Overland Adventure Tour

Day 1 – 8
Nairobi, Lake Nakuru, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Lake Bunyonyi, Gorilla Trek
We depart Nairobi for Kenya’s Great Rift Valley and Lake Nakuru National Park. Best known for its birdlife, especially flamingos Nakuru also contains good stocks of rhino, leopard, buffalo, warthog, baboon, antelope and lion! We continue north through the highlands to Eldoret before we cross into Uganda to the capital Kampala. After a night here we drive west to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We game drive in search of Uganda’s natural wildlife, pause to appreciate the views of Lake Edward before tracking Chimpanzee sanctuary at Kyambura Gorge. Seen in their natural habitat chimpanzees live in structured social groups but quite different to the gentle gorillas we see later in the trip. After game driving through QENP we continue to rural south-west Uganda and our camp beside Lake Bunyonyi, It is in this densely forested area that we trek in search of the gorillas. Local guides lead us through jungle into the hills. The trek can be demanding but the effort is forgotten when we finally find ourselves in the midst of a family of gorillas. We have a one hour ‘audience’ with these gentle giants, and you may be surprised at how close you can get and how human-like they are. We may spend several days in the area to allow time for everyone to complete the trek.
Day 9 – 12
Kampala, Jinja
Returning to Kampala we have a night in the capital before continuing to Jinja. Situated near the source of the River Nile there is the opportunity to assist a local charity in building and improving community schools - roll up your sleeves and make a difference!
Day 13 – 14
Eldoret, Nairobi
From Jinja we cross back into Kenya stopping at Eldoret and driving along the Rift Valley to Nairobi where we prepare for the next leg of our journey.

DAYS 15 - 23
Masai Mara, Serengeti Plains
From Nairobi we visit Kenya’s best-known game park, the Masai Mara Game Reserve. The park is justly renowned for its stocks of wildlife, Africa’s ‘Big Five’ and its beautiful scenery. We retrace our steps briefly before crossing into Tanzania for a 3-day excursion to the Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park and Olduvai Gorge by 4x4 vehicle.

DAYS 24 - 29
Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar
From Arusha we glimpse snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro en route to the port city of Dar es Salaam. We catch a ferry to Zanzibar and spend three days on the island exploring Stone Town, enjoying the beautiful beaches and bathing in the warm Indian Ocean waters. We return to the mainland before heading south, via Mikumi National Park, to Malawi.

NB Basic shared accommodation is included on Zanzibar however meals will be for your own account allowing you to experience some of the many different options available on Zanzibar. Please refer to the tour dossier (available below) for more information.


DAYS 30 - 39
Lake Malawi, Victoria Falls, Livingstone
Malawi is dominated by the enormous Lake Malawi and one of our more popular stops here is Kande Beach, a lakeside resort where you can swim, snorkel, scuba dive and take an informative guided walk to a local village. We pass through Lilongwe and cross into Zambia and continue to Livingstone. This is our base to explore Victoria Falls. There are numerous optional activities to pursue here, as well as viewing the ‘Falls’ themselves.

DAYS 40 - 50
Chobe National Park, Okavango Delta, Etosha National Park
Leaving Livingstone we cross into Botswana to Chobe National Park. We enjoy a game drive and game cruise on the Chobe River before continuing to the Okavango Delta. Explore the channels and floodplains on foot and by mokoro (dugout canoe). Further south, we spend time with traditional Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert learning how they live. Across the border in Namibia, we enjoy two days in Etosha National Park on game drives in magnificent desert terrain.

DAYS 51 - 58
Swakopmund, Fish River Canyon, Cape Town
After Etosha, we drive south through Damaraland, making camp amongst the eerie rock formations at Sptizkoppe, before visiting Swakopmund, Namibia’s fun-loving coastal town offers a range of optional desert based adventure activities such as skydiving and sand boarding. Meanwhile, a dramatic terrain of sand dunes and dead vleis (lakes) are there to be explored in the Namib Naukluft Park. Fish River Canyon, the second-largest canyon in the world, is our final stop in Namibia. In South Africa we camp beside the Orange (Gariep) River before continuing south to Cape Town for a cultural township tour to end our journey.

Permit information

Each gorilla permit allows one trek. We stay in Bwindi or an alternative gorilla national park for the time necessary to allow everybody to trek once. The day to day itinerary may therefore vary if trekking goes over time. Optional activities can be arranged locally when not trekking.

Gorilla viewing

To ensure we obtain gorilla permits, we may trek outside Uganda in neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, where gorillas have also been habituated for viewing. Trekking here involves a minimal detour from the described route.

Gorilla trekking excursion

The Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) sets the gorilla permit price and stipulates that permits must be booked and paid for in advance. We therefore collect your gorilla permit money at the time of booking, along with your normal deposit. The Gorilla permit price is quoted in US dollars but is paid in your local currency at a rate fixed by Acacia. Whilst the price is correct at time of going to press (July 2010), Acacia reserves the right to pass on any increase in fee if the UWA raises the price. Finally please note, the gorilla permit fee is not refundable if you cancel your booking.