On arrival at Kigali international airport
Later you will be met by a driver guide and transferred to Heaven Boutique Hotel for a check -in
Overnight in Kigali
After breakfast, you will be picked by your driver guide and go for a brief city tour of Kigali where you will visit the genocide museum and later be transferred to Ruzizi tented camp in Akagera national park
Dominated by the labyrinth of swamps and lakes that follow the meandering Akagera River, the most remote source of River Nile, Akagera National Park (1,075 km²) is archetypal African savannah; tangled acacia woodland interspersed with open grassland but above all,
You will be taken on game drives and any other activities advised by the guide
Overnight in Akagera National Park
You will have another morning game drive where you will have a change of sighting some of the animals you might not have seen the previous day. Later in the afternoon go for a boat ride on Lake Ihema
Overnight in Akagera National Park
After breakfast, you will be collected by your driver guide and transferred to Tiloreza Volcanoes Eco Lodge.
Check in on arrival and have lunch and have the rest of the afternoon at leisure
Overnight in Volcanoes National Park.
After an early morning breakfast, you will have a number of optional activities you can choose from which include; Gorilla trekking; be collected by your guide and transferred to the park headquarters for a briefing of your gorilla tracking experience and allocation of your trekking porters; you will the start your gorilla trekking adventure. Foothills of the Virungas with stirring views in all directions. Upon sighting the gorillas, you will stay with them for an hour as they go about their daily life, feeding, playing, resting; raising their young. Coming face to face with a giant silverback must truly be one of the greatest wildlife adventures!
Golden Monkey trekking; Trekking to see the Golden Monkeys is another highlight of Volcanoes National Park. You will be picked from the lodge by your guide and transferred to the park headquarters for a briefing. Later proceed for the trek. The Golden Monkeys are rare species listed as endangered. They are playful and inquisitive and often spend their time leaping from bamboo branches or on the forest floor towards the base of the volcanoes and have overcome their initial shyness to accept the daily visits from researchers and humans. Once you have located them, you will be allowed a period of 1 hour as you take pictures and observe their ways of living.
Hike to Diane Fossey’s Grave; This is one of the popular hikes in Volcanoes National Park – Hike to Dian Fossey’s tomb and the adjacent gorilla cemetery in the former Karisoke Research Camp. The Karisoke research camp was established by Dian Fossey in the area between two volcanoes (Mt visoke and Mt. Karisimbi) from which the name Karisoke is derived. The camp site stands at an altitude of about 3000m and was abandoned during the unrest of the 1990’s. The hike offers a good opportunity to see birds and other creatures typical of Virungas. At the site, you will find the house from where Dian Fossey was mysteriously murdered in 1985 and where she was buried just next to her favorite Gorilla.
Boat ride on the Twin Lake of Burera and Ruhondo; These are Rwanda’s beautiful lakes that are usually referred to as dammed lakes, formed as a result of volcanic activity. The boat ride on the twin lakes will give a scenic view of the Volcanoes and beautifully terraced hills that surround the lakes. You will also be able to visit the different Islands on the lakes. You will also see fishermen as they cast their nests and go about their daily fishing activities.
Musanze caves; The cave is 2km long and was formed as a result of Cenozoic volcanic rocks. The caves are very important in the Rwandan history as they were used as shelter during the war times and was a site of massacre during the genocide. They illustrate a house with may rooms and corridors and the floors paved with stairs to make it easy to navigate through the caves. The caves are home to a huge population of bats that are usually seen hanging upside down on the walls. It offers a good opportunity for photography because of the striking good views of the green vegetation.
Late afternoon, you will take on the coffee testing experience of varied brands of and roasts or opt for a community visit where you will learn more about the Rwandan culture
Overnight in Volcanoes National Park
After breakfast, you will head for Lake Kivu with its idyllic scenery. Together with her 7,000 km2 catchment area and multiple islands and surrounding hills, Lake Kivu is just plain gorgeous. Lying in the Albertine (western) Rift and covering most of Rwanda’s western border with DR Congo, Lake Kivu, the largest water body is one of Africa’s Great Lakes and the 6th largest in Africa.
In the afternoon, you can swim, take a boat or just relax by the beach.
Overnight in Gisenyi
After breakfast you will be collected by your guide and transferred to Nyungwe Forest National Park, about 4 hours’ drive away from Gisenyi.
Nyungwe Forest National Park’s glorious sense of expansiveness is among its most striking features. The 970 km² of rainforest, bamboo, grassland, swamps and bogs in the majestic hills of southeast Rwanda is the largest remaining ‘island’ of montagne forest in East and Central Africa. It is also home to a rich variety of flora and fauna; 200 types of trees, hundreds of flowering plants, over 100 species of orchids and sensational lobelias and 13 recorded species of primates, 25% of the African primate checklist, including the acrobatic Angola colobus that move in troops of several hundred and an estimated 500 chimpanzee (often seen from the forest trails during the rainy season) as well as L’Hoest’s monkey, olive baboon, grey-cheeked mangabey and red-tailed monkey. Bird enthusiasts will not be disappointed with over 300 species including 24 Albertine Rift endemics e.g. the spectacular Ruwenzori turaco and several iridescent birds.
Once you have settled in, you will go for an afternoon canopy walk where you will have great views of the forest.
Another PCR test will be taken as a requirement for every after 72 hours. The same will be valid for departure.
Overnight in Nyungwe FOrest National Park
Optional morning Chimpanzee trekking. Arise at dawn then 0430 hrs and transfer to the Forest for a Chimpanzee tracking experience.
Although it is possible to track and see chimpanzees in Nyungwe forest, this is in very hilly terrain (high ridges and deep valleys) in a rainforest and the Chimps themselves only semi-habituated and tend to move far and wide over a large area. This makes the tracking hard and unpredictable and sighting the chimps hard to guarantee. The national park does not practice a refund policy in case of failure to sight. There are two habituated troops of Chimpanzees and one is allowed to spend one hour with the Chimpanzees once they have been allocated.
Thereafter, drive back to Kigali arriving in time for your late evening departure flight. Otherwise, you will drive back to Kigali after breakfast and proceed to the airport for your departure flight.
