Day 1London
Fly overnight from London Heathrow to Nairobi.
Stay in transit and fly on to Entebbe, landing at 09.10. Here your private driver-guide who will be with you for the duration of your stay in Uganda will meet you and you'll set off for Queen Elizabeth National Park, around five hours away, passing through some beautiful rural scenery.
Settle into your room at Katara Lodge where you are staying tonight and if you're not too tired, head off on a game-drive, searching for elephant, buffalo, lion and more.
Depart for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest today, game-viewing in Queen Elizabeth National Park on your way south. The drive duration will depend on how much wildlife you stop to see on the way! You should get to Engagi Lodge in the mid/late afternoon and can relax here and enjoy the views over the beautiful Bwindi forest.
Gorilla tracking day today - you will get up early and head to the park headquarters for your pre-trek briefing. You will then be driven by your guide to the start of your trek, which will take up to an hour and a half, depending on which gorilla group you are visiting. Start your trek from here, and then once you reach the gorillas, you can spend an hour watching them interact, play and eat. You will then trek back out of the forest to meet your guide who will drive you back to your lodge for a well-earned hot shower and dinner.
Set off for Lake Mburo National Park today after breakfast, a drive of around five hours. Have lunch at your camp and then enjoy an afternoon game-drive exploring this small but pretty park. Wildlife here includes eland, zebra, hippo, buffalo and some wonderful birdlife.
You will be driven back to Entebbe today, around five hours away, where you can get some lunch (meal and drinks payable locally) before you take the afternoon flights to Nairobi and on to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Here you will be met and driven to the Southern Sun hotel for the night.
This morning you will be picked up and driven to the domestic airport for the 9am light aircraft flight to Zanzibar, only 15 minutes away. Here a driver and private vehicle will meet you and drive you to the palm-fringed northeast coast of the island, to the Shooting Star, where you will stay for the week. Settle in here and spend the rest of the day relaxing on the powder-soft sandy beach.
You can spend your time at the Shooting Star doing as much or as little as you choose. The beach is a fantastic place to have a stroll or read a book under the shade of a palm tree, and the shady beach bar is a great spot for unwinding during the heat of the day. There isn't a dive centre on site, but if you want to arrange a dive or snorkelling trip, just ask the managers and they can point you towards the dive centre down the beach, or make the necessary arrangements for you. There are bicycles to hire, which are a fun way to explore under your own steam, too!
We would highly recommend heading out on a snorkelling trip at some point during your stay - you will sail in a traditional dhow to one of the reefs, and can spend an hour or two watching the colourful marine life living in the corals off Zanzibar. This is a lovely way to spend a morning or afternoon and a good opportunity to sail on a dhow as well!
One of our favourite things to do in Zanzibar is to visit one of the small-scale spice farms on the island - you get a really hands-on experience tasting and smelling the spices for which the island is famous, and children from nearby villages often run out to greet you. This can be easily arranged either in advance or when you're at the hotel, so you can see how you feel day by day.
The dhow building sanctuary in the North of Zanzibar is a lovely place to visit if you want to see traditional craftsmanship at work. Whilst you're there, you could also visit the nearby turtle sanctuary at Nungwi.
Another good way to spend a morning or afternoon if you're looking for a change of scene from the beach, is to visit the Jozani Forest in the centre of the island. It's home to the rare red Kirk's colobus monkeys which are endemic to the island, which are really entertaining to watch leap and play in the trees!
For something completely different to the beach, you could head into Stone Town one day for a daytrip - the town is located on the west coast, around an hour and a half away, and is a busy and fairly dusty town. However, it's full of shops and street stalls, so if you're looking to buy souvenirs this is the best place for it, and the narrow winding streets are reminiscent of Marrakech.
You will check out of your room this morning but can store your bags and spend the day relaxing by the pool until you are picked up in the mid-afternoon and driven to the airport for your flight to Nairobi this evening. Stay in transit and fly on to London Heathrow overnight.
Day 15London
You will arrive early this morning in London Heathrow.