Overview
This 8-day Rwanda tour offers an unforgettable journey through the country’s stunning national parks and cultural heritage. The tour takes you to Nyungwe National Park for chimpanzee tracking and a thrilling canopy walk, visit Volcanoes National Park for the awe-inspiring experience of gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking, along with a visit to Iby’iwachu cultural village.
Also, explore Akagera National Park and participate in game drives and boat cruises with a chance to spot the African Big Five animals. The adventure will conclude with a short city tour in Kigali on your last day to visit attractions like the genocide memorial grounds, Kimironko market and more. Therefore, this safari will cover nature, primates, the big five and culture.
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1. Arrival at Kigali International Airport and transfer to the hotel
The driver guide will pick you up from the airport on your arrival and he will first take you through the briefing and after head to the hotel booked. On this day, you are to acquire all the required materials that you might need to use while on this safari.
Day 2. Transfer to Nyungwe NP
Wake up and enjoy your breakfast, which will be followed by a drive to Nyungwe National Park. Enjoy the beautiful views of rolling hills, lush tea plantations, and a charming rural setting. Nyungwe National Park is home to a large number of primates, including the closest human relative, the chimpanzees.
The journey takes about four hours, and on arrival, you will take an optional activity like a forest nature walk or visit the nearby village.
Day 3. Chimpanzee tracking and canopy walk
Have breakfast and drive to the park offices where you will encounter a briefing. This time, be told about the chimpanzees’ behaviours, be allocated to a group, and be told about the dos and don’ts such as don’t feeding wild animals, always keeping distance, don’t using the flashlight cameras, not mimicking, not littering the park forest and many more others.
The experience will immediately begin the search as you explore wildlife, plants, waterfalls, butterflies and more. Meeting a group of chimpanzees known as a community will reward you with a chance to capture memories with your camera as they play, beast feed, search for food and more. The overall experience takes about 5 hours including an hour that will be spent with the chimpanzees learning about their daily work.
After lunch, head back into the forest for a canopy walk. A canopy is a bridge-like structure of ropes suspended in air. The bridge is suspended 70 meters above and 160 meters long giving 2 hours of an aerial view of the forest as the monkeys jump from 9ne tree to another while birds sing in the air. Later on, head back to the lodge for your dinner.
Day 4. Transfer to Volcanoes National Park
Leave Nyungwe and head to Volcanoes National Park a home to rare primates that is the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys. It is one of the oldest protected areas in Africa and is known for its conservation efforts brought up by Dian Fossey a famous primatologist, conservationist and researcher who was killed by poachers in 1985. Arrive and check in the booked accommodation for your dinner.
Day 5. Gorilla trekking and visit Iby’iwachu cultural village
Wake up and head to the briefing point after your breakfast. The briefing exercise is important as you get to understand the dos and don’ts to follow, the allocation of the gorilla family, and the assignment of the park ranger guide, crosschecking the gorilla permits and more.
The search will begin as you spot more of the wildlife such as bird species, butterflies and monkeys like varvet monkeys, colobus monkeys, baboons and more. Meeting the gorillas in their natural habitat is amazing, spend an hour with them learning about their behaviours, and taking and recording memories among others.
The members of the gorilla family can be playing, breastfeeding, and searching for food as the Silverback (the head of the group) practices its leadership skills. Return to the lodge for your lunch followed by a visit to Iby’iwachu cultural village to understand deep the Rwandese culture.
This will be through participating in traditional cooking classes, music dance and drama, basket weaving, enjoying story tales, and more. Return to the lodge for your dinner.
Day 6. Golden monkey trekking and transfer to Akagera National Park
The day will begin with breakfast followed by a short drive to the park offices for a briefing which will be the same as yesterday only that, you will be told to use a flashlight camera since these primates enjoy the flashlight.
Trekking will begin with the help of the park ranger guide and if you are lucky, meet the gorillas. The golden monkeys can be found in bamboo trees as they are so playful. An hour will be granted to you to capture photos and record memories while enjoying their movements and behaviours. After the experience, head to the lodge for lunch followed by a transfer to Akagera National Park.
Akagera National Park is the only savannah park in Rwanda but is known for homing the African Big Five animals and rare birds like the shoebill stork. It’s located at the border of Tanzania and gets its name from the Akagera River which is one of the water sources for wildlife. Arrive and head to the lodge for your dinner.
Day 7. Full day in Akagera national park
Take a morning game drive which will last for about 2 hours with the aim of meeting animals like giraffes, warthogs, buffalos, elephants, lions, duikers, bushbucks, leopards, rhinos, zebras and many more. In the afternoon, take a boat cruise where you expect to spot the Hippos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, warthogs and more water birds like the kingfishers, fish eagles, pelicans, black crake and more. Return to the lodge for your dinner and enjoy your last night.
Day 8. Return to Kigali, city tour and departure flight
Check out from your lodge and head back to Kigali with a short city tour where you visit the genocide memorial grounds, Kimironko market, art and gallery center, and more. Later after lunch, head to Kigali International Airport and fly back home to mark the end of the safari.