14 days through Rwanda, the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara, with the permit, every flight and the border crossing already inside the price.
Gorillas, the Crater, the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara is a 14 day, 13 night luxury safari through Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya. Guests spend 1 night at Hemingways Nairobi, 2 nights at Wilderness Sabyinyo for a gorilla trek and a golden monkey trek, 1 night at Hemingways Retreat in Kigali, 2 nights on the eastern rim of the Ngorongoro Crater at Lemala Osonjoi, 3 nights at Four Seasons Serengeti and 4 nights at Mahali Mzuri in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy. The gorilla permit at USD 1,500, every flight inside the journey, the Serengeti to Maasai Mara border crossing and all park and conservancy fees are inside the price. Prices start at USD 24,650 per person sharing in April 2027 and rise to USD 36,800 in the July to September peak.
Most journeys that cross two African borders feel like three holidays stapled together. This one does not, because it is built in the order the travelling allows rather than the order the brochure prefers.
Rwanda comes first, while you are fresh, because the trek is the hardest day and nobody should walk 4 hours uphill at altitude in the second week. Then Tanzania, where the crater and the Serengeti sit an hour apart by air. Then Kenya, reached across the one border in Africa that we can handle on a single voucher.
The night in Kigali is deliberate, and it sits on the way out rather than the way in. You come down from the volcanoes after the golden monkeys, sleep in the city 20 minutes from the airport, and take an early flight the next morning. Breakfast in Rwanda, sundowners on the crater rim. The alternative is 3 hours of mountain road before a plane, which costs a whole day in Tanzania.
At the other end, Mahali Mzuri holds 12 tents on 13,500 hectares of private conservancy. Off road driving and night drives are allowed there and are not allowed in the Reserve, and you still cross into the Reserve for a full day. You get both, which is the whole point of staying in a conservancy.
Why we love this journey: it is the only one on our list where a guest sees a gorilla family at arm's length on a Tuesday and a black rhino on the crater floor on a Saturday. Those two hours belong to completely different Africas, and 13 nights is enough to hold both without rushing either.
Gorillas and the Big Five, inside 2 weeks · One hour with a gorilla family in the Virungas, the Ngorongoro Crater floor, the Serengeti plains and a private Maasai Mara conservancy. Very few journeys hold all of that honestly.
A border crossing you never queue for · The Serengeti to Maasai Mara leg is one voucher. A flight, a short road transfer and both customs stops handled by our team on each side.
Two nights on the crater rim · Lemala Osonjoi sits on the eastern rim, 10 minutes from the descent road, so you are on the floor in the early light before the day vehicles arrive from Karatu.
Twelve tents on 13,500 hectares · Mahali Mzuri is in Olare Motorogi, not the Reserve. Off road driving and night drives are both allowed, and you still get a full day in the Reserve itself.
Breakfast in Rwanda, sundowners on the crater rim · The night in Kigali sits between the forest and the flight, so the Tanzania leg starts with an early plane rather than three hours of mountain road. You cross a border and still reach the crater in time for a drink on the rim.
April is the value window · Wilderness low season, Hemingways green, Four Seasons green, Lemala low and the Mahali Mzuri Pay 3 Stay 4 offer all land in the same month. Nothing else in the year stacks that way, and it is USD 12,150 a head below the peak.
Nairobi, then the Virungas in Rwanda, then the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti in Tanzania, then a private conservancy in the Maasai Mara. Every camp is drawn on its true position, and all but one short leg is flown.
Arrive at Jomo Kenyatta International, where you are met on the airbridge and walked through immigration before being driven out to Karen. Hemingways looks across open ground to the Ngong Hills, every room is a suite and every suite has a butler, which is the right way to spend the first night after a long flight. The afternoon is yours, and the Giraffe Centre and the Karen Blixen Museum are both close if you would rather not sleep through it. Your Safari Advisor calls by in the evening to confirm flight times and talk you through the days ahead, including the gorilla trek and the border formalities later in the journey.
A morning flight to Kigali, an hour and forty minutes across Lake Victoria, where you are met and driven north. The road climbs for two and a half hours through hills terraced to the ridge line and farmed by hand, and then the Virungas stand up in front of you. Wilderness Sabyinyo sits in their foothills at 2,400 metres, the only lodge in Rwanda owned outright by the community it stands in. Tea by the fire, the trek briefing, and an early dinner, because tomorrow begins before six.
Briefing at the park headquarters at Kinigi at seven, then the drive to the trailhead and the walk in. The climb takes anywhere from one hour to five depending on where the family slept, through bamboo and nettle and thick green cloud forest, with a tracker ahead of you who has been with that family since first light. Then you stop, and they are there. You are allowed exactly one hour, eight visitors to a family in a day, and nothing else in this journey is remembered the same way. Back to the lodge for a late lunch, and the rest of the afternoon by the fire.
The golden monkey trek leaves early and is shorter and gentler than yesterday. They are endemic to these volcanoes, they never stop moving, and after the stillness of the gorillas they are a completely different hour in the forest. Lunch, then the road back down to Kigali and a quiet night at Hemingways Retreat in Kiyovu. This night is deliberate. It puts you twenty minutes from the airport for an early flight, rather than three hours of mountain road before one. If you have the appetite, the Kigali Genocide Memorial is difficult and worth it, and dinner at the hotel is included.
An early flight to Kilimanjaro, two hours, then a short hop west to the Lake Manyara airstrip where your Tanzanian guide is waiting. The road climbs the escarpment and then into the forest on the crater rim, and you reach Lemala Osonjoi in the middle of the afternoon. The suites sit among the trees with the crater on the other side of them. Fires are lit at 2,300 metres, dinner is quiet, and you have crossed from one country to another without losing a day to it.
Down the descent road at first light, ahead of the vehicles coming up from Karatu. The floor holds about 25,000 large animals inside 260 square kilometres, the densest lion population anywhere in Africa, and a handful of the black rhino left in Tanzania. A full day with a picnic lunch by the hippo pool, then the western road back up in the late afternoon with the whole caldera behind you.
Back down the rim to Lake Manyara and the flight into the central Serengeti. Four Seasons is built around a waterhole that the elephant use all day, and the infinity pool looks straight down on it, which is a sentence that applies to very few lodges anywhere. Settle in over lunch, then an afternoon drive in a private vehicle as the light goes long and gold.
The whole day is yours and the vehicle is yours alone, so you go where the morning takes you. The central Serengeti holds resident game all year, which means this day does not depend on where the herds happen to be. Lion on the kopjes, cheetah on the open ground, and leopard in the sausage trees along the Seronera river. Lunch is a picnic under a tree, or back at the pool if the heat says so.
The second full day is the one to take the balloon. You lift off at first light, drift low over the plains with the burner silent, and come down to a breakfast laid out on the grass with white linen. We will arrange it, and it is the one thing worth adding to this journey. If you would rather not, there is a long drive out towards the Moru kopjes, or simply the waterhole and an afternoon of doing nothing at all.
The border crossing, and you queue for none of it. A flight to Migori, the short road to Tarime with both sets of customs handled by our team, and the flight on into the Mara, all on a single voucher. You land at Olare Orok in time for an afternoon drive, and the drive from the airstrip to camp is already a game drive. Mahali Mzuri has twelve tents on 13,500 hectares of private conservancy, and the valley in front of it carries game all year.
Out at dawn with coffee, back for a late breakfast, and out again as the afternoon cools. Olare Motorogi is private land rather than the Reserve, so your guide can leave the track to follow a cheetah and can drive after dark, neither of which is allowed on the other side of the boundary. The bed density here is among the lowest in the greater Maasai Mara, so a sighting is usually yours alone rather than shared with twenty vehicles.
One full day crossing into the Reserve itself, for the Mara river, the open plains and the crossing points where the herds come through between July and October. Your Reserve day fee is inside the price. Lunch is a picnic in the shade, and you are back in the conservancy for a sundowner and a night drive, which the Reserve does not allow.
A last full day, shaped however you want it. A bush breakfast after the dawn drive, a walk with a Maasai guide who grew up on this ground, an afternoon visiting the conservancy families whose land you have been driving on, or nothing but the view from your deck. Most guests take the long drive and stay out until the light goes.
A final drive at dawn, breakfast back at camp, then the flight from Olare Orok into Nairobi Wilson. We transfer you across to Jomo Kenyatta for the evening departures, with lounge access while you wait, or on to the Kenyan coast if you would rather finish this by the sea.
A 45 suite hotel in Karen, 20 minutes from Wilson airport and the easiest possible first night in Nairobi.
Every room is a suite, every suite has a butler, and the Ngong Hills sit in the window. After a long haul flight that matters more than the address does.
It is also 15 minutes from the Giraffe Centre and the Karen Blixen Museum if you land early and would rather not sleep through the afternoon.
Junior and deluxe suites with a butler on call, a bath that looks at the Ngong Hills, and no noise from the road.
The brasserie runs all day. Dinner on the terrace, breakfast early enough for the Kigali flight.
A spa, a heated pool and a 24 hour butler. The Giraffe Centre, the Karen Blixen Museum and the elephant orphanage are close.
Six cottages and two suites in the foothills of the Virunga volcanoes, 20 minutes from the park headquarters at Kinigi.
Sabyinyo is the only lodge in Rwanda owned outright by the community. It belongs to the Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association, and the fee you pay on top of the room rate goes to them rather than to a group.
Log fires, stone fireplaces and hot water bottles at 2,400 metres. After a trek in the forest that is the correct kind of comfort.
Cottages and suites with sitting rooms, fireplaces and views to Sabyinyo, Gahinga and Muhabura.
The park headquarters at Kinigi are 20 minutes away, and briefing is at 7am. Gorillas on the full day, golden monkeys on the departure morning.
SACOLA charges USD 158 to 226 per person per night by season, outside the room rate. It is inside your price and it funds the association that owns the lodge.
A small hotel of suites around a garden and a saltwater pool, 20 minutes from Kigali International.
This night sits between the forest and the flight, and it is what makes the next morning work. You come down from the volcanoes in the afternoon, eat properly and sleep in the city, then take an early flight to Kilimanjaro.
The alternative is three hours of mountain road before a plane, which costs you a whole day in Tanzania. This way you have breakfast in Rwanda and sundowners on the crater rim.
Superior King Suites with private terraces. The upper rooms carry outdoor showers and plunge pools, finished in Rwandan craft.
Fusion, the hotel restaurant, works almost entirely from Rwandan smallholders. Dinner is included on this journey.
A welcome massage and a cultural activity per booking, both inside our contracted rate.
Fifteen suites in the forest on the eastern rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, close enough to be first down in the morning.
The crater floor holds about 25,000 large animals inside 260 square kilometres, including the densest lion population in Africa and a small number of the black rhino left in Tanzania.
Being on the eastern rim matters. The descent road is 10 minutes away, so you are on the floor while the light is still low and before the day visitors arrive from Karatu.
Suites in the forest with fireplaces, deep baths and butler service, warm at 2,300 metres.
A full day on the floor with a picnic, and a second day for Empakaai, the Olduvai Gorge or the Maasai bomas on the highlands.
Fly into Lake Manyara, then climb the rim by road, about an hour through the forest.
A full service lodge in the central Serengeti, built around a waterhole that the elephant use all day.
The infinity pool looks straight down on the waterhole. Guests spend the middle of the day there watching elephant drink, which is not a sentence that applies to many lodges.
The central Serengeti holds resident game all year, so this is not a camp that depends on the herds being in the right place in the right month.
Terrace suites on raised walkways, each with a private balcony over the plains or the waterhole.
Game drives in a private vehicle, airstrip transfers, concession fees, VAT and the tourism levy are inside the rate on this journey.
The largest rooms and the only proper kids club on this journey, which is why it carries the 3 nights rather than the Mara.
Twelve tented suites on a hillside in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, with 13,500 hectares to themselves.
Olare Motorogi is private, not part of the Reserve, which is what makes the difference. Off road driving is allowed, night drives are allowed, and the bed density is among the lowest in the greater Maasai Mara.
You will cross into the Reserve for one day to see the river and the open plains, then come back to a conservancy where a sighting is yours rather than shared with 30 vehicles.
Twelve suites on raised decks, each with a private terrace over the valley. Two are family tents.
All meals and drinks, day and night game drives, and the Olare Motorogi conservancy fee sit inside the rate.
Pay 3 Stay 4 runs 5 January to 14 June and 16 October to 19 December 2027. On 4 nights that is a full night free, and it is already inside the prices below.
This journey runs on request rather than on fixed departure dates. You choose the dates, we hold the camps and buy the permit. What changes is the season, and every band below is priced off our contracted 2027 rates for that window. The gorilla permit is the one thing that cannot wait, because only 8 people a day may visit a family.
| Season | From |
|---|---|
1 – 31 March 2027 Shoulder |
USD 25,350per person sharing |
1 – 30 April 2027 Green Best Value |
USD 24,650per person sharing |
1 – 31 May 2027 Green |
USD 25,050per person sharing |
1 – 14 June 2027 Shoulder |
USD 31,050per person sharing |
15 – 30 June 2027 High |
USD 36,550per person sharing |
1 July – 30 September 2027 Peak |
USD 36,800per person sharing |
1 – 15 October 2027 Peak |
USD 34,800per person sharing |
16 – 31 October 2027 Shoulder |
USD 29,300per person sharing |
1 November – 15 December 2027 Green |
USD 27,000per person sharing |
16 – 19 December 2027 Shoulder |
USD 28,450per person sharing |
20 December 2027 – 4 January 2028 Festive |
USD 36,700per person sharing |
Rates are per person sharing in United States dollars, based on 2 adults travelling together, and include the gorilla permit, the golden monkey permit, every flight inside the journey, the border crossing and all park and conservancy fees. A single supplement applies at several of the camps. Children are quoted at 75 percent of the adult rate where the camp accepts them, and the minimum age for a gorilla trek in Rwanda is 15.
A luxury gorilla trekking and safari is priced as one figure, which makes it hard to see what the money is doing. These are the charges inside this journey, at the 2027 rates set by the parks and the authorities rather than by us. All of them are in your price unless the last line says otherwise.
| What | 2027 figure | Who sets it, and when it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Gorilla trekking permit, Rwanda | USD 1,500 per person | Set by the Rwanda Development Board. Non refundable once issued. 8 visitors per gorilla family per day. |
| Golden monkey trekking permit | USD 100 per person | Taken on the departure morning, before the road back to Kigali. |
| SACOLA community fee, Sabyinyo | USD 158 to 226 per person per night | Mandatory, charged outside the lodge rate, and paid to the community association that owns the lodge. |
| Ngorongoro Conservation Area entry | USD 70.80 per adult per day | Charged for each day inside the conservation area, rim included. |
| Ngorongoro Crater descent fee | USD 295 per vehicle | Charged once for the day on the crater floor, split between the guests in the vehicle. |
| TANAPA Serengeti park fee | USD 83 per adult per day | Excluded from most Serengeti lodge rates. It is inside this one. |
| Maasai Mara National Reserve day fee | USD 100 to 200 per person per day | USD 100 to 30 June and USD 200 from 1 July 2027. One day is included here, because the camp is in a conservancy rather than the Reserve. |
| Olare Motorogi conservancy fee | USD 50 per adult per night | Inside the Mahali Mzuri rate, and payable separately on a free night under Pay 3 Stay 4. |
| Tanzania travel insurance levy | USD 44 per person | Charged once on entry to every foreign non resident. |
| Rwanda and Tanzania visas | USD 50 each, paid on arrival | Not in the price. The East Africa Tourist Visa covers Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, and does not cover Tanzania. |
The journey itself runs from USD 24,650 to USD 36,800 per person sharing depending on the season. The difference between the cheapest month and the dearest is USD 12,150, and almost all of it is lodge seasonality rather than anything you can change.
This is the longest and the most complete of our journeys that cross a border. It is not the right one for everybody, and these are the honest alternatives.
| Journey | Shape | From, per person | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gorillas, the Crater, the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara | 13 nights, 3 countries | USD 24,650 | Everything East Africa has, once |
| Rwanda gorillas and the Maasai Mara | 9 nights, 2 countries | USD 21,950 | Two gorilla treks and the best big cats, in less time |
| Ultra Luxury Kenya and Tanzania | 11 nights, 2 countries | USD 19,400 | The famous parks at the top end, no gorillas |
| Uganda gorillas and the Maasai Mara | 9 nights, 2 countries | USD 11,600 | A first gorilla trek at the lower permit price |
| Rwanda gorillas and the Serengeti | 9 nights, 2 countries | USD 28,950 | Gorillas and Singita inside the same journey |
Every one of these is on our multi country safaris page, and any of them can be reshaped around your dates and your party.
The East Africa Tourist Visa at USD 100 covers Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda on one document for 90 days. It does not cover Tanzania, which charges USD 50 on arrival, or USD 100 for United States passport holders. Rwanda is USD 50, or free for a growing list of African passports.
A certificate is required for Rwanda, and for Kenya and Tanzania if you arrive from a country where yellow fever is present. Since this journey moves between all 3, carry it.
Sabyinyo sits at 2,400 metres and the Ngorongoro rim at 2,300. Neither causes trouble for most people, but the first night at each is the one to go gently on.
The gorilla walk runs between 1 and 5 hours on steep, often muddy ground. Porters wait at the trailhead and we recommend taking one, both for your own sake and because it is a living for the man carrying your bag.
Rwanda sets the minimum age for a gorilla trek at 15. Four Seasons Serengeti has the only proper kids club on this journey and Mahali Mzuri has 2 family tents, so the Tanzania and Kenya halves suit a family with older teenagers well.
A single supplement applies at several of the camps and it varies by season. We quote it openly rather than burying it, and in green season some of it can be waived.
This journey starts at USD 24,650 per person sharing in April 2027 and rises to USD 36,800 through the July to September peak. The gorilla permit at USD 1,500, the golden monkey permit, every flight inside the journey, every park and conservancy fee and the border crossing are all inside that figure.
Yes, and this is how it is done. Rwanda first, because the trek is the hardest day and it is better done while you are fresh. Then Tanzania by air through Kilimanjaro, then into Kenya across the Serengeti and Maasai Mara border. 13 nights is the shortest that carries all 3 countries without any of them feeling like a stopover.
One gorilla trek and one golden monkey trek. A second gorilla permit costs another USD 1,500 and would need a third night in Rwanda to sit properly. If you want 2 treks we will build the 15 night version, and we will say so plainly rather than squeezing it in.
USD 1,500 per person per trek, set by the Rwanda Development Board and non refundable once issued. Only 8 visitors are allowed to a gorilla family per day, which is why the permit is bought before anything else on this journey. Uganda charges USD 800 for the same hour.
On a single through fare. A flight from the Serengeti to Migori, a short road transfer to Tarime with both customs stops handled by our team, then the flight on into the Maasai Mara. One voucher, one booking, and you are not standing at a border post with your own passport in your hand wondering which queue is yours.
April and May are the best value by a wide margin, and they are also quiet and green. July to September is the peak, when the herds are in the northern Serengeti and the Mara, and it costs about USD 12,000 more per person. The gorillas are there all year, and the drier months of June to September and December to February make the forest easier walking.
From 15 years upwards, which is the minimum age for a gorilla trek in Rwanda. Four Seasons Serengeti has the only proper kids club on the journey and Mahali Mzuri has 2 family tents, so the Tanzania and Kenya halves work well for older teenagers.
Reasonably. The walk is between 1 and 5 hours at altitude, on steep and often muddy ground, and the families move daily so no one can promise a short day. Porters are available at the trailhead and we recommend taking one, both for your own sake and because it is a living.
Yes. The common extensions are a third Rwanda night for a second gorilla trek, 2 nights at Wilderness Magashi in Akagera, which also unlocks a 30 percent saving on the first gorilla permit, or the Kenyan coast at the end. The common shortening is to drop a Serengeti night.
A mandatory fee of USD 158 to 226 per person per night at Wilderness Sabyinyo, charged outside the room rate. It goes to the Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association, which owns the lodge. It is inside your price here, and we quote it openly rather than letting it appear at checkout.
Yes. Kigali and Kilimanjaro are 2 hours apart by air and both airports take daily scheduled flights, so Rwanda and northern Tanzania sit in the same journey without a long detour. This itinerary does it in 13 nights, with 2 nights at Volcanoes National Park, 2 on the Ngorongoro rim and 3 in the central Serengeti.
On this journey, every internal flight, the Serengeti to Maasai Mara border crossing, the gorilla permit at USD 1,500, the golden monkey permit, the SACOLA community fee, Ngorongoro entry and the crater descent fee, TANAPA Serengeti park fees, the Olare Motorogi conservancy fee, one Maasai Mara Reserve day fee, the Tanzania insurance levy, all meals and drinks on safari, a Nairobi night, airport meet and assist, departure lounge access and Rescue.co medevac membership.
Yes, and 1 night is the usual mistake. The floor is best in the first 2 hours of light, before the day vehicles arrive from Karatu, and a single night means arriving in the afternoon and leaving the next. Two nights buys a full day on the floor and a second for Empakaai, the Olduvai Gorge or the highland bomas.
Off road driving and night drives are allowed in a conservancy and are not allowed in the Reserve, and the bed density is far lower. Olare Motorogi holds Mahali Mzuri at 12 tents on 13,500 hectares. You still cross into the Reserve for a full day, so you see the river and the open plains without spending 4 nights among the vehicles.
As early as you can, because the gorilla permit is the constraint. Rwanda issues 8 permits per gorilla family per day, and the peak months sell out 9 to 12 months ahead. Everything else on the journey can be held for a short while. The permit cannot.
No, and we leave it out on purpose rather than hiding it inside the price. It runs about USD 650 per person, it leaves at first light on day 9, and it is the one thing we recommend adding. Tell us and we will book it.
It can, and it sometimes should if your international flights land in Kilimanjaro. The reason we start in Kenya is that the gorilla trek is the hardest day, and it is better walked in the first week than the second.
Share a few details and your Safari Advisor will reply within 24 hours with dates, availability and a costing built around you. If the dates are close, say so, because the gorilla permit is bought first.
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