8-Day Western Circuit: Saanane Island, Rubondo & Serengeti

A member of the Gip Adventure team meets you at 08:00 at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, at Kilimanjaro International Airport or at your hotel, and checks you in for your domestic flight to Mwanza, Tanzania's lively city on the southern shore of Lake Victoria.

On arrival at Mwanza Airport you are met again and driven to your lakeside resort at Ilemela – a tranquil hideaway close to the city, often called the gateway to the Serengeti, with stunning views over the shoreline of Lake Victoria. The kitchen serves local cuisine and light gourmet dishes alongside a continental-style breakfast.

Settle in and, as the afternoon cools, enjoy an evening walk along the shores of the lake, which can be arranged on request. Dinner and overnight in Mwanza.

After a hearty breakfast, at around 08:00 you transfer by boat to Saanane Island National Park, a 15–20 minute crossing from Mwanza. Tanzania's smallest national park lies just 2 km south-west of the city centre and covers 2.1 km² – it was once only 0.5 km², before neighbouring Chankende Island was added.

The park was created to encourage interest in conservation, wildlife education and recreation for the people of Mwanza and international visitors alike. It has a healthy population of buffalo, eland, zebra, wildebeest, warthog, rock hyrax, porcupine, vervet and patas monkeys, together with birds, reptiles and butterflies. Look out too for hippos and crocodiles in the surrounding waters of Lake Victoria.

Enjoy a picnic lunch on the island and a short spell of game viewing on foot along the designated trails, then continue onwards to your lakefront camp on Rubondo Island, a place that immerses you in a unique ecosystem barely touched by people. Dinner and overnight on Rubondo.

After breakfast at around 08:00, set out for a full day exploring this magnificent island park, with a picnic lunch along the way and a shorter excursion in the afternoon before returning to camp for dinner.

Rubondo is one of Africa's most unusual destinations and its largest island national park. The main island covers 240 km², measuring 28 km from north to south and 10 km from east to west, while the park as a whole – protecting 11 smaller islets, none much larger than 2 km² – spans 457 km². Its highest point, the Masa Hills, rises to 1,486 m, some 350 m above the lake. The island is uninhabited and 80% remains forested, with acacia woodland, grassland, rocky outcrops and sandy beaches each sheltering their own wildlife.

Popular activities include walking safaris, boat excursions, canoe trips, sport fishing and chimpanzee treks. Lake Victoria is free of bilharzia and swimming is reputedly safe at the beaches in front of the camp – though crocodiles do occasionally cruise past, so look before you leap.

After breakfast at around 08:00, enjoy a final half-day excursion on Rubondo – perhaps a walk in the forest, a boat trip around the islets in search of the African fish eagle, the park's emblem, or a few last hours of fishing.

Return to camp for lunch and an hour's rest, then transfer back across Lake Victoria to your lakeside resort at Ilemela in Mwanza for dinner and the night.

Breakfast is a little earlier today, at around 07:30, before you drive east from Mwanza into Serengeti National Park, game viewing along the way. Enjoy a picnic lunch, then a short afternoon game drive before arriving at your lodge in the Seronera area of the central Serengeti.

Serengeti National Park is Tanzania's oldest and most popular park, a World Heritage Site famous for its annual migration, when vast herds of grazers move across the plains in a great clockwise circuit in search of fresh grass, stalked by the predators that follow them. With its kopjes – rocky islands in a sea of grass – and plains that seem to run on forever, it offers arguably the finest game viewing in Africa.

Your lodge can arrange visits to authentic Maasai villages to meet the cattle keepers and warriors, and in the evenings hosts traditional Maasai song and dance, as well as wildlife talks and film shows. Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti.

Today is all about the Serengeti's wildlife. Set out on game drives across the central plains, where the Seronera River valley is renowned for its resident big cats, and the kopjes make perfect lookouts for lions and leopards. Depending on the season, you may also meet the great herds of the migration.

For an unforgettable start to the day, a hot-air balloon safari over the plains can be arranged, and walking safaris and birdwatching are also available. Picnic lunch in the park and dinner and overnight at your lodge.

A final full day in the Serengeti allows you to explore further afield in search of the sightings still on your list, whether elephants among the acacias, cheetah hunting on the open grassland or hippos wallowing in the pools.

In the afternoon you might visit a nearby Maasai village to meet the cattle keepers and warriors, before an evening of traditional song and dance at the lodge. Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti.

After breakfast at around 08:00, you leave the Serengeti and drive back west to Mwanza, with a final chance of game viewing on the way out of the park and a picnic lunch en route.

On arrival in Mwanza you are transferred to your hotel or to the airport for your onward journey, and our services end.