Day 1: Fly or drive to the edge of Bwindi in Uganda’s far southwest. Evening briefing and an early night before the trek.

Day 2: The gorilla trek. After a briefing at the park gate you set off on foot with rangers and trackers; the walk can take anywhere from one to six hours through steep, dense forest. Once a family is found, you spend a strictly limited hour with them. The permit is US$800 and is what makes the whole thing possible — it funds the protection of the species.

Day 3: Return to Entebbe for your onward flight.

Bwindi is demanding terrain — this trip rewards a reasonable level of fitness, though porters are available and make a real difference.

Day 1: Arrive Kigali and transfer to the base of the Virunga volcanoes, a scenic drive through terraced hills. Evening briefing.

Day 2: The gorilla trek in Volcanoes National Park. After a briefing you climb through farmland and then bamboo and montane forest to reach a habituated family, spending the permitted hour with them. Rwanda’s permit is US$1,500 — the highest in the region, and the reason its gorilla tourism is deliberately low-volume and high-value.

Day 3: Optional early visit to the Dian Fossey research legacy or a lakeside stop, then return to Kigali for departure.

Day 1: Kigali to the Virungas. Afternoon visit to a community initiative — a village that has turned former poaching livelihoods into tourism income.

Day 2: Mountain gorilla trek and the permitted hour with a habituated family.

Day 3: Golden monkey trek — a shorter, gentler walk into the bamboo zone after an endangered primate found only in this small volcanic range.

Day 4: Optional hike to Dian Fossey’s grave and the old Karisoke research site, then return to Kigali.

Day 1: Arrive Kigali; city and memorial.

Day 2: Transfer to the Virungas.

Day 3: Mountain gorilla trek in Volcanoes National Park.

Day 4: Second Virunga activity — golden monkeys, or a volcano hike — then overnight before flying.

Day 5: Fly Kigali to Nairobi, connect to the Masai Mara.

Day 6: Full day in the Mara.

Day 7: Second Mara day, into the conservancies.

Day 8: Third Mara day, or a transfer to Amboseli for elephants and Kilimanjaro.

Day 9: Final safari day.

Day 10: Return to Nairobi for departure.

Day 1: Fly Kigali to Musanze (Ruhengeri). Afternoon visit to the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Day 2: Mountain gorilla trekking — the day that defines the trip. One hour with a habituated family in the Virunga volcanic forest.

Day 3: Golden monkey trekking in Volcanoes National Park. Afternoon transfer to Kigali or fly to Akagera.

Day 4: Full day Akagera National Park. Morning game drive for lion and rhino, afternoon Lake Ihema boat safari.

Day 5: Morning Akagera drive, afternoon return to Kigali for international flight.

Day 1: Fly Entebbe, transfer to Kibale Forest.

Day 2: Chimpanzee trekking, Kibale National Park.

Day 3: Drive to Queen Elizabeth, afternoon Kazinga Channel boat safari.

Day 4: Ishasha tree-climbing lions, drive to Bwindi.

Day 5: Mountain gorilla trekking, Bwindi — Uganda permit.

Day 6: Cross into Rwanda via Katuna border. Drive to Volcanoes NP.

Day 7: Mountain gorilla trekking — Rwanda permit. Different family, different forest, different experience.

Day 8: Golden monkey trekking or Dian Fossey campus. Fly Kigali.