Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport, you will enjoy a city tour of Kigali including a visit to the Genocide Museum. Enjoy lunch at a city restaurant before to take a scenic drive to Akagera National Park, in the low-lying east of Rwanda.
You will spend our morning in the park as we enjoy game drives. Later in the afternoon, you will take a boat trip where you will be able view hippos and many water birds, before returning to your lodge in the evening.
Today after a relaxed breakfast, you will have a morning game drive before taking a scenic drive about 3 hours back to Kigali.
You will be pickep-up your hotel after breakfast and we drive south through the hilly landscape of Rwanda. On the way, you will stop in at the King’s palace at Nyanza, which gives a sense of what was like when the King Ndahindurwa of Rwanda (the last king Rwanda ever had) ruled in the late 1950’s. We also visit the National museum at Butare, which house ethnographic, artistic, archeological and historical collections.
From Butare you travel east to the Nyungwe forest. As you approach the forest edge, the road winds through the park, sometimes offering glimpses across the dramatic forest canopy. Located in the Albertine Rift, Nyungwe is one of the largest mountainous forests left in Africa. The forest’s biodiversity is renowned, and it hosts the widest variety of endemic species per square kilometer of any area on the continent. It is also one of the furthest sources of both of Africa’s two mighty rivers, the Nile and the Congo.
Depart the lodge early to go chimp trekking in nearby Cyamudongo Forest (1 hrs drive). This small forest was historically connected to Nyungwe , and is rich in bird species typical of the Albertine Rift Valley system. It also has a resident habituated chimpanzee group, and with the compact size of this forest, sightings are usually better here than for those trekking chimps in Nyungwe Forest itself.
Later in the afternoon, you'll go for a canopy walkway that soars 50 metres above the forest floor.
Today, you will go for hiking forest trails in Nyungwe Forest. The national park hosts a rich floral diversity, and is home to a staggering number of Albertine Rift endemic bird species, as well as 13 different types of primate. This includes chimpanzees, L’Hoest monkeys, Golden monkeys, as well as the largest troops of Black and White Colobus found anywhere on the continent – a habituated group of up to 400 individual members are resident in the forest. In the afternoon, enjoy a nature/waterfall walk in the Nyungwe Forest.
Today you will spend your morning at leisure enjoying hotel facilities. In the afternoon, you will be transferred by helicopter to Musanze followed by a road transfer to your lodge near Volcanoes National Park.
You will head out for highlight of the trip, tracking the mountain gorillas to one of the 10 Gorilla families that have been habituated to the presence of humans in Volcanoes National Park. In the afternoon, if time weather permits, visit the twin lakes Burera and Ruhondo or the local markets in the Musanze town.
You will be transferred back to Volcanoes National Park for briefing before heading into the forest to track equally rare Golden Monkeys. After the morning activity, you will then return to your lodge for an afternoon relaxation.
This morning, you will be transferred to the park headquarters for your second gorilla tracking. After the morning activity, you will take a scenic drive through many hills of Rwanda to Kigali for your international departure flight.
