Planning to visit East Africa! you can think of the African wildlife, culture, bird species and mountain gorillas. Before visiting East Africa was by taking the escorted tours and these are always planned for short days say from 01 – 2 weeks but for travelers interested to explore the entire region always take self drive in East Africa. Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the “big five”: the elephant, buffalo, and lion, black rhinoceros, and leopard, though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly those of the rhino and elephant.
The geography of East Africa is often stunning and scenic. Shaped by global plate tectonic forces that have created the East African Rift, East Africa is the site of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, the two tallest peaks in Africa. It also includes the world’s second largest fresh water body, Lake Victoria, and the world’s second deepest Lake Tanganyika.
Tanzania
- Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park recently topped a list of Africa’s Top 50 travel experiences published in the magazine Travel Africa. The Serengeti alone would be sufficient to place Tanzania near the top of most travelers’ bucket lists for road tripping holidays in Tanzania. More so Tanzania offers the best luxury Tanzania safaris and staying in the best luxury safari lodges and camps in the parks
Home to unusually dense populations of lions and other predators, the Serengeti is probably the leading contender for the accolade of Africa’s finest game-viewing destination, renowned above all for the annual migration of millions of wildebeest and other ungulates across its vast plains.
The famous national park, the 14,763km² Serengeti is the centre piece of a twice-larger ecosystem that also incorporates the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, several smaller Tanzanian wildlife reserves, and the Maasai Mara in neighbouring Kenya.
- Kilimanjaro National Park
Visit the world’s tallest free-standing mountain, the snow-capped Kilimanjaro is a popular challenge for hikers and climbers. Kilimanjaro straddles the border with Kenya, but the peaks all fall within Tanzania and can only be climbed from within the country. There are several places on the lower slopes from where the mountain can be ascended, but most people use the Marangu Route which begins at the eponymous village because it is the cheapest option and has the best facilities.
Reaching an altitude of 5,895m (19,340ft), Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, and on the rare occasions when it is not veiled in clouds, its distinctive silhouette and snow-capped peak form one of the most breath-taking sights on the continent. The less heavily trampled Machame Route, starting from the village of the same name, has grown in popularity in recent years. Kilimanjaro can be climbed at any time of year, but the hike is more difficult in the rainy months, especially between March and May.
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area
A contestant for any global shortlist of natural wonders, this volcanic caldera provides sanctuary for some of Africa’s densest large mammal populations. Branded as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and listed as an International Biosphere Reserve, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area extends over 8,292km² to the southeast of the Serengeti National Park, with which it shares a border of roughly 80km. Its dominant feature is the geological marvel known as the Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera, and a shoo-in contender for any global shortlist of natural wonders.
The rest of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area can be divided into two distinct parts. The eastern Crater Highlands comprise a sprawling volcanic massif studded with craggy peaks and gaping craters, while the lower-lying western plains are essentially a continuation of the Serengeti ecosystem, supporting a cover of short grass that attracts immense concentrations of grazers during the rainy season.
Kenya
- Amboseli National Park
Located about a four-hour drive southeast of Nairobi, Amboseli is well known for its giant elephants, and with Kilimanjaro providing a majestic backdrop. Amboseli National Park offers some of the best opportunities to see African wildlife because the vegetation is sparse due to the long, dry months.
The most spectacular thing about Amboseli National park is its scenic beauty as well as a home to many wildlife and bird species. Amboseli has a large concentration of wildlife in the dry season, making it a popular tourist destination. The national park has a lake basin, commonly known as Lake Amboseli.
Other attractions of the park includes opportunities to meet the Maasai people and also offers spectacular views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Apart from guaranteed elephant sightings, you’ll also see wildebeest and
99zebras, and you’ve a reasonable chance of spotting lions, cheetahs and hyenas. The park is also home to over 370 bird species, and it has an excellent array of lodges and an agreeably mild, dry climate.
- Maasai Mara National Reserve
The Masai Mara is the place where the world’s greatest wildlife spectacle unfolds annually as millions of wildebeest cross the Mara River from Tanzania’s Serengeti plains, while Lake Nakuru is seasonally fringed bright pink when up to two million flamingos flock around its shallow waters.
The Mara, as it’s widely known does carry a heavy tourist traffic compared with most of its counterparts, but for the very good reason that no other East African reserve protects comparable game densities. The best time to visit is between July and October, when the wildebeest migration crosses over from Tanzania, offering visitors unforgettable sightings of these manically braying, croc – dodging beasts as they cross the Mara River.
But the reserve supports a profusion of wildlife throughout the year, including large numbers of buffalo, zebra and various antelope, as well as a solid population of elephant and a few relict black rhinos.
Above all, the Maasai Mara is a fantastic reserve for predators, in particular cheetah, spotted hyena and prides of over 20-plus lion, whose high degree of habituation makes them easy to watch and photograph.
- Tsavo National Park
Situated in Kenya’s south-west, Tsavo is a boundless wilderness area that has been divided into Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks. Combined, Tsavo is Kenya’s biggest park and, at 22,000 km² one of the world’s largest game sanctuaries. It was established in 1948. Later that year, for administrative purposes, the park was divided into two smaller units: Tsavo East and Tsavo West.
Tsavo East is relatively flat, while Tsavo West is volcanic and dotted with springs and water holes. Wildlife includes elephants, as well as lions, rhinoceroses, buffalo, hippopotamuses, hartebeests and several other species of antelope, and hundreds of species of birds. Poaching, particularly for rhinoceroses and elephants, and brush fires are constant problems. Tsavo East and Tsavo West are separated by the Nairobi-Mombasa highway and railway line.
A selection of lodges are scattered around the park offering all the comforts that accompany an African safari experience.
- Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park protects the most famous of the string of lakes that lines the Rift Valley west of Nairobi, mainly thanks to its concentrations of up to two million flamingos, an avian spectacle to match the wildebeest migration of the Mara.
Sounded by hills and fringed by yellow fever trees, Nakuru is a truly gorgeous spot, especially when viewed from the surrounding cliffs, from where the individual flamingos merge into a solid shimmering pink band separating the alkaline water from its bleached rim. Fenced in its entirety, this park is an important relocation site for endangered animals, and a good place to see both species of rhino and the Rothschild’s giraffe.
- Samburu Game Reserve
Samburu Game Reserve is one of the famous safari destinations in East Africa, Samburu National Reserve is located Northern Kenya and is a premier game reserve situated on the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro River. This pristine wilderness measures 165sq km in area and borders the Ewaso Ng’iro River to the south which separates it from the Buffalo springs National Reserve.
There is a wide variety of animal and bird life seen at Samburu National Reserve. Several large game species common to Kenya’s northern plains can be found in abundance here, including the following dry-country fauna: gerenuk, Grevy’s zebra, Oryx and reticulated giraffe. All three big cats, the lion, cheetah and African leopard can also be found here, as well as the elephant, Cape buffalo and hippopotamus.
Other mammals frequently seen in the park include olive baboon, warthogs, Grant’s gazelle, Kirk’s dik – dik, impala, and water buck. A black rhinoceros population has been re-introduced into the park after an absence of 25 years due to heavy poaching
Uganda
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Uganda’s single most important tourist hot spot is the 331km² Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, which protects a rugged landscape of steep hills and valleys adjoining the Congolese border south of Ishasha and north of Kisoro.
Look for the main tourist activity in Bwindi Forest, which is gorilla tracking. It was first established at the Buhoma park headquarters in 1993, but now operates out of four trailheads; the others being Ruhija, Nkuringo and Rushaga all of which are serviced by a selection of tourist lodges. Today, 20 habituated gorilla groups can be tracked in Bwindi, a thrilling venture regarded by most who have undertaken it to be a true once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Our gorilla trekking safaris are led on a daily basis into difference sections of the forest so that trekkers can see the mountain gorillas and in so doing generate necessary funds for the protection of these endangered primates. A gorilla trekking permit costs US$ 700 per person and it takes only one hour to be with the gorillas with only trackers.
Additionally, Bwindi has another gorilla activity called the Gorilla Habituation Experience. This experience costs US$ 1500 and it takes 4 hours to spend with the gorillas with only 4 trackers.
There is more to Bwindi than gorillas, however: At present the forest is believed to contain 120 mammal species, 348 bird species, 220 butterfly species and 27 frog species. Included among the mammals are forest elephants and yellow-backed duikers.
While mountain gorillas are the most notable of the forest’s primates, other residents include chimpanzees, blue monkeys, L’Hoest’s monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, vervet monkeys and black-and-white colobus monkeys. The forest’s birds include great blue turaco, black-billed turaco, black bee-eaters, African green broad bills, handsome francolins, African black ducks and Cassin’s grey flycatchers
Queen Elizabeth National Park
Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park is arguably the single most ecologically diverse reserve in Africa. While you’re looking at a checklist of 600-plus species, exceeding that of many African reserves ten times its size (Kruger, Hwange, Serengeti and Selous, to name a few).
You’d need a full week to explore this fabulous park in its entirety, but popular highlights include the launch trip down the hippo – Kazinga Channel, chimpanzee tracking in the forested Kyambura Gorge, looking for tree-climbing lions on the southerly Ishasha Plains, and the lush crater lakes and million-strong bat colony in the Maramagambo Forest.
Rwanda
Volcanoes National Park
Rwanda’s most popular tourist attraction is Volcanoes National Park, the site of Dian Fossey’s celebrated gorilla habituation and anti-poaching project, and location of the film Gorillas in the Mist. A most memorable location it is too, protecting the upper slopes of the Virunga, a chain of free-standing volcanic mountains whose daunting slopes, swathed in giant bamboo clumps and montane forest, rise imperiously to above 4,000m.
Gorilla tracking, arguably the most emotive and haunting wildlife experience in the world, is the main activity here, with some 96 permits issued daily, and photographic opportunities are generally better than in Uganda, with the gorillas often hanging out in the open bamboo zone rather than the murky forest depths.
Nyungwe Forest National Park
Extending over 1,000km, Nyungwe Forest National Park is the largest extant montane forest in East Africa and possibly the most scenic, covering a succession of tree-swathed mountains as they run south to the Burundi border. Nyungwe’s strongest draw card is the chance to track chimpanzees, which have been habituated over the years to human visits.
All 13 species are represented, including a chimpanzee population estimated at around 500, which can usually be tracked at short notice, but several other monkeys are readily seen, including the acrobatic Ruwenzori colobus, and the localized L’Hoest’s monkey.
Nyungwe is also highly attractive to birders, botanists and keen walkers, with its 130km network of walking trails, and is it is the site of the region’s only suspended canopy walk.
