The Endangered Species Safari
Duffle & Compass Sample Itinerary with Francesco Pierre-Nina of the Tanzania Safari Company along with specialist guides.
This 12-day private safari to Tanzania & Rwanda is limited to 12 persons
This safari begins near the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro and moves on through the Maasai lands to the baobab studded elephant country east of the Great Rift. Your private camp is situated on the bank of a dry riverbed, providing a comfortable base from which to explore the wonders of this vast ecosystem. The timing is perfect – the dry season – to see an impressive array of wildlife.
A private charter will take you to Rwanda, “The Land of a Thousand Hills,” and home to the magnificent mountain gorilla. Here in the shadows of the Virungas – East Africa’s dramatic volcanoes – the stage is set for the most awesome wildlife experience in the world. Today with fewer than 700 Mountain gorillas left on the planet, this could be your last chance for to sit with these gentle giants. This is the safari adventure you will never forget.
Day 1 Arrive Dar Es Salaam International Airport, Tanzania
After clearing Immigration and Customs, we will take a shuttle flight to Arusha. Upon arrival we will be met by and transferred to The Arusha Hotel, the only 5-star hotel in town. Arusha is one of Tanzania’s most prosperous towns and the starting point for your safari.
Day 2 Tarangire National Park
This morning we’ll have breakfast at the hotel before our professional safari guides arrive and we load into our specially outfitted Land Cruisers for the two-hour drive to Tarangire National Park where our private camp has been erected while we were flying over the sands of the Sahara Desert.
Our camp crew gives us a warm welcome and tours us around the private camp which will serve as our base for the next five days. Our en-suite tents are thoughtfully positioned along the bank of a sandy river bed and shaded by trees that have stood for decades. The tents are spacious and feature individual shower and toilet facilities, dressing area, beds with reading lights and netted windows to keep you safe from the elements. The experienced crew will attend to at your every need -- freshly prepared meals, hot showers, iced sundowners, laundry service – during the next five days.
We’ll set off for our first game drive in the late afternoon and return to camp for showers and sundowners around the campfire. Over a scrumptious dinner, we’ll talk about our plans for the next few days before retiring to be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the African night.
Days 3-7 Tarangire National Park
We’ll spend our days in Tarangire National Park observing all the wonders of this ecosystem. The park spreads out over 1,000 square miles and features ancient baobab trees and the largest population of elephants in Northern Tanzania. We’ll talk about their migration routes, behavior, family structure and what threatens their survival. We’ll focus on “threatened and endangered species” and discover the impact of land use beyond the park boundaries. During this time of year, Tarangire has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife to be found in Tanzania’s parks. We’ll see giraffe, buffalo, impala, zebra, wildebeest and hundreds of species of birds. And we’ll learn where to look for lion, cheetah and leopard!
Daily activities are tailored, with our guide’s input, to our liking. The days will fly by with scenic game drives, walks, siestas in camp or sitting in a campaign chair with Africa painted in front of you. When you gaze up at the star strewn skies over the campfire and hear lions roar, you’ll want to pinch yourself to be sure you are really here.
Day 8 Kigali, Rwanda 
This morning we’ll say goodbye to our camp crew and head for the airstrip where our private charter awaits to fly us to Kigali. We will be met at the airport and transferred to the city where we will meet our Specialist Safari Driver-Guide and have a briefing on the next few days. After lunch we will depart for Ruhengeri, the main base town for Gorilla tracking. The ride takes less than two hours on a road that offers stunning scenery of hills and valleys of this green and lush country. Now we understand why this is called the “land of a thousand hills.”
We will check into the Virunga Lodge, set on a hillside with 360-degree views of the Virunga volcanoes and the Lakes Bulera and Ruhondo. This solar-powered eco-lodge was conceived and built to be in harmony with this fragile environment. We’ll have dinner and retire to our bandas. Tonight’s sleep may be filled with dreams of anticipation of coming face to face with the largest and most powerful primate on earth. Gorillas are peaceful and sociable and the experience of seeing them in the wild is something many dream of, but only a few will ever do. Count your lucky stars!
Day 9 Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
We’ll have an early breakfast at the lodge, before leaving for Volcanoes National Park Headquarters. We will meet our expert local guides and trackers for trekking formalities before hiking into the forest to see the rarest of all gorillas, the endangered Mountain gorilla. We will start tracking them from where they were seen the night before. The trekking can take from one to five hours and the climb can reach altitudes in excess of 7,500 feet. The terrain is rough and at times muddy. Although the hike is physically demanding, the beauty of the forest and surrounding scenery along with the anticipation of our quest seem to lessen the trekking effort. Once the gorillas are located all fatigue is forgotten, as the experience is often described as being the most profound natural history experience in the world. After locating your assigned group, you will spend one hour in their company before retracing your steps down the volcanoes.
Day 10 Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda 
After breakfast and the now familiar trekking formalities we will re-enter the forest to visit another gorilla family. As we sit there we may recall what Dian Fossey wrote to Louis Leakey,
"I just about burst open with happiness every time I get within one or two feet of them."
We’ll have lunch at base camp or in the town of Ruhengeri. We can spend the afternoon visiting the little known but compellingly beautiful twin lakes Bulera & Ruhondo. We will return to the lodge for dinner and a good sleep.
Day 11 Volcanoes National Park and Kigali
This morning we will have time for hiking in the area or driving to Gisenyi, visiting Rosamond Carr’s orphanage or trekking to Dian Fossey’s grave. This afternoon we depart for Kigali where we will have dinner and overnight at the Hotel Intercontinental Kigali.
Day 12 Kigali
This morning we’ll tour the city, visiting markets, a pottery project, handicraft shops, the Franco-Rwandan cultural centre and the genocide memorial. Later we’ll be transferred to the Kigali International Airport for our international departure.
Contact Duffle & Compass for the current cost of this itinerary.
