe city. We have a free day to spend in local cafes and nightspots and get to know the local people, there is also the opportunity to spend the day visiting a local Chimpanzee Sanctuary and rehabilitation centre on one of the islands on Lake Victoria. The following day we have a long drive as we head west through swamps, patches of forest and fertile green countryside. As we travel through Uganda, we'll visit a number of small towns and villages; Mpigi, where you will see roadside stalls manufacturing and selling traditional musical instruments; Kyazanga, where we can buy fresh rotisserie and roasted meat and vegetables, as well as roasted bananas. We also stop at the spot where our route crosses the equator.

Days 7 - 10 Next is the Virunga range of volcanic mountains and the rainforests on these mountain slopes are home to several families of Mountain Gorillas. Getting up close to these amazing creatures is a truly humbling experience and one of the highlights of the trip. We will visit the gorillas in either Uganda or Rwanda. If we view them from Uganda there is the opportunity to paddle out onto Lake Bunyoni in canoes and visit some of the nearby islands or hire mountain bikes to visit nearby villages & schools. From Rwanda there is also the chance to visit the genocide museum in Kigali, which is a moving and interesting experience.

Days 11 - 15 We then return to Kampala and camp near Jinja. Here, on the edge of Lake Victoria, the Nile begins its 6700km journey to the sea. We spend the next few days at Bujagali Falls, just downstream from the source of the Nile. This is a spectacular area, and with one kilometre of raging water below Bujagali Falls, a superb place to go whitewater rafting. We can also organise quad biking or a visit to a local school.

Days 16 - 19 On our way back to the border if we have time we will stop off at Sipi Falls before re-entering Kenya where we travel through hills covered in tea plantations. A days drive brings us to Lake Nakuru National Park. Nakuru is home to a wide variety of wildlife including Black Rhino, Hippo, Lion, Leopard, Hyena and Giraffe. However, Nakuru is a soda lake and most famous for its pink inhabitants, a flock of almost a million Pink Flamingos. A few hours drive brings us back to Nairobi where we will visit a Giraffe centre before our trip finishes.

Note: Departures in August & September will visit the Maasai Mara Game Reserve instead of Lake Nakuru Nat. Park giving the opportunity to view the amazing spectacle of the Wildebeest migration.

The benefits you bring in taking this tour.

Visiting the mountain gorillas is one of the ultimate wildlife viewing experiences. There are thought to be only 700 of these magnificent creatures left in the world. They are essential to the tourist economies of both Uganda and Rwanda and somewhat controversially the tourist dollar is essential to the survival of the gorillas. The gorilla trek and permit money is used for anti-poaching programs and maintenance of the National Parks - the gorillas natural habitat.

Visits to the gorillas are very well controlled by the Parks Authority in order to minimise the potential negative impact on the gorillas. Group sizes are limited to eight; visits last for one hour (and there is only one visit allowed per day) and a distance of seven metres has to be maintained. Every effort is made to ensure that the gorillas are not exposed to human bacteria. Physical contact is not allowed and visitors are not allowed to trek if they are suffering from a cold. A tourist infrastructure has also built up around the gorilla trekking points - providing accommodation, food, transport and souvenirs-creating lots more local employment.

We also visit a number of other conservation /community projects en route that support local communities and conservation initiatives. In Uganda for example, our clients have the opportunity to visit the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary which cares for rescued or orphaned chimpanzees.

In Kenya clients can visit Elsamere - the home of the Elsa Conservation Trust which has donated millions to wildlife and conservation projects and has an on-site conservation centre.

On this trip we stay at small, locally run campsites and where possible buy our food in local markets, thereby directly supporting local communities. We use local companies to run all our excursions.

Before commencing the tour all our clients are provided with detailed pre-departure info which includes information on Responsible Travel. This information is re-emphasised by our Tour Leader at the start of the trip - clients are, for example, advised about respecting local customs particularly in terms of dress and behaviour; water conservation; respecting and conserving wildlife and their habitats; purchasing of endangered species products and so on.

Charities supported on this trip
We sponsor two charities on this trip. In Nairobi, we sponsor a baby elephant, Kamboyo, through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

In Uganda, we make a regular, monthly, financial contribution to Soft Power Education-an organisation that provides education to Ugandan children. We visit this project on our trip and some of our clients have returned to Uganda at the end of their trip to undertake voluntary work here.

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