10 DAYS RWANDA EXPLORATION – WILDLIFE, GORILLAS, CHIMPS & GOLDEN MONKEYS

Destinations: Kigali City, Akagera National Park, Volcanoes National Park and Nyungwe Forest National Park

Safari Highlights:

• City tour of Kigali
• Game drives in Akagera National Park
• Boat cruise on Lake Ihema
• Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park
• Community Visit
• Golden Monkey tracking in Volcanoes National Park
• Dian Fossey hike
• Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe Forest National Park
• Canopy walk in Nyungwe Forest National Park

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival in Kigali Rwanda

Upon your arrival at Kigali International Airport, you will be picked by your assigned Safari guide who will transfer you to the hotel of your booking and brief you on the safari plan.

Accommodation: Onomo Hotel

Meal Plan: Half Board Basis

Day 2: City tour of Kigali and Transfer to Akagera National Park

You will have breakfast and move out to visit the memorial sites scattered in various parts of the city. These will include the Genocide memorial sites where thousands of innocent people lost their lives during the genocide of the mid 1990s, visit the Presidential Palace Museum, and the Nyamata church.

In these places you will listen to the horrendous narratives of how people were cruelly put to death and learn about the history of the country from the colonial periods through to the present time.

Later you will be driven to Akagera National Park in the eastern part of Rwanda. The drive is approximately 2½ hours. Dinner and overnight will be at the lodge of your booking.

Accommodation: Akagera Game Lodge

Meal Plan: Full Board Basis

Day 3:  Full day game drive in Akagera National Park

After an early breakfast, you will embark on a morning game drive. In a circuit you will visit different lakes where you will see buffaloes and elephants drinking from the water ponds and see various species of birds like Egyptian goose and fish eager.

You will have a Gorilla Trekking Rwanda & Wildlife Safari picnic lunch in the park then continue with the hills game drive where you will see; impalas, zebras, bush bucks, water bucks, topis, oribis, baboons, giraffes, cape elands among others. Dinner and overnight will be at the lodge of your booking.

Accommodation: Akagera Game Lodge

Meal Plan: Full Board Basis

Day 4: Optional morning game drive/Relaxation and afternoon Boat cruise on Lake Ihema

In the morning after your breakfast, you will choose to go for a game drive or spend the rest of your time at the lodge relaxing.

Then, in the afternoon after your lunch, you will go for a boat cruise on Lake Ihema to see aquatic animals such as Hippos, Crocodiles as well as water birds like the papyrus Gonolek, shoebill stork and African fish eagle. After retire at the lodge, dinner and overnight

Accommodation: Akagera Game Lodge

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 5: Transfer to volcanoes National Park

You will have breakfast and then be driven to Volcanoes National Par. This drive will take you through a country side richly endowed with scenic geographical features, green savannah grasslands, farm gardens, plantations and traditional homesteads along the way. Check in at the lodge of your booking near the National Park, relax, Dinner and overnight will be at your lodge.

Accommodation: Kinigi Guest House

Meal plan: Full Board Basis

Day 6: Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park and Community Visit

This is the Rwanda Primates & Wildlife Safari peak day. You will have an early breakfast and join other tourists at the Kinigi Park headquarters at 08:00am for a briefing on the Gorilla tracking rules. You will be allocated a Gorilla family to track and guides to lead you to the Gorillas. The trekking is a strenuous exercise through thick jungle on steep terrain that is uneven, wet and often muddy for as many as 2-5 hours, depending on the location of the Gorillas.

Once sighted, you will spend a maximum of one hour with the Gorillas watching them as they feed, play, communicate and bond with their young. You will return to the lodge for lunch and some rest and set off to visit the magnificent lakes of Burera and Ruhondo whose deep blue waters are surrounded by high hills from which flow waters that create waterfalls that decorate the volcanoes in a spectacular way.

You will choose to have a canoe ride, do a village visit, go fishing using traditional methods or simply sit back and take-in the breathtaking scenery of the area.

You will return to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Kinigi Guest House

Meal plan: Full Board Basis

Day 7: Golden Monkey tracking and Dian Fossey hike

This morning you will gather at the parks head quarter for briefing at 8.30 am before embarking on golden monkey tracking and later hike up to Karisoke research Centre established by Dian Fossey, an American primatologist who dedicated all her life conserving the primates.

Accommodation: Kinigi Guest House

Meal plan: Full Board Basis

Day 8: Transfer to Nyungwe Forest National Park

You will have breakfast and be driven to Nyungwe Forest National Park, check in at the lodge of your booking near the National Park.  Later in the evening, you will take a tour to the adjacent tea factory to see how the locally grown tea is processed to become one of the finest products Rwanda has for export. Dinner and overnight will be at your lodge.

Accommodation: Gisakura Guest House

Meal plan: Full Board Basis

Day 9: Chimpanzee trekking & Canopy walk

You will have an early breakfast and report to the Park headquarters for a briefing on Chimpanzee tracking rules. You will then start the trek in the forest with the guides to find the chimpanzees. The trekking is for 2 hours after which you will go for the famous Nyungwe Forest Canopy walk. The canopy walkway is suspended 50 meters in the air between big trees and stretches over a steep and deep valley across a massive forest cover offering breathtaking views across the misty forest.

You will have sightings at eye-level of a number of unique wildlife inhabiting the canopies including birds, butterflies, and several monkey species. For those who lack the guts for the canopy walk you can choose to go for a nature walk around the forest.

You will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Gisakura Guest House

Meal plan: Full Board Basis

Day 10: Transfer to Kigali and Departure

You will have breakfast and set off for Kigali for departure flight. This drive will take you through a country side richly endowed with scenic geographical features, green savannah grasslands, farm gardens, plantations and traditional homesteads along the way.

Requirements for this Safari

• A Visa for Rwanda which you can get at the airport
• Gorilla trekking permit paid for in advance
• Travel & Health insurance arranged by you in your home country before you travel.
• Yellow fever vaccination (certificate for proof)
• Physical fitness

The Safari package includes:

• Accommodation as per the itinerary
• 4WD safari vehicle
• Bottled drinking water
• Gorilla trekking permit
• Chimpanzee trekking permit
• Canopy walk fee
• English speaking driver/guide.
• Return airport transfers.

The Safari package excludes expenses of a personal nature such as:

• Other drinks apart from bottled water
• Laundry
• Personal insurance
• Tips to local guides
• Telephone expenses
• Porter fees while trekking Gorillas
• Cigarettes