Eastern Africa Overview & Highlights
The Serengeti. Gorilla eyes. Mt. Kilimanjaro. Great Rift Valley. Migrations of wildebeest and zebra. Croquet on an emerald-green lawn.
The names alone conjure romance, legend, and history. Little wonder that Eastern Africa is where traditional safaris began. This is the home of some of the most striking landscapes in all of Africa, where majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro meets the beautiful short grass plains and acacia woodlands of the Serengeti and the Masai Mara. Here herds of wildebeest and zebra, elephant, buffalo and giraffe congregate – and we are eyewitness to their behavior and their splendor.
We recapture the highlights of Eastern Africa in a traditional style, incorporating small safari homes and classic tented camps, which will charm you with a miraculous marriage of comfort and charm. You may explore the soda lakes, escarpments, and volcanoes of the Great Rift Valley, where humankind is thought to have evolved and experience premier game country.
Highlights of Eastern Africa include:
- Addis Ababa —The capital of Ethiopia lies at 7,000 feet above sea level and is home to the National and Ethnographic Museums that house Ethiopia’s finest cultural treasures.
- Amboseli National Park —Semi-desert scenery, acacia savannas, lush oases and springs, and views of Mt. Kilimanjaro, with herds of elephant and giraffe.
- Borana and Mt. Kenya —Unusual species include rare Grevy’s zebra and black rhino in the adjacent Ngare Rhino Sanctuary.
- Bwindi Forest —A national park in Western Uganda where over 300 mountain gorillas live.
- Katavi National Park —This primeval national park offers fertile wetlands, vast herds of buffalos, flocks of water-birds, plains game, hippos, elephants, lion and hyena.
- Kibale Forest —A lowland tropical forest with marshes, crater lakes, and grasslands, and a home to chimpanzees, primates, duiker, bushbuck, and many species of birds.
- Lake Nakuru National Park —Created as a national park to protect its huge flocks of flamingoes and many other bird species, unusual species include white rhinos, black and white colobus monkeys, and Defassa waterbuck.
- Lalibela —A living place of worship and pilgrimage in the isolated mountains of Lasta. The town of Lalibela surrounds eleven famous 12th and 13th-century Christian churches carved out of solid bedrock.
- Lamu Island —One of the earliest Arab coastal settlements, Lamu has preserved its white washed architecture and a tempo reminiscent of the 18th century. Donkeys and dhows are still the most common mode of transport.
- Mahale Mountains National Park —Home to wild chimpanzees near the white sand beaches of Lake Tanganyika.
- Masai Mara Game Reserve —Part of the Serengeti ecosystem where herds of migrating wildebeests, zebras, and Thomson’s gazelle roam these expansive short grass plains.
- Mnemba Island —Adjacent to Zanzibar, this untouched island in the Indian Ocean is protected by a crescent of coral reefs and offers a private paradise of linen-white sands, giant turtles, dolphins, shells and magenta sunsets.
- Murchison Falls National Park —Vast plains are scattered with rich palm forests, lush grasslands, and growing herds of animals. The river and delta is home to Nile crocodile and rare Shoebill storks, lion, Ugandan kob, Rothschild’s giraffe, hartebeest, oribi, buffalo, and primates.
- Ngorongoro Crater —An ancient volcanic crater and self-contained ecosystem that sustains the greatest concentration of wildlife on earth. This World Heritage Site is famous for its concentration of plains game found nowhere else in the world.
- Ruaha National Park —Wild, remote and covered with baobab trees. Contains one of the largest elephant populations in Tanzania, as well as concentrations of hippo, crocodile and large herds of buffalo.
- Selous Game Reserve —The Rufiji river holds one of the highest densities of hippo and crocodile. Its sand bars and forested banks provide an ideal habitat for birds.
- Serengeti National Park —See Masai Mara Game Reserve
- Tarangire National Park —In the dry season, clouds of migrating animals come down from the North to drink from the river – zebra, impala, buffalo, giraffe, Beisa oryx, lesser kudu, gerenuk, Thomson’s gazelle and the elusive cheetah.
- Volcanoes National Park —Home to the mountain gorilla, the golden monkey, blackfronted duiker, bushbuck and buffalo. The peaks of the Virunga Mountains, heavily forested extinct volcanoes support several vegetation zones.
- Zanzibar —Explore Stone Town, the market, cathedrals, antique shops and the Sultan’s Palace Museum. Visit the famous Mwangapwani caves.
For a more active expedition, tracking mountain gorillas in the montane forests of Uganda and Rwanda can be arranged, where gorilla-viewing etiquette must be learned and a spirit of adventure is necessary.
