Arrival at Kigali international airport met and transferred to your Kigali hotel (either Park Inn Radisson or Kigali Serena Hotel. The rest of the day is at your leisure.
Return to Kigali in morning. Afternoon tour of the Genocide Museum
Shortly after breakfast, you have a morning city tour with a visit to the Genocide Museum. Then you drive west to the Nyungwe National Park
Scenic transfer to Nyunywe National Park
Enjoy a trek in search of the cheeky chimpanzees, and then return to the lodge for lunch. The Rwandan chimps are under threat but tourism gives them a value and helps their survival. In the afternoon, you have a forest canopy walk.
Canopy walk in the Forest
After breakfast, drive to Lake Kivu to stay one night in Gisenyi at the Lake Kivu Serena Hotel. Enjoy a scenic drive that takes you over the Albertine (western) Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valleys.
Scenic drive along the Lakeside
Arrive at Ruhengeri, the base for gorilla trekking at the Parc National des Volcans. The town itself, located only 25 km from the Uganda boarder, is relatively a small city of about 70,000 people. The constant flow of humanity is quite remarkable. The town has great views of the surrounding volcanoes. People are very friendly here and although a former Belgian colony (and thus French-speaking), many people speak English here.
The rest of the afternoon is at leisure.
Experience Lake Kivu
Early departure at 06:30 hours. Drive to Volcanoes National Park Headquarters for registration where the park staff determines which group of gorillas you will visit.
The park staff discusses your fitness level and advises you of the trekking times and conditions to the various groups based upon their location in the park the previous evening. There are a total of 80 gorilla permits available each day with a maximum of eight trekkers visiting any one group.
Once the trekkers are put into groups, each group’s Lead Guide briefs the trekkers of the trekking procedures as well as the “do’s and donts” while in the presence of gorillas. After the briefing, trekkers return to their respective vehicles for the drive up the mountain to the starting point.
Porters may be hired for the trek to carry your backpack and gear; Cost, US$10 per person/per day. We advise that you utilize this service, either to help with the climb or to steady you in the mud!
There is time this morning to enjoy one of the other treks that are on offer, such as the Golden Monkey trekking. Or perhaps a longer hike up to one of the high mountain points (which requires a very good level of fitness).
Or you can opt to do a second gorilla trek given this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
You head back to Kigali in the afternoon in time for your evening flight out from Kigali International Airport.
Note: Depending on your flight connection, you may need to overnight in Kigali once more. We will do a tailormade quote for you.
Return to Kigali
Transfer to Airport
