Wildebeest Migration and Gorilla Trekking: A Uganda and Tanzania Safari

As you touch down at Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will glimpse the snow-dappled cone of Africa’s highest mountain, before you sneak a peek at Mount Meru and settle into the lush gardens of the lodge. This luxury lodge just outside of Arusha will provide a quiet first night in Africa. When dusk falls, you will start to hear the bushbabies, perhaps even spot their large eyes that shine in the gloom. Two hours later and all will be silent while stillness hangs in the air. Tonight, you will rest, relax, and get ready for the safari adventure that starts tomorrow. Dinner at the lodge will be included.

In the morning you will discover that baboons guard the entrance to Lake Manyara National Park, and huge troops of them jump across the trail with frenzies stares and fierce howling. They compete with the storks for attention as the birds occupy the higher tree branches with a deafening squawk. When you weave into the park, notice how the elephants don’t seem fussed by the racket, and they wander peacefully through the forest.

When the forest ends, you will cross the floodplain, where wildebeest and buffalo graze, just beyond the hooting of hippos in the lake. Spectacular canyon walls cast a lengthy shadow across the landscape, and upon further inspection, you will find lions in the trees. During your time at Lake Manyara, you will primarily encounter baboons, as this area has the highest concentration in Africa. This beautiful little park on route to the Serengeti provides a very relaxed introduction to the safari lifestyle. You’ll cross the park in half a day and exit from the southern gate towards Tarangire National Park, where your lodge has a terrace that overlooks the evening wanderings of elephant herds.

The next day, when you open the curtains, you will be in the wild. Watch as a small elephant herd plods past and when the sun rises a little further you will spot another 30 or so friendly mammals on the landscape below. During the morning game drive, you will soon be surrounded by the giants, from the trunk-swinging antics of the babies to the lonely melancholy wanderings of cast-out old males. Impala jump past as a small herd of zebra play on the plains around a giant baobab tree. Lions can also be spotted here, but your focus will not be the predators, it’ll be the harmony of life and sense of wilderness that an African safari can create.

While yesterday you may have been ticking off sights, by the second day on safari you’re starting to understand that the experience is about feeling and quality, not numbers. Spend the full morning in Tarangire and exit through the northern gate after a picnic lunch, then drive to your lodge in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Just like each place you stay in Tanzania, the wildlife sightings will continue long into the night with the silhouetted giants that wander past as you dine at the lodge.

Today you will descend at dawn into the world’s largest intact caldera, which is a mystical place. As you journey through the landscape, lions will emerge from the mist and wander menacingly toward a frightened herd of zebra. Wildebeest gallop and their energy will be a sharp contrast to some of Africa’s largest elephant bulls, which move at a pace that reflects their old age with curved tusks that are quite majestic. Black rhinos also roam the caldera floor, and these naturally bashful characters trot with a strange yet elegant gait. As you drive past the flamingos in one lake to the pods of hippos in another, you will pass buffalos and hyenas on the way. More than 25,000 animals live in the crater, and you may see up to a dozen species in a single vista. This natural Eden is one of the enduring pieces in Africa’s wildlife jigsaw.

Upon your ascent from the crater, you will follow the rugged road west and gaze down on the open and untouched plains of the Serengeti. The two parks are contiguous, and it’s only because of Ngorongoro that the great wildebeest migration is possible. When the Ngorongoro volcano exploded, it created a blanket of nutrient-rich soil that flattened a vast area to the west, now the Serengeti. This grass sustains the world’s largest wild mammal population, with wildebeest and zebra calves able to develop at a rate not witnessed elsewhere in the wild. You’ll get a view of the enormity of the grassland from above before drive onto the open landscape for your first mystical experience with the migration.

During your stay in the Serengeti, you’ll wake to the sound of hooves each morning. It’s like a drumbeat, a hi-hat percussion that echoes across the flat landscape. Open the curtains of your luxury canvas tent, and you will see the wildebeest on the move, and perhaps a few of them gallop around with enthusiasm you don’t usually associate with the morning. Enjoy your coffee and a quick breakfast before you set off as the sun has peeked over the horizon. These early morning hours are when the Serengeti is most active with the herds starting their daily journey and the big cats hunting in colder temperatures to conserve energy. There will be no set route for the game drive to take. Instead, you will follow the action and trace the clues, perhaps tracking a pride on the prowl, a leopard with her cub, or the circling of vultures that suggests a recent kill.

At first, the scale will baffle you. The wildebeest spread out, and hundreds of herds will join to create half a dozen herds that could number 300,000 or more. You can easily drive for an hour and not get to the end of the procession. The zebras are usually a day or two behind, and they cluster together so that they look like a single gray mass from a distance, which is part of their camouflage. When you get much closer, the individual animals begin to separate themselves. Tens of thousands of zebras stand in front of you while you focus on the details. A pair of zebras groom each other while an infant is herded into a mass of adults, and rival males gallop and bite one another. There might be 50,000 in a single panorama, made up of thousands of small family herds of six to eight individuals.

If you visit from December to early March, this mass of hooves will occupy the southeastern corner of the park, where ungulates raise their calves for the journey ahead. From June to August the herds will travel north, and each year they take slightly different routes across the fresh grazing pastures. The camp you will stay at is dependent on when you visit, particularly in July and August. It’s good to maintain some flexibility during these two months as the great wildebeest migration will not follow the standardized route maps published online. Instead, it’s an evolving phenomenon driven by the rains.

However impressive the herds may be, you are not just here for the zebra and wildebeest. You’re here for the spectacle of all of Tanzania’s wildlife. While on safari, you’ll watch the movements of a leopard as it descends from the trees before the hunter disappears into the high grass as she sneaks up on her prey. Then, notice as a lion pride lounges in the sun with bellies full, panting the afternoon away. Another lion pride devours a carcass, and you’ll be close enough to hear the crack of bone. Hyenas snarl as they follow the migration and these curious creatures are mightily effective hunters. Cheetahs are also in abundance since a newborn wildebeest is an excellent addition to their diet of Thomson’s gazelle. Sometimes you will watch the whole hunt, and sometimes you will see the kill, but at all times it’s hard to know where to look because so much is happening on the plains.

Over these three days, you’ll explore exclusively on private daytime game drives. The route will follow the drama and your interests. You may enjoy morning and afternoon drives with relaxed time at the camp in between, or you might stay out all day. There will always be another sight or sound to savor as the annual spectacle plays out. When night falls, the wildlife will sing you a lullaby as distant lion roars are accompanied by shrilled yelps and the soft patter of the hooves.

On a final morning safari in the Serengeti, you will not loop back to the camp but continue to the airstrip, where you board a new light aircraft service that provides effortless travel between the grasslands and the gorillas. While you soar over the plains, you will watch how the grass gives way to the endless blue of Lake Victoria. Then, touch down in Entebbe where the flight times are scheduled so you can step straight onto a small plane to the west of Uganda. By early afternoon you’ll land beneath the thick green of the forest canopy and notice how the atmosphere has changed. While the Serengeti felt boundless, the dense and tangled Bwindi forest contains a mystery that you can feel and can’t wait to discover. Tomorrow you’ll see the gorillas, but today, you’ll relax and watch the mist start to swirl in the canopy below.

Trekking to the gorillas is always an adventure. After you set off on a clear walking trail, you will quickly veer off into the narrow paths created by forest elephants. It is often muddy here, and the ground is extremely uneven. You’ll walk through an untamed forest, where machetes are used to clear a track towards the world’s largest primates. Rangers allocate gorilla troops to trekkers depending on travelers’ fitness levels, with older trekkers typically visiting the primates that are closest to the trailhead. While you can’t choose which troop you want to visit, with two days, you will visit two utterly different gorilla troops. Like all primate families, the contrasts will be remarkable, in terms of behavior as well as the size and makeup of the troop.

With a single glance, you will freeze upon your arrival. The gorilla looks directly at you, and their eyes will be unwavering in their focus. It’ll feel like the gorilla is looking into you as they try to understand their primate cousin. It will be hard to tell how long the gaze lasts, and goosebumps will cover your arms while you get a sense that time is standing still. As one gorilla crawls away, you will find that a juvenile with inquisitive eyes is looking your way. Just seven meters will separate you, although that distance is sometimes shorter as the gorillas don’t know or follow the rules on proximity. Perhaps an infant crawls through the branches above your head, while a silverback marches past silently and powerfully, and a gorilla jumps closer to pick fallen fruit.

Only around a thousand of these giants live in the wild and you will understand the uniqueness of the experience from the very first glance. Sometimes you’ll be greeted by waving arms, other times by the fierce stare, and sometimes by mischievous infants throwing sticks. After this initial impression, you will want to take photos and the cameras will ready so that you can take one hundred a minute. Soon, you will put the lens away and appreciate the experience with all your own senses. As a mother nurtures her infant, a blackback gnaws on tree bark while two gorillas forage close to your feet and another falls from the trees after misjudging a jump.

You watch as gestures play out and every primate’s face is so expressive and full of emotion. The eyes may be hard to interpret though as they are black and set far back in their face. The troops are habituated to your presence, however, they do not put on a show. They are very wild, and after the first few moments of recognition, the gorillas will simply go about their day. This intimate and incredibly authentic wildlife experience reflects our modern natural world as it is so unique yet imbued with a strong feeling of fragility. One gorilla trek is unforgettable, but with two treks you will enjoy twice as much time with the troops and twice as much behavior.

From Bwindi you will catch the morning flight back to Uganda’s main international airport in Entebbe. You’ll be greeted by a representative and assisted on the transfer to your homebound flight.