Summary
This is a safari from the Mountain Gorillas of the Rwandan volcanoes to the Great Lakes of Rwanda. An exploration that takes in a wide variety of East African ecosystems. We trek with the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda in the Parc National de Volcans.
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival – Kigali
On arrival at Kigali Airport, meet our experienced guide. As you are transferred to your designated accommodation, our guide will give you an insight into the wonderful adventures ahead.
Day 2: Kigali City Tour – Volcanoes National Park
In the morning, you will take a city tour which will include a visit to the Genocide Memorial Centre to learn about the Rwandan genocide that happened in 1994. Afterwards, you will depart for the Volcanoes National Park. The roads are good and the journey to Ruhengeri will take approximately two hours.
Day 3: Gorilla Tracking – Volcanoes National Park
Today you will set off early after breakfast for the park headquarters where you will register for the gorilla trekking. Once you have been assigned a group and have had a briefing from your guide you will be driven to the trailhead where you will start the walk. Your trek will take anywhere from an hour to five hours to reach the gorillas – depending on which group you have been assigned. The terrain changes from farmland to bamboo forests, into stinging nettles and rainforest before you will find the gorillas. Trackers leave before the tourist groups to locate the gorilla groups so your guide should know where to take you, and once you have found the group you will have one hour with them.
Day 4: Monkeys Tracking – Volcanoes National Park
After breakfast you will set off to track the golden monkeys in the Volcanoes National Park. This will be a completely different but just as rewarding experience to tracking the gorillas. You will track the monkeys with a guide through the forest of the Volcanoes National Park and you will spend an hour with them once you find them. The walk is generally easier than the trek to the gorillas, although this depends on the monkeys movements. There are two habituated troops of golden monkeys, both of which have around 80 members in the family. They are incredibly lively, so can be quite hard to photograph until they settle down or go into a clearing, but are fascinating to watch leaping from tree to tree!
Day 5: Lake Kivu
Continue with your exploration of this beautiful country as you travel to Gisenyi. The drive takes around an hour and a half, and the rolling hills that characterise Rwanda`s landscape become much more dramatic and cliff-like as you drive on. You will pass small farming villages and banana plantations before descending into the valley to Gisenyi, the town at the north of Lake Kivu. Your driver will take you straight to your hotel, where you can relax for the night unwinding and resting your weary legs after your two days of trekking in the Volcanoes National Park.
Day 6: Lake Kivu
Today is free for relaxing or exploring Lake Kivu – you can go swimming in the hotel pool, or in the lake itself, have a tour of Gisenyi town, or hire a boat to visit some of the nearby islands on the lake. You can decide on what you`d like to do – your driver will help you with all of your arrangements.
Day 7: Departure – Kigali
In the morning you will be driven back to Kigali town. You will have some time for last minute shopping before continuing to the airport for your onward flight.
Price Include
Accommodation
3 meal per day
Gorilla permits per person {750us dollar}
Transport in private 4×4 vehecle
Mineral water
Experience English speaking guide/driver
Price Exclude
International flight
Rwanda entry visa
All expenses of personal nature.
Personal {medical/travel} insurance
TIPS
1 person= $3,829
2 people= $2,760 per person sharing
single supplement $250