The extended circuit that gives East Africa its full depth: three days in Rwanda for the gorilla trek and the Kigali genocide memorial and the specific country that chose conservation as its post-conflict identity, five days in Tanzania for the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater and the specific dawn game drive that the South Island of New Zealand charges £1,100 flights to compete with, and six days on the Tanzanian coast — Zanzibar for the Stone Town and the Spice Tour and the dhow at sunset and the underwater life of the Indian Ocean coral reef that the safari circuit drives past without stopping.
Reading time: 12 minutes | Last updated: 2026
The East Africa circuit that most first-timers take ends in the Ngorongoro Crater and flies home from Kilimanjaro. This circuit extends to the Zanzibar coast — the Swahili island whose Arabic, Indian, and African cultural layers give the East Africa visit a second act that is as different from the safari as the safari is from London.
Zanzibar is the specific East Africa that most safari visitors miss because it requires a second flight and another immigration stamp and the mental shift from the game drive to the beach. It rewards the extension completely.
Before You Leave
The visas: Rwanda (UK citizens: visa on arrival, USD 50 / £39.37), Tanzania (UK citizens: e-Visa required, USD 50 / £39.37, apply at eservices.immigration.go.tz), Zanzibar (part of Tanzania — the Tanzania visa covers Zanzibar).
The gorilla permit: USD 1,500 / £1,181.10 — book 4-6 months ahead. Full detail in 7 Days in East Africa.
The routing: Fly UK-Kigali (direct on RwandAir or via Nairobi). Fly Kigali-Kilimanjaro (RwandAir, 1.5 hours). Safari circuit from Arusha. Fly Arusha/Kilimanjaro-Zanzibar (Coastal Aviation or Auric Air, 45 minutes). Fly Zanzibar-Nairobi or Dar es Salaam for the UK connection.
The Route
Kigali, Rwanda (2 nights) → Volcanoes National Park gorilla trek (1 night) → Arusha, Tanzania (1 night) → Serengeti (3 nights, bush plane) → Ngorongoro (1 night) → Zanzibar Stone Town (2 nights) → Zanzibar north coast (4 nights)
The 14 Days
DAYS 1-3 — Rwanda
Full guide: 7 Days in East Africa. The Rwanda section — the Kigali Genocide Memorial (Day 1), the gorilla trek in the Volcanoes National Park (Day 2), the return to Kigali and the Inema Arts Centre (Day 3 — the Kigali contemporary arts scene, the most vibrant single arts space in East Africa):
The Inema Arts Centre (Kigali, Day 3):
The Inema Arts Centre (KN 29 St, Kiyovu — the co-working arts space founded by two brothers who are both visual artists, the gallery showing the Rwandan contemporary painting, the craft market, the rooftop bar): the most accessible single entry point into the Kigali creative economy that the post-genocide generation has built. Free entry to the gallery.
The Kigali Genocide Memorial on Day 1 is essential context — the 30 years between the genocide and the present, the specific political and cultural choices that shaped contemporary Rwanda, are most comprehensible when the genocide memorial’s evidence is fresh.
DAYS 4-8 — Tanzania Safari
Day 4: Fly Kigali-Kilimanjaro, drive to Arusha.
Days 5-8: Serengeti and Ngorongoro — full guide: 7 Days in East Africa.
The specific 2-week extension additions:
The Tarangire National Park (Day 4 afternoon from Arusha): The Tarangire River (the river that concentrates 3,000+ elephants during the dry season along its banks — the highest density of elephants anywhere in Tanzania), the baobab trees (the ancient trees that give Tarangire its specific visual signature — the largest specimens over 1,000 years old, visible from the game drive road in the specific afternoon light):
The Tarangire half-day game drive (the afternoon drive from the Tarangire gate to the river bend and back, the elephants visible throughout the river section): included in the safari operator’s programme if requested.
The Ndutu Area (Dec-March): If the 2-week circuit falls in the calving season — the Ndutu area south of the Serengeti where the 500,000 wildebeest calve in February-March, the lions and the cheetah and the wild dog following the calving herds at the highest predator density of the year.
DAYS 9-14 — Zanzibar
Fly from Arusha or Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar (Coastal Aviation, 45 minutes):
Zanzibar (the archipelago off the Tanzanian coast — the main island of Unguja (commonly called Zanzibar), the 97% Muslim population, the Swahili Arabic-African-Indian cultural synthesis visible in the architecture and the food and the language).
Days 9-10: Zanzibar Stone Town
The Stone Town:
The Zanzibar Stone Town (the UNESCO-listed medieval city — the warren of narrow alleys, the carved wooden doors (the most elaborate door-carving tradition in the Indian Ocean, the door type identifying the owner’s religion and status — the Arab door with the solid lintel, the Indian door with the rounded arch and the decorative brass studs), and the specific Swahili urban fabric of the East African coast):
The Darajani Market (the covered market at the Stone Town edge — the fish market in the morning (the pre-dawn auction visible from 5am), the fruit market (the cloves and the vanilla and the cardamom from the Zanzibar spice farms), the meat market): the 6am visit to the fish auction gives the specific Zanzibar working morning.
The Old Fort (the 17th-century Omani fort, the open-air amphitheatre in the interior now used for the Zanzibar International Film Festival): entry free.
The House of Wonders (the Beit el-Ajaib — the 19th-century Sultan’s palace, the first building in East Africa to have electricity and an elevator, the palace now housing the Museum of History and Culture of Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast): entry TZS 5,000 / £1.41.
The dhow sunset:
The Zanzibar dhow cruise (the sunset cruise on a traditional Zanzibar dhow from the Stone Town harbour — the dhow under sail in the Zanzibar Channel, the Stone Town visible from the water, the sun setting over the mainland Tanzania coast): USD 25-45 / £19.69-35.43 per person. Book through any Stone Town hotel.
The Forodhani Gardens night market:
The Forodhani Gardens (the waterfront park in Stone Town, the evening food market from 6pm — the Zanzibar street food at the waterfront tables): the Zanzibar pizza (the folded omelette-pancake filled with the beef, the egg, the vegetables, the cheese — the specific Forodhani innovation that bears no relation to Italian pizza and is the correct Zanzibar street food): TZS 3,000-8,000 / £0.85-2.26.
The sugarcane juice (pressed to order at the Forodhani stall, the specific tropical sweetness of the fresh cane): TZS 1,000-2,000 / £0.28-0.56.
Days 11-12: The Spice Tour and Jozani Forest
The Spice Tour:
The Zanzibar spice tour (the half-day tour of the spice farms in the central island — the clove trees (Zanzibar was the world’s largest clove producer for most of the 19th century, the clove economy that shaped every aspect of the island’s history), the vanilla orchids, the cardamom, the cinnamon, the pepper, the breadfruit): the guide breaking open the fresh spice pods at each plant — the clove pod (the specific smell that permeates every corner of Zanzibar), the cardamom (the green pod releasing the specific compound), the cinnamon (the bark stripped from the branch):
The hands-on spice identification (the blindfolded spice identification that the guides perform at the end of the tour — the smell and texture of each spice distinguishable without sight): USD 20-35 / £15.75-27.56 per person.
The Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park:
The Jozani Forest (the only national park in Zanzibar — the indigenous forest in the island’s interior, the Zanzibar red colobus monkey (the Piliocolobus kirkii — the primate endemic to Zanzibar, found nowhere else on Earth, the small orange-and-black monkey visible from the park’s elevated walkway in groups of 20-50, the individuals approaching to within arm’s reach of the visitors): entry USD 10 / £7.87.
The Zanzibar red colobus is the specific Zanzibar wildlife encounter — the animal that the gorilla trek was for Rwanda and the lion was for the Serengeti, at USD 10 rather than USD 1,500 and at arm’s reach rather than 30 metres.
Days 13-14: The North Coast
Nungwi or Kendwa:
The northern tip of Zanzibar (Nungwi village and the adjacent Kendwa beach — the beaches that remain swimmable at all tides, unlike the east coast beaches that empty to mud flat at low tide, the specific North Zanzibar quality of the year-round swimming beach):
The snorkelling at Mnemba Atoll (the privately owned coral atoll 3km off the northeast coast of Zanzibar — the marine reserve with the highest coral density in Zanzibar, the green turtle nesting, the spinner dolphin, the Napoleon wrasse visible from the surface snorkel): boat and snorkel from Nungwi: USD 40-65 / £31.50-51.18 per person.
The dhow-building at Nungwi (the traditional dhow construction visible in the village boatyard — the Zanzibari craftsmen building the wooden dhow using the hand tools and the traditional joinery, the specific East African maritime tradition visible in the active production): free to observe.
The Kendwa Rocks sunset (the west-coast beach, the sun setting over the Zanzibar Channel, the beach bar, the Friday night full-moon party that has been running since 1998 — the most established beach party in East Africa, the drumming and the fire performance from 9pm): the specific Zanzibar Friday.
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Kigali, Zanzibar-UK) | £700-1,100 | £900-1,400 |
| Internal flights (Kigali-Kilimanjaro, Arusha-Zanzibar) | £350-600 | £450-750 |
| Gorilla permit | £1,181 | £1,181 |
| Rwanda accommodation (3 nights) | £90-240 | £300-600 |
| Tanzania safari camp (4 nights, all-incl.) | £600-1,000 | £1,200-2,400 |
| Zanzibar accommodation (6 nights) | £120-300 | £360-720 |
| Food + activities (14 days) | £200-400 | £400-800 |
| Total per person | £3,241-4,821 | £4,791-7,851 |
