10 days Rwanda Gorilla Tour

Day 1:

Flight via Europe.

Day 2:

Arrive in Kigali, Rwanda.
You will be met on arrival at Kigali International Airport and transferred to your hotel where you will have dinner and overnight.

Day 3:

Akagera National Park Rwanda.

Wake up and have breakfast then depart for Akagera National Park in the east of Rwanda, you will arrive in time for lunch and a relax poolside. Have a late afternoon game drive. You will then have a welcome dinner and orientation at the lodge.

Day 4:

Game drive.
Wake up and have breakfast then go for an early morning game drive and have a chance to see a variety of birds, elephant, hippo, giraffe, spotted hyena, buffalo and crocodiles. In the afternoon you will enjoy a canoe ride on Lake Ihema, which is rewarding, you may see the large number of hippo, the huge Nile crocodile and many birds. Dinner and overnight at the lodge.

Day 5:

 Transfer to Volcanoes National Park.
Following breakfast in the morning, you will depart towards Kinigi in the north-west of Rwanda. You will have a lunch stop in Kigali, and visit the Genocide Memorial, where you will be told stories of survival and the heart-warming stories of recovery and rebuilding hope. The journey goes through the beautiful terraced hillsides that characterize much of Rwanda's landscape, gradually climbing to the base of the awesome volcanoes, sometimes with as many as five peaks visible. You will return to the lodge in the evening and then meet one of the veterinarians from the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, and hear about their ongoing efforts to protect the Mountain Gorillas. You will have cocktails and dinner with them, and will share some of the stories, challenges, and successes of their important work.

Day 6:

Gorilla Trek.
Today you will take your first Gorilla trek. You will wake up early this morning and drive to the headquarters of Volcanoes National Park where you will meet the trackers and head up the slopes of the Virunga Volcanoes. May visit one of the five habituated groups. Not more than eight people visit any group on any given day, so you can rely on having an intimate experience with our group, whichever group you visit. The trek can be quite strenuous, so you should be able to hike for two or three hours on steep mountain trails.

Day 7:

Dian Fossey Grave, former-Karisoke Research Center, Volcanoes National Park.
You will visit the grave of Dian Fossey, located next to that of Digit. The grave site is located at the former Karisoke Research Center where Dian spent some twenty years studying the Mountain Gorillas, and the trek to the site is quite spectacular, passing through bamboo forest and afro-montane habitats - indeed the trails are criss-crossed with the tracks of forest buffalo and elephant! You may see all the behaviors of wildlife as we make our way up and down to Karisoke, nestled between the volcanic peaks of Karismbi and Visoke. Alternatively you can relax at the lodge, visit some of the local villages, or trek to see the endangered Golden Monkeys that also make this area home.

Day 8:

Second Gorilla Trek at Volcanoes National Park

Have breakfast and go trek the Mountain Gorillas the second time. You will be able to visit different Gorilla group than the first visit.  You will return and visit the local market. You will have a farewell dinner tonight with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project Field Staff.

Day 9:

Virunga Lodge to Kigali, Rwanda.
You will have a relaxed morning, just immerse in the ambiance of this lovely place, thinking about the adventures of the past week, and prepare to get back home. Depending on your flight schedules you may have lunch at the lodge then depart for Kigali and return flight home.

Day 10:

Flights home and End of tour.

Day 1:

Fly from London Heathrow to Nairobi

Day 2:

Remain in transit and board morning flight to Kigali.
On arrival you will be met by our driver-guide and drive the short distance into the city. Here you have the rest of the day to relax after your long flights, or can set off on foot to explore this friendly and surprisingly clean capital city. Overnight and dinner at Kigali Serena F/B.

Day 3:

 Nyungwe Forest National Park Rwanda

After breakfast, you will stop after a couple of hours in Butare, Rwanda's second city, where you can visit the King's Palace and the National Museum and University. After lunch you will continue south to Nyungwe Forest where you will stay for the next two nights at Gisakura Guesthouse (full board).

Day 4:

Guided walk.
Today you will have a guided nature walk through Nyungwe Forest National Park in search of chimpanzees, but also looking out for other primates, birdlife and small forest creatures which share the forest with the chimpanzees.

Day 5:

Depart for Lake Kivu
You will leave in the morning after breakfast for Lake Kivu; this is a fairly long day of driving, along a bumpy road, but the scenery more than makes up for it! You can stop along the way for photos and to enjoy a picnic lunch and will arrive at Gisenyi in the mid-afternoon. You will spend two nights here at the Lake Kivu Serena Hotel (full board).

Day 6:

Relax at Lake Kivu
You can either relax at the hotel, take a stroll along the sandy shore of the lake, visit the bustling town, or take a boat out on the lake for a couple of hours.

Day 7:

 Depart for Kinigi.
After breakfast, you will depart to the small village at the base of the Virunga Volcanoes. The drive takes you in some dramatic scenery, with steep cliff-like hills and tea plantations blanketing the valley floors in green. You will stay for the next three nights at the Gorilla's Nest Lodge (full board) which is only 10 minutes drive from the park headquarters where you start and end your gorilla tracking excursion.

Day 8:

Gorilla tracking day.

You will depart early for the park headquarters and register for your trek, and after being briefed about safety and given information about your assigned gorilla family you will set off. You will trek between 2 and 5 hours to reach the gorillas, depending on which group you have been assigned, and you're allowed to spend one hour with them once you have seen your first gorilla. This is a real once in a lifetime experience and not one can forget soon! It can rain any day of the year in the Virunga Volcanoes, so make sure you pack a waterproof jacket and some sturdy walking boots.

Day 9:

Trek to visit Karisoke.
 The former research centre of Dian Fossey, where she was buried. The trek takes most of the day, and your guide will show you around the huts where Fossey and her team started researching the mountain gorillas. This is a really interesting excursion, and the strenuous trek makes you really appreciate how remote and far from civilisation Dian Fossey and her fellow researchers were when Karisoke was in operation.

Day 10:

 Depart for Kigali.
After breakfast, you will depart for Kigali and you will do a city tour in the afternoon to include the Gisozi Genocide Memorial museum. Dinner and Overnight at the Kigali Serena F/B.

Day 11:

Depart from Kigali.
You will have leisure and relax in the morning before you fly from Kigali to Nairobi. You will remain in transit here and board the overnight flight back to London Heathrow.

Day 12:

Arrive in London early in the morning.

Arrival at Kigali International Airport.
The tour starts with a drive through the verdant rolling hills of Rwanda as we drive to Gorillas Nest, Ruhengeri.

Day 2:

Gorilla trek in Parc National des Volcans.

This is the largest national park which protects the Rwanda sector of the Virunga Mountains, a range of six extinct and three active volcanoes which straddle the border with Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Day 3:

Gorilla trek

This is a second optional gorilla trek, incase you wish to have the experience again, then visit Dian Fossey’s grave or trek with Golden Monkeys. Return to Kigali.

Day 4:

Drive to Nyungwe.
You will visit Butare Museum en route.  This museum was built in the 1990’s; it is an excellent source of the cultural history of Rwanda's people as well as the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The visit to Butare is very important in this tour. You will be able to understand and appreciate the incredible resiliance and beauty of the Rwandan people and also understand the sheer horror and brutality of the genocide.

Day 5:

Chimp trekking in Nyungwe Forest National Park

Nyungwe Forest National Park is one of the largest montane forests remaining in east and central Africa. Nyungwe is liked for its rich variety of flora and fauna, is a rich and ancient centre of unparalleled biodiversity and natural wonders.

Day 6:

Visit to the tea estate and Kings Boma
En route back to Kigali.

Day 7:

Visit to Kigali Genocide Museum.
The museum was first opened in 2004 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and will be an emotionally moving and important way to understand the sheer courage and resiliance of this beautiful, tiny nation. Trip ends in Kigali in the afternoon.