Arrival
Arrival
Day 1
Start: Kigali International Airport
Start: Kigali International Airport
Your private guide will meet you at the airport for the journey for the 7 days. He will transfer you the hotel in Kigali for an overnight. Depending on the time of your arrival, you will have dinner and rest for the night before the start of your primate adventure.
- Main Destination:
- Kigali
- Accommodation:
-
Quiet Haven Hotel
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
King’s Palace and Museum visit on transit to Nyungwe National Park
King’s Palace and Museum visit on transit to Nyungwe National Park
Have breakfast and drive south-west to Nyungwe, a perfect introduction to this "country of a thousand hills". The drive takes you through farmland and rice fields, with lunch en route, typically reaching Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel, with its stunning forest views, after around six hours. But this is very much your trip, so if you'd like to stop for photos. You will visit the King’s palace and museum at Nyanza. The King’s Palace and Museum gives an interesting insight into Rwanda’s cultural history and monarchy. It's also ideally placed to break up the long journey to Nyungwe Forest.
- Main Destination:
- Nyungwe National Park (Chimps)
- Accommodation:
- Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel
Wildlife in Nyungwe NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Explore Nyungwe: Chimpanzee tracking and canopy walk
Explore Nyungwe: Chimpanzee tracking and canopy walk
Nyungwe is an ideal destination for lovers of primates. Most visitors will opt for at least one tracking experience, of which the most popular is chimpanzee trekking. Trekking to see the chimpanzees in Nyungwe Forest National Park can be exhilarating. While sighting them in dense forest can be challenging, to watch them cavorting in the tree tops, their all-too-human characteristics to the fore, makes this an exceptionally rewarding half-day excursion.
In the afternoon after our lunch at the hotel, we shall head for the canopy walk at the park, a chance to see the park from heights on a mesh rail. Have dinner and overnight at the lodge.
- Main Destination:
- Nyungwe National Park (Chimps)
- Accommodation:
- Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
To Lake Kivu and sunset boat cruise to Napoleon Island
To Lake Kivu and sunset boat cruise to Napoleon Island
As you travel north today, the forests of Nyungwe give way to stunning views over Lake Kivu and its islands, stretching as far as the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's not a long drive – around three hours – but with the flexibility to choose where and when you stop, you can spend as long as you like taking photographs or just revelling in the scenery before arriving at Cormoran Lodge, overlooking the lake. You do sunset boat cruise to the Napoleon Island and return for dinner.
- Main Destination:
- Lake Kivu
- Accommodation:
- Cormoran Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
Lake Kivu to Volcanoes National Park
Lake Kivu to Volcanoes National Park
This morning you'll drive north, leaving the lake behind, the increasingly hilly terrain culminating after around four hours in the foothills of Volcanoes National Park, and Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge. On the way, you'll pass a number of tea or coffee plantations interspersed by the occasional village, so if you'd like to stop to explore, or perhaps look round the Museum of the Environment near Kibuye, have a chat with your guide; the choice is yours. When you arrive, you will visit the Ellen DeGeneres Campus for Dian Fossey for an insight on gorilla conservation and the future of conservation plus the history and legacy of Dian Fossey.
- Main Destination:
- Musanze (City)
- Accommodation:
- Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6
Gorilla tracking and Iby’Iwachu cultural Centre tour
Gorilla tracking and Iby’Iwachu cultural Centre tour
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park is a magical experience, transcending any other wildlife encounter we know. Meeting a gorilla family in their forest home, led by a dominant male silverback and a cluster of females and young, is a natural adventure that fully repays the cost in unforgettable memories and images. Your guide will operate the transfer from the lodge to the park offices and introduce you to the park rangers and guides for briefing. After tracking, in the afternoon visit the Iby’Iwachu cultural centre for an insight into Rwanda cultural practices. After return to the lodge for an overnight.
- Main Destination:
- Volcanoes National Park (Gorillas)
- Accommodation:
- Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge
Wildlife in Volcanoes NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 7
Golden monkey tracking and to Kigali
Golden monkey tracking and to Kigali
Spend a morning trekking to find the golden monkeys in the Volcanoes National Park. These endangered monkeys are endemic to the Albertine Rift area and are characterised by their golden-orange fur. You’ll be able to enjoy an hour watching them jump through the bamboo and hunker down to chew bamboo leaves, curiously watching you, as you watch them. After, you will drive to Kigali for a tour of the city, it's a fascinating journey of around four hours, depending on any stops you make en route (do ask your guide about the options) before arriving in time for you to make your onward connections.
- Main Destination:
- Kigali Genocide Memorial (Kigali)
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
