From the Serengeti plains to the forests of Uganda and Rwanda, experience East Africa’s iconic wildlife and great apes

There are few safari journeys that offer such a dramatic change of environment in a single trip.

One part takes you across the vast plains of Serengeti National Park, where lions, cheetahs, elephants, buffalo and other wildlife move through an immense savannah landscape. The journey then changes completely as you enter the forests of East Africa, where mountain gorillas live among thick vegetation and chimpanzees move through the canopy.

This combination brings together two very different sides of East Africa — the open wilderness of Tanzania and the forested landscapes of Uganda and Rwanda.

The Serengeti  Where the Safari Begins

The Serengeti is one of Africa’s great wildlife landscapes, covering an enormous ecosystem of grasslands, woodland and rocky kopjes.

Game drives here can bring you close to large lion prides, leopards resting in trees, cheetahs hunting across the plains, elephants, buffalo and many species of antelope. Depending on the time of year and where you travel within the ecosystem, you may also witness different stages of the Great Migration, when huge herds of wildebeest and zebra move between seasonal grazing areas.

The Serengeti is not only about the migration. Resident wildlife makes the park rewarding throughout the year, with predator activity and changing landscapes providing something different on each game drive.

For photographers, the open terrain also offers excellent opportunities to work with light, animal behaviour and the scale of the landscape.

From Savannah to the Gorilla Forests

After the Serengeti, the journey moves from open plains into the highlands and forests of the Albertine Rift.

For gorilla trekking, travellers can choose between Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda and Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. Both protect populations of endangered mountain gorillas, and trekking involves hiking through forested terrain in search of a habituated gorilla family.

The experience is very different from a traditional game drive.

Instead of watching wildlife from a vehicle, you follow experienced trackers and rangers through the forest, looking for signs of the gorillas and listening for movement in the vegetation. When you finally locate the family, the encounter can be remarkably intimate as the gorillas feed, rest, move through the forest and interact with one another.

The trek itself is part of the experience. Terrain, altitude and weather can vary, so each outing is different.

Chimpanzees in Uganda’s Forests

The journey can continue into Kibale National Park, one of Uganda’s best-known destinations for chimpanzee tracking.

Kibale protects extensive rainforest and supports a remarkable diversity of primates. Chimpanzee tracking takes you into the forest in search of habituated communities, where you may observe them feeding, grooming, calling, climbing and moving between trees.

Their behaviour can change quickly. One moment the forest may be quiet; the next, calls move through the canopy and the tracking team begins following the group.

For travellers interested in primates, adding chimpanzees after gorilla trekking creates an interesting comparison between two closely related species and the very different ways they live and move through their forest habitat.

Kibale is also an important birding destination, making the forest experience appealing beyond the chimpanzees themselves.

Building Your East African Safari

There is no single route that works for everyone. The combination can be shaped around your available time, international flights, preferred level of accommodation and whether your priority is wildlife, primates, photography or a balance of all three.

A longer journey could combine:

Tanzania + Uganda
Serengeti → Kibale → Bwindi

Tanzania + Rwanda
Serengeti → Kigali → Volcanoes National Park

Tanzania + Uganda + Rwanda
Serengeti → Rwanda for gorilla trekking → Uganda for chimpanzees and additional wildlife experiences

Other Ugandan destinations can also be added, including Queen Elizabeth National Park, where game drives and the Kazinga Channel complement the forest experiences.

For travellers with additional time, Ishasha can add the possibility of seeing Uganda’s famous tree-climbing lions, while Lake Mburo offers a very different landscape and opportunities for walking safaris.

When to Travel

The best timing depends on which parts of the journey matter most.

In the Serengeti, wildlife is present throughout the year, while the location and movement of the Great Migration change with the seasons. If witnessing particular stages of the migration is important, the route should be planned around the expected movements of the herds.

Gorilla and chimpanzee trekking can be undertaken throughout the year. The drier periods can make forest trails easier in some areas, while wetter months bring greener landscapes and can offer excellent conditions for birding and photography.

Because the safari crosses several ecosystems, planning the journey around your priorities is more useful than relying on one “best” month for the entire trip.

A Journey Designed Around You

A Serengeti and gorilla or chimpanzee safari is not simply a collection of famous destinations. It is the contrast between them that makes the journey special.

One day you may be watching lions spread across an open plain beneath a vast African sky. A few days later, you are deep inside a rainforest, following the calls of chimpanzees or standing quietly near a mountain gorilla family.

At Wild Compass Africa, we design these multi-country journeys around the traveller — combining the destinations that make sense geographically while allowing enough time to appreciate each environment rather than rushing between them.

Whether you want the Serengeti and gorillas as the main focus, or a longer East African journey incorporating chimpanzees and additional wildlife destinations, we can tailor the route, accommodation and pace to suit your safari.