On these 10-Days Rwanda Wildlife and Primates Safari, we have weaved together Rwanda’s top safari highlights to create this immersive adventure just for you. On this experience, you will trek up-close to families of mountain gorilla and chimpanzee in their montane home ranges, take a Big-5 African wilderness safari and explore Rwanda’s rich cultural heritage.
Safari overview
The 10-Days Rwanda Wildlife and Primates Safari kicks off with a guided tour across the capital city of Kigali regarded as the smartest city on the continent. Here, our local guide will share with you the cultural and historical events that has shaped this bustling metropolis and feel the forward thinking and resilience of Rwanda’s youthful population as you walk through the city’s lively streets and markets.
The trip then continues into the expansive savanna wooded and wetlands of Akagera NP east of the capital Kigali, for a holistic wildlife experience to encounter the Big 5 game and a plethora of birdlife. While here, you will extend the wildlife experience on a boat safari on L. Ihema where hippo pods, Nile crocodile and diverse water fowl occur. In Rwanda’s Volcanoes NP, you will follow in the famous Dian Fossey’s footsteps to trek along a family of mountain gorillas and Golden Monkey on montane slopes. From wildlife and tracking experiences, slow down the pace to relax and refresh by the red beaches of Lake Kivu.
Heading on the southwest part of the country, you will trek along the Chimpanzee communities that occur on the edge of this vast montane rainforest. Smaller, agile and mobile than the mountain gorilla, the chimpanzee occur in large complex communities up to 50 individuals. On a guided nature walk, you will further explore the interior of Nyungwe forest and also get an eyes-view over its canopy from a suspended canopy walk set 40m above several ridges and riverine sections. Several primates and birdlife are seen as well as great views over these forested montane ranges.
On our return route to Kigali, we drive through the scenic central part of the country, where we visit the Kings palace and museum to learn of the ancient tradition heritage of Rwanda and its people.
Tour Highlights
- Big Five Wildlife Safari at Akagera NP
- Gorillas, Chimpanzee and Golden Monkey Tracking
- Lake Kivu experience
- Canopy walk at Nyungwe Forest
- Culture experience
Tour Includes
- Private transport in a 4WD with a driver guide.
- All Parks, Palaces and Museum entrance fees.
- Accommodation and meal plan cost.
- Gorilla and Chimpanzee tracking permits.
- Golden monkey Tracking fees.
- Canopy walk fees.
- Bottled drinking water.
Excluded
- Tips to your guides
- Laundry, telephone costs and other personal amenities
- Activities mentioned as “Optional.”
- Accommodation on the Last Day
- Flight fees and insurance
- Other drinks and food other than mentioned Itinerary.
10-Days Rwanda Wildlife and Primates Safari Detailed Itinerary
Arrival Day: Meet and Greet
Upon arrival at Kigali airport, our company representative will receive you to transfer to the booked hotel in the heart of Kigali City. There you will meet and get to know your driver guide and run through your upcoming tour plan. Depending on your arrival schedule, with time, feel free to take a personal stroll around your hotel surroundings for shopping or just enjoy the amenities at your hotel.
Accommodation and Meal Plan: Haven Boutique Hotel, HB
Day One: Explore Kigali City
With a population of 1.3m people, the capital Kigali is a bustling economic hub, modern, smart and green city. Its conducive average temperature of 250 C is influenced by its high elevation of 1300-1600m and surrounding highlands typical of Rwanda overall landscape. On this guided tour, you will gain insights into this organized city, learn of its diverse culture, historical events that has shaped it through ages and be amazed at the city’s rapid reformation strides to modernity and prosperity.
The city reflects the identity of Rwandan spirit and her people, depicts her traditional heritage and flourishes with today’s technology making Kigali and Rwanda a star on the continent. A tour to Richard Kandt’s house, the home of the earliest European naturalist, you learn of natural species he discovered and named after him including primates, birds and other species in the region. Shop through several craft centers for excellent original Rwandan art pieces later in the afternoon dine with city residents at local eatery and probably test local menus or sip away a freshly brewed coffee.
The tour climaxes with a sobering visit to Kigali Genocide Site for a peek into the dark past of this small country and appreciate the resolute stand with Rwanda’s call to the world that such human atrocities should NEVER occur again anywhere.
Accommodation and Meal Plan: Haven Boutique Hotel, FB
Day Two: Transfer to Akagera NP and Boat Cruise
After breakfast this morning, transfer to the only savanna woodland park in Rwanda east of Kigali City. Checking in at the park reception, head out for a hot lunch at your lodge and late afternoon take a boat cruise on L. Ihema.
On a boat cruise here, you come into close quarters of the semi-aquatic Hippo in numerous family parties and the Nile crocodile often seen basking on the banks. Excellent bird list that occur on lake edges and marshes include; Purple and Striated Heron, Pied and Malachite Kingfisher, African Marsh Harrier and African Eagle with its diagnostic call. Watch out for the charismatic African Jacana as he strolls on floating vegetation.
Optional Activity: Late/Night Game Drive
Accommodation and Meal Plan: Ruzizi Tented Lodge, FB
Drive Time: 3hrs
Day Three: Wildlife Safari in Akagera NP
Early this morning , you will take a guided game drive to explore the game-rich and diverse habitats of Akagera NP that spreads across woodlands, savanna grasslands plains, wooded ridges and extensive wetlands. The early start will offer you chances to see local carnivores returning from night hunting activities including Leopard, Lions, and the Hyena. Herbivores include herds of African Elephants, Impala, Common Warthog, Topi, Eland, Bushbuck, Masai Giraffe, Plains Zebra and Deffassa Waterbuck. The recently re-introduced Black rhino populations are exciting to encounter during drives through the savanna woodlands while its bigger cousin the Southern White rhinos is located in the northern section of the park.
Out in nature, away from the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day lifestyle, take it slow to allow in this moment, watch the spectacular scenery of rolling hills, stare at the blue expansive clear skies, feel the breeze as it whistles through the grass and woodlands, watch out for tracks and signs by the park residents, listen for sounds and clittering, rejuvenate your mind and spirit.
Accommodation and Meal Plan: Ruzizi Lodge FB
Day Four: Scenic transfer to Volcanoes NP and visit Gorilla Guardians (Ibyi’ Wachu) Village
Today we take a scenic drive through the heart of Rwanda, with a mosaic of terraced highlands and narrow valleys, to finally check in near Volcanoes NP on the northwest of the country. Virunga NP protects a chain of dormant volcanic ranges that make up Virunga massifs a stronghold to half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas and the biggest population of the golden monkey among other flora and fauna.
After the checking in, later that evening, your guide will lead you to an evening cultural visit at the Gorilla Guardians village (Ibyi’wachu village) to enjoy firsthand traditional Rwandan cultural characterized by dance, folklore and drama. After an early dinner your guide will brief you on several tracking activities to be done here including what to pack and dress code.
Accommodation and Meal Plan: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge FB
Drive Time: 6hrs
Day Five: Gorilla Tracking at Volcanoes NP
After an early breakfast, you will check in at the Park Visitors center at Kinigi at 7am. Here the park ranger guides will give an extended briefing about gorilla tracking experience and conservation efforts of these endangered species. From briefing, visitors will be grouped into an 8-person teams to track any of the 12 habituated gorilla families in the park.
Taking a short drive to the tracking trailheads, ranger guides will introduce a team of helpers referred as porters available for hire at a minimum of 20 USD cost pp to carry that heavy backpack. At the trailheads ranger-guides will offer a highly recommended local walking stick needed to give you extra balance on those steep and likely slippery trails. Thereafter, trekking begins heading out to a gorilla family group’s feeding range, on locating it, strictly one hour is accorded to watch, photograph and interact with this group.
Mountain gorillas are social animals occurring in family troops of up to 20 individuals, led by a dominant male Silverback distinguishable by a saddle of silver on his back attainable at the ages of 14. Mountain gorillas are sedentary and vegetarian in diet, spending most of its waking time eating fresh soft foliage with short afternoon rests. With no natural enemies in the wild except poachers, gorillas live up to 50-years. The trek duration lasts as short as 3-hours to 5-hours depending on the location of family groups.
Accommodation: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, FB
Day Six: Trek the Golden Monkey and Transfer to the lakeside of L. Kivu
After an early breakfast, you will check in at the Visitors center where ranger guides will receive and give you a short briefing about the golden monkey tracking activity. The Golden Monkey is an Albertine endemic that occur in troops up to 50 individuals in the bamboo ranges across the Virunga NP. Troops feed mainly on bamboo and insects and are led by a dominant male. Trekking experience tracks habituated communities and when located, visitors are offered a full-hour watching the social behavior of these charismatic species. As with mountain gorillas, tracking duration varies with the troops’ feeding location, and you are reminded to carry plenty of drinking water and a snack on the trek.
Later that afternoon after a hot lunch, transfer to the scenic lakeside resort overlooking L. Kivu in Gisenyi.
Accommodation And Meal Plan: L. Kivu Serena Hotel, FB
Drive Time: 2hrs
Day Seven: Rest Day at L. Kivu- Gisenyi
From your lakeside resort choose to relax and refresh especially after two days trekking experiences. The town of Gisenyi has a pleasant weather and worth exploring on a lazy morning/evening walk or bike to enjoy the scenic landscape. If you choose to stretch your adventure, variety of optional activities abound, discuss with your guide/driver.
Optional Activities: A community guided Walk or Bike adventure to explore this scenic L. Kivu region with its towering, terraced mountain ranges and pleasant lake shore.
Accommodation And Meal Plan: L. Kivu Serena Hotel, FB
Day Eight: Transfer and Canopy Walk at Nyungwe Forest
Today after a lazy late breakfast, start your transfer to the rainforests of Nyungwe in the south of the country. The scenic drive runs parallel with L. Kivu, Rwanda’s biggest lake that lies entirely in the Albertine region. With scenic stops to take in incredible landscapes of green tea dotted highlands, shores of L. Kivu, you will check in at your hotel overlooking the canopies of Nyungwe forests in time for a hot lunch. Later that afternoon, transfer to check in at Uwinka reception where after a short briefing, will be led out along the Igishigishigi trail for a canopy walk.
Stretching some 200m, the metallic walkway is suspended some 40m above the forest floor, offering excellent views over the canopies and far montane ranges of Nyungwe. Several primates and birdlife are seen on the canopy walk plus endemic plants including giant ferns. The walk stretches close to two hours and require good walking shoes, appropriate long pants and shirt, drinking water and rain gear is recommended.
Optional Activity: Take a Tea Tour.
Accommodation And Meal Plan: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel, FB
Day Nine: Chimpanzee Tracking at Nyungwe Forest
Today with an early start at about 5am, we will head out to meet the ranger guides at Gisakula Visitors center for transfer to Chamudondo chimpanzee forest an hour-and-half away for the trekking experience. This small patch of montane forest is about 6km2 with a 40-plus strong chimpanzee community habituated for trekking experience. From the trail head, rangers will lead you to where the chimp troop nested the previous night thereafter following them as they forage.
Just like on gorilla trekking experience, visitors get to spend One-hour with chimpanzee and the same regulations apply. Smaller and mobile than the gentle Mountain Gorillas, the eastern common Chimpanzee lives in communities up to 100 individuals, scattering across their rainforest home range in smaller and mobile family units. At the helm of the group is a dominant male. Trekking here can last up to 5-hrs and dress code, rain gear, pretty of water and a snack is advisable.
Accommodation and meal Plan: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel, FB
Day Ten: Drive to Kigali past Kings Palace at Nyanza
This morning we transfer through the south-west route towards Kigali sparing time to visit the Kings Palace and museum at Huye and Nyanza towns. Set on hill overlooking highlands, Rukari King’s Palace displays ancient lifestyle and great traditional architecture, and the complex hosts several royal Inyambo cow’s characteristic with their long-horns and graceful character. We will enjoy story telling from the royal guides about the ancient culture and spare time to visit the museum for artifacts of this ancient Kingdom and the general Rwandan culture. Thereafter we will have a hot lunch and transfer to Kigali city arriving that evening.
Dinner in Kigali
Drive time: 6hrs
End: Depending on your flight schedule, you may choose to be dropped at the airport or the hotel for the late flight plan.