OVERVIEW

Under this safari, you will have the chance to enjoy the beauty of Rwanda at its fullness since you will be able to tour Rwanda’s cultural sites, the wildlife as well as tracking down the gorillas in the volcanoes national park. It will also entail having a game drive in the Akagera national park for wild game viewing, excellent bird watching and also visit the grave of the famed primatologist Dian Fossey.

HIGHLIGHT

Day 01-Arrival day

Day 02-Drive to Akagera national park

Day 03-Game drive and boat cruise

Day 04-Transfer to Ruhengeri

Day 05-Gorilla trekking

Day 06-Cultural and historical tour

Day 07-Second gorilla trekking

Day 08-Departure day

ITINERARY

Day 1: Arrival at Kigali

It’s on this day that you will be jetting in at Kanombe international airport Kigali. You will be picked up by our ever on time driver and drive you straight to your hotel. Check in at Hotel des mille Collins [luxury] Iris guest house [budget] for dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Akagera national park

Rise up very early in the morning and have your breakfast. Then you will be picked up by your driver and embark on a 2 hours drive journey to Akagera national park on the Tanzania border. Arrive and check in at Akagera game lodge, have lunch and then relax a little bit.In the afternoon go on the game drive and return in the late afternoon before sunset for dinner and overnight.

Day 3: Game drive and Boat trip

Wake up so early for your breakfast and proceed for a morning game drive to catch up with the early risers and predators returning to their hideouts. The game drive will reward you with chances to see a variety elephants, buffaloes, lions, Masai giraffe, gazelles, impala, baboons, orbit, topi, bush baby, leopard and bushbuck among others. Return to the Lodge for late breakfast and relax as we wait for lunch. Later this afternoon we may enjoy a Boat ride on Lake Ihema, which will reward you with large number of hippos, huge Nile crocodiles and about 525 bird species. Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

Day 4: Transfer to Ruhengeri

Wake up very early in the morning and drive back to Kigali and when there visit the genocide memorial, have lunch in Kigali and then afterwards proceed north to Ruhengeri in the northern Rwanda’s Musanze district. This drive will take you through the undulating hills of Rwanda. Reach in the evening and check in at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge [luxury], Lap-lame Hotel [mid range] or Kinigi Guest House [budget] for dinner and overnight. Meal plan: F/B.

Day 5: Gorilla tracking

Rise up very early in the morning and have breakfast and thereafter proceed to volcanoes national park in Musanze district. Head straight to the park offices for briefing about the gorillas and allocation of gorilla groups and guides. Thereafter get into the tropical rain forest and search for the mountain gorillas starting from where they were the previous day until you find them. You will find them doing their daily chores of feeding their young ones, climbing trees and others just relaxing. Take your best photographs having switched off your flash. This whole exercise takes a maximum of 1 hour and then return to the park offices for your gorilla tracking certificate. Drive back to the hotel for lunch and some relaxation. Then in the evening visit the Diane fossey centre and see where she was buried after being killed by the hunters of mountain gorillas in the mist. From here drive back to the hotel for dinner and overnight. Meal plan here is F/B

Day 6: Cultural and Historical tour

Rise up so early in the morning and have your breakfast. Together with packed lunch go on a cultural and historic tour beginning with the Dian Fossey grave situated at Karisoke research center where she spent over twenty years studying about mountain gorillas until she was killed by the poachers. On the way to and from Karisoke, through the volcanic peaks of Karisimbi and Vishoke, you will encounter a lot of wildlife. This trek will consume a whole day and then return in the evening to your hotel for lunch and dinner.

Day 7: Second gorilla tracking

Have your early morning breakfast and assemble again at the park head offices. You can visit a different Gorilla group or go back for the previous group. Relax in the afternoon as we wait for Cocktails, have dinner with Veterinarians from the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, and acknowledge us about ongoing efforts to protect the Mountain Gorillas.

Day 8: Departure

Have a nice relaxed final morning, where we can just soak in the ambiance of the place, reflect back upon the adventures of our past week, and pack. Depending on our flight schedules we may have lunch at the Lodge and then depart for Kigali for your return flight and that marks the end of this excursion.

This safari quotation includes;

-Airport transfers

– Accommodation and meals as specified in the itinerary

– Gorilla permits

– All tour activities

-A 4×4 comfortable safari vehicles.

-Professional fulltime English speaking Driver Guide.

But excludes Airfare to Rwanda, visas (where applicable), laundry, drinks, tips and other personal expenses.