If the Great Migration's scale and drama is the image that brought you here, start with Tanzania or Kenya, timed to whichever month matches where the herds will be (see our migration timing guides). If gorillas or chimpanzees are the non-negotiable item on your list, Uganda has to anchor the trip, since nothing else in the region offers it. If you are traveling with young children or want a lower-intensity, higher-relaxation first African trip, a beach-forward Zanzibar or Seychelles stay with a short wildlife add-on suits better than a full multi-park safari circuit. If budget is the primary constraint, Uganda and Kenya generally offer stronger value than Tanzania's northern circuit, where park fees and camp pricing run higher across the board. If you are a first-timer with genuinely open priorities and a week or more, Kenya is our most common recommendation — the Mara delivers reliable, spectacular wildlife viewing, Nairobi has strong international flight connectivity, and it pairs naturally with almost any second destination as a follow-on trip. None of these are wrong choices; they are simply optimized for different priorities, and naming yours clearly at the start of planning saves real time.