DETAILED ITINERARY

Day 0: Arrival at Kigali airport

Day 1: Kigali City to Volcanoes national park

Estimated Driving time: 2-3 hours.

After breakfast, head out for Kigali City Tour. You will visit impressive craft centers in old Kigali including the Kaplaki market as well as some of the newly developed areas in Kigali.

Along the way stop to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Gisozi.  Learn how an estimated one million Rwandans were killed in nearly 100 days of genocide. The memorial museum is where the remains of 250, 000 victims of the 1994 Genocide are buried. It has a cemetery, a genocide exhibition section & a library.  A visit to this memorial center is not only an educational experience that will offer you a thorough insight into the country’s painful past but also provides a truly moving experience.

The memorial is very moving – the tour takes two to three hours – It is in memory of the multitudes murdered in Rwanda´s genocide in 1994.

The nation’s recovery is incredible and a testimony to a dark past but a bright future.

Pass by the Hotel des Mille Collines (where the 2004 movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ was filmed based on events relating to families that took shelter in this 5-star hotel during the genocide) in Kigali. Later we travel to the Volcanoes National Park driving through the stunning scenery of flourishing green hills and valleys.

Dinner and overnight at your preferred accommodation option requested.

Meals: Lunch, Dinner Included.

Day 2: Volcanoes National Park: Mountain Gorilla trekking

Early morning departure from the lodge to the Volcanoes National Park headquarters in Kinigi for your mountain gorilla trekking encounter. Here you will meet up with excellent park rangers and guides, who will give a talk on the etiquette of gorilla trekking. After orientation on gorilla trekking rangers at the park headquarters, you will be allocated a gorilla family to visit, we take a short drive to the starting point.

Thereafter, trek into the forest. You will start tracking where the gorillas were seen the day before.

In Rwanda, there are 20 habituated gorilla families that can be viewed by tourists.  Each group can be visited by a maximum of 8 people daily.

Trekking usually starts at different starting points. The trekking can take from 1 to 8 hours and climb to altitudes in excess of 7,500 feet. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is one of the most memorable wildlife encounters in Africa. The mountain gorilla species (Gorilla beringei beringei) is a critically endangered species. At least 480 mountain gorillas inhabit this (Virunga) complex and live at altitudes from 2300 – 4500m ranging within the southern part of Virunga National Park (DRC) and the Volcanoes National Park in northern Rwanda. Although the walk is physically demanding the beauty of the forest and surrounding scenery make the trekking worthwhile. Once the gorillas are located all fatigue is forgotten, as the experience is often described as being the most profound natural history experience in the world. Cameras and plenty of fast-speed films are recommended. It can rain at a few minutes’ notice; hence waterproof clothing is a good essential including zip lock bags for cameras and film.  It is important to take bottled water.

Gorilla trekking is an exceptional once-in-a-lifetime experience. In order to minimize animal stress and exposure to possible human disease, daily visits are limited to “only one-hour” viewing. This rule still allows you adequate time for photography and viewing these great primates in their natural habitat.

Today afternoon, you can choose to relax at the lodge or get on optional activities; a) visit the nearby Gorilla Guardians Cultural Village or b) visit the local market. A guided walk through this village will reward you with an unusual and unforgettable experience as you go to different sites in this community. You will be visiting the king’s house, hearing all the interesting stories, and getting some insight into all the items in his house. Enjoy Rwandan traditional dances like Intore dance, performed by community members, using local and traditional musical instruments.

Dinner and overnight at your preferred accommodation option requested.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Included

Day 3: Volcanoes National Park/ Kamembe (near Nyungwe Forest National Park)

Estimated Driving time: 5 – 6 hours

After breakfast, we will drive along the lakeshore of Lake Kivu via Kibuye town. This drive is absolutely stunning. Winding roads hug the lakeshore and majestic hills make for some fantastic photo opportunities. You will see the locals at work, intensively cultivating bananas, cassava, sorghum, beans, rice, potatoes, and even coffee in their steep and tiny fields. In addition, there are several massive tea plantations, villages, innumerable tiny brickworks, and surprises around every corner. You’ll be met with huge smiles and waves from the local children as you pass by and arrive at Kamembe in the late afternoon.

Dinner and overnight at your preferred accommodation option requested.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Included

Day4: Nyungwe Forest: Chimpanzee tracking

Enjoy an early breakfast at the lodge, and transfer to the park office to register for chimpanzee trekking. The Rwandan chimp population consists of about 500 individuals and is thought to be confined to Nyungwe Forest National Park. You will be able to hear them before you see them. From somewhere deep in the forest, an exciting hooting will start, just one voice at first, then several, rising in volume before stopping abruptly or fading away. Unlike most other primates, chimpanzees don’t live in troops, but instead, form extended communities of up to a hundred individuals. They move around the forest in small mobile subgroups that often revolve around a few close family members like brothers, mothers, and daughters. Following the excursion, we will return to the lodge for lunch and an afternoon at leisure.

Dinner and overnight at your preferred accommodation option requested.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Included

Day 5: Kamembe-Bukavu (DRCongo)

After breakfast, we will head out for the Canopy Walk, which is situated in the Nyungwe Forest and hosts 25% of African primates. This walkway is 40 meters above ground level and 90 meters long. It is built above a steep, deep valley, that affords you a dizzying platform where you will be on an “eye-to-eye” level with different primate species and many bird species who all prefer the upper scales of the forest. We will then return to the lodge for lunch followed by a meet and greet at the hotel by your DR Congo guide. En route to the border into the DRC, you will see lush vegetation along the lake in this dense, green, mountainous area with its sparsely populated islands. We will transfer you from the port to your hotel in Bukavu. The city serves as the gateway to the Kahuzi Biega National Park and is situated on the south-eastern edge of Lake Kivu.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Included.

Day 6: Bukavu – Kahuzi Biega National Park – Bukavu: Eastern Lowland Gorilla Trekking

Enjoy an early breakfast before driving (about an hour) to Kahuzi Biega National Park. After the briefing from the authorities of the Tshivanga Visitor Centre, set off trekking the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei). The eastern lowland gorilla is arguably the most impressive of the gorillas. The silverback can reach a weight of 200 kilograms and a height of just under two meters when upright. Their faces are more elongated and their nose, with its compressed nostrils, is narrower than in other subspecies. It has jet black coats like the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), although the hair is shorter on the head and body. The male’s coat, like that of other gorillas, turns silver at the back as the animal matures.

You can stay close to the gorillas for a maximum of one hour, allowing for observation and photography. After the trek, you have the option to return to Bukavu with a local boat on Lake Kivu or by vehicle.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Included.

Day 7: Bukavu (Congo) to Kigali Airport (Rwanda)

After breakfast proceeds to the Congo/Rwanda border.  We drive back to Kigali. We stop by Butare and visit the National Museum of Rwanda where a fantastic display of history and artifacts of Rwanda. We briefly stop at the Kings Palace Museum at Nyanza; here we visit the reconstructed Kings Palace to see how traditional monarchs lived in pre-colonial times. Transfer to Kigali Airport for international flights out.

Accommodation

• The Retreat By Heaven Kigali
• Mountain Gorilla View lodge / Five Volcanoes lodge
• Emeraude Kivu Resort (standard room)
• Orchids Safari Club Hotel (standard room)