DAY 1
NAIROBI - LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK - 140kms

The truck departarted the Hotel Boulevard at 10am, we stoped at the Rift Valley lookout, which offers spectacular views over the Great Rift Valley, and then drove through to the National Park with a lunch stop on the side of the road. This is commonly how we had lunch, the long table comes off the truck with the salad and sometimes cold meats and it's a 'make your own sandwiches' lunch.

Nakuru National Park is spectacular and a great opportunity to view our first wildlife, on our game drive to our campsite we saw baboon, tortoise, gazelle, zebra, giraffe, pink flamingo, rhino, buffalo and warthog. Our first night was in a camp in the middle of the national park, no fences between us and the wildlife!

We didn't get much sleep with all the noises of the wild and we were advised not go out of our tents during the night due to the snakes and scorpions let alone the wildlife!! A great welcome to Africa.

DAY 2
LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK - ELDORET

Up at 5.30am for a 6.30am departure. We had a 3-hour game drive through the park, we saw more rhino, and giraffe, zebra, impala and we were also lucky enough to spot a Leopard, which we could hear purring just like a domestic cat.

We had breakfast up at the Baboon Lookout, which gives fantastic views over lake Nakuru and the National Park. Breakfast is cereals and toast, help yourself. We were advised to watch out for snakes as the tour leader always sees them up there but luckily we didn't see any!!

Onto Nakuru township where we had an hour stop for pax to use the Internet, change money, food/souvenir shopping.

We got into groups of 3 which were for cooking and cleaning, we only had to cook twice on this trip.

It's a 4-hour drive to Eldoret from Nakuru, it was great to see all the kids waving to us through the villages.

DAY 3
Eldoret to Jinja/Uganda

Another early start, breakfast at 6.30am and we travelled straight through to the Ugandan Border. The crossing only took about an hour. At the border there are hundreds of trucks waiting to go through, this can sometimes take up to a week!!

Lunch was a stop on the side of the road, sandwiches and fruit. No food is to be thrown away everything leftover is given away so we gave left over sandwiches and fruit to some local children.

From the border it's a 3.5hr drive to Jinja. We stopped in the town to stock up before going to the Nile River Explorers campsite. This is a great campsite overlooking the Nile River. The showers only have 3 sides so you have a fantastic view of the river while showering!!

DAYS 4 & 5
Jinja

Most pax went white water rafting today. We had a relaxing day, we went into town on the back of motorbikes and explored Jinja then met up with the others in the bar that night to watch the DVD of their days adventures. The next day was the opportunity for pax to do Soft Power and then we did the Quad Biking at night, which was fantastic!! You travel along the cliff top overlooking the Nile then through villages with the kids waving. You stop on the way in a local village for a coca cola and end up at a local house where they cook an amazing dinner for you, you get to experience the local food then a ride back in the dark, well worth the money this one!

Day 6
Jinja to Lake Bunyoni

This is the longest driving section of the tour, there was a short stop in Kampala for food and ice and then a very picturesque drive through banana and tea plantations through to Lake Bunyoni, arriving about 7pm.

Day 7 -10
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

We had a 10am departure from Lake Bunyoni this time on 2 separate mini buses, as the drive up to Bwindi is not suitable for the truck. We took minimal luggage. The trip was 5 hours on a very narrow windy muddy road with fantastic scenery winding into the hills and lots of tea plantations. There is a small township at the entrance to the National Park, which has a few souvenir shops and a café. We had a few hours to relax and explore before a fantastic dinner cooked by the restaurant and an early night ready for our big day tomorrow.

A huge breakfast provided for our big day ahead. Then onto the park which is a World Heritage Site for a briefing on the Gorillas and we were split into 2 groups.

The trackers find where the Gorilla families have slept that night then follow them and radio through to our guides. We were very lucky and only had a 20-minute walk - so much for the big breakfast - and we then had an amazing hour watching the family eating and playing. The other group walked for a total of 4 hours to see their gorilla group. You have one guide with you at all times and 2 guards with guns that follow you to where you see the Gorillas. Definitely worth the money, a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Gorilla Info

• 1 hour maximum is spent with the Gorilla's
• 3 Families in the park they track for tourists
• 700 Mountain Gorillas in the world
• 375 in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
• Max group size is 8 pax
• Porter hire is 10,000 shillings plus tip
• If pax don't see the Gorillas they have 2 options, they can receive a 70% refund or they can try again for the following day if there are permits available.
• The silverback in our family weighed 180kg
• Flash photography is not permitted
• If you are feeling ill you are unable to spend time with the gorillas

Day 11 - 13
Lake Bunyoni to Kampala to Eldoret

Back to Kampala today, we arrived about 5pm with a stop at a small shopping mall to stock up. We had the option of staying in Kampala for 2 nights or heading back to Jinja, the group decided on Kampala as something different.

We had a free day to explore, we got a taxi for 10,000 shillings into town and did a bit of exploring and bought a few souvenirs. The Internet at the campsite is free so we caught up on that also.

The next day we travelled back over the border into Kenya, another smooth crossing. We had a couple of hours in Eldoret to change money, check Internet and also food shop. Then back to Raj's Place for the night.

Days 14 & 15
Eldoret to Lake Naivasha

Today we had a nice drive through a forest then a lunch stop about midday. The camp is on the lake and you can walk down to a jetty (during the day) to view the hippos in the water and watch all the bird life. We had a guy come to talk to us about the activities available.

An early start today so we enjoyed breakfast in the restaurant at our own expense then out to do the Crater Lake National Park Safari walk. I would definitely recommend this as you get extremely close to giraffe and you see zebra, gazelle, warthog, monkeys, lots of bird life and we even saw a dung beetle!! The walk is for 3 hours and you have a very informative guide with you at all times. At the end of the walk they take you up to the Crater Lake.

In the afternoon we did the Elsamere excursion which was great, we boarded a boat from the campsite down the lake and very close to the hippos, it took about 30 mins then we arrived at Joy Adamson's house, there is a small museum inside and they show you an old black and white movie about Joy's life before you can hook into a fantastic afternoon tea! Loads of cakes, biscuits and savouries and even homemade lemonade. On a nice day there is a lawn to sit out on and there is often monkeys about. The camp mini van came to collect us once we had finished.

Day 16
Lake Naivasha to Narok

We left about 10am today on 2 KT Trucks, we just took the basics with us as we are only on this truck for 2 nights. We then drove through to Narok arriving about 3pm. The campsite is only a 5-minute walk into the city, there is a large population of Masai people living here. Our tour leader cooked for us tonight.

Day 17
Narok to Masai Mara

5.30am start today, we drove straight through to the Masai Village where we arrived about 11am, the entrance cost is 1000 shillings per person. Both the Masai men and women do a welcome dance for us then they take you into their village. More singing takes place and the men do their jumping which is amazing to watch. They then take you into their homes, which the women make out of cow dung, there is just one room, which they cook and sleep in, extremely basic. The Masai people are nomads so once there is no grass left for their goats they move on. The women do most of the work, the men look after their cattle and can have up to 5 wives. For generations they lived only off a mixture of blood and milk but the newer generation are starting to eat rice and vegetables. There is a small craft market in the village then they take you out for a walk around the outside of the village showing you various trees they use for toothbrushes and tissues.

We then drive onto the Masai Mara, along the way seeing giraffe, zebra and gazelle. Once we were through the gates and after about 20 minutes we saw our first Lion!!! It was an older male and he was lying right by the side of the road. WOW.

We drove onto the camp, the Masai Mara is beautiful and covers such a huge area.

After setting up camp and having some lunch we set out on a game drive where we saw Elephant (that now makes it the big 5) along with 10 young lions, warthog, giraffe, gazelle, vulchers and a huge herd of buffalo.

Back at the camp we spotted Hippo in the river and once the sun went down we could hear the Hyenas close to the camp!

Day 18
Masai Mara to Nairobi

Another early start. Those doing the hot air ballooning optional headed off to do this. We headed out on a game drive. We got up close again with 3 adult male lions and got stuck in the mud for an hour just near them (it was a little scary keeping an eye out while the driver and Masai guide dug us out!!) and saw hippo in the river but the highlight of this drive was seeing 6 lions killing a Buffalo! It was still alive when we got there which was a bit disturbing but amazing to see. The hyenas came from miles around and made an incredible noise. We watched it for about 45 minutes but then had to head back to camp to pack up. The other group doing the ballooning saw it later on when the Buffalo was dead. We had a cooked brunch back at camp before packing up and heading out to meet the ballooners at the gate.

We departed from the gate about 1.30pm and drove back to Nairobi where we arrived at about 8pm.

An AWESOME taste of Africa, seeing the National Parks and the wildlife along with the Gorilla's in these two beautiful countries. I would definitely recommend this trip to everyone. See Gorillas & Game Tour details >>

Cara Gibson, Kumuka Holidays

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