Arrival
Arrival
Day 1
Arrive in Kigali
Arrive in Kigali
Arrival at Kigali International Airport and transfer to your accommodation, depending on the time of arrival, possibly an optional city tour. Your Rwanda safari entry and exit city is a pleasantly low-key yet dynamic and progressive metropolis. Clean streets are a matter of pride across every community throughout the country. The Kigali Genocide Memorial, which honors the memory of the more than one million Rwandans killed in the 1994 genocide, is worth visiting for travelers that want to relive the gruesome days.
- Main Destination:
- Kigali Genocide Memorial (Kigali, Rwanda)
- Accommodation:
- Heaven Boutique Hotel
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
Transfer Kigali to Kisoro (border crossing)
Transfer Kigali to Kisoro (border crossing)
Be up for a 7 o'clock breakfast and an early start to the 3-hour drive from Kigali to the border crossing point at Cyanika. The immigration process can take about an hour, but it's pretty seamless for most travelers. After crossing, you'll drive another less than an hour to Kisoro, where you'll check into your accommodation, have lunch, and prepare for your afternoon activities. Afternoon activities may involve visiting the Batwa Community or walking through the local markets with a walking safari guide.
- Main Destination:
- Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Gorillas)
- Accommodation:
-
Travellers Rest Hotel
Wildlife in Mgahinga Gorilla NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Golden Monkey Tracking
Golden Monkey Tracking
This day is quite an early start, say about 6:00 am. With a lunch pack and a fruity breakfast down your belly, your driver will transfer you on a 45-minute drive to Mgahinga National Park headquarters to start your golden monkey trekking excursion to the bamboo slopes of the Virunga Mountains. After the briefing, the golden monkey excursion will start at about 8:00 am with a lead tracker guide and two gun-bearing rangers. You'll trek up the slopes in a two-hour window to the bamboo forest zone, where golden monkeys hang out. When you meet them, you'll spend about an hour watching their antics and social behaviors. Golden monkeys are cheeky and playful and will jump up the trees or curiously come close to you than expected. Enjoy the moment, but follow instructions from your lead guide.
- Main Destination:
- Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Gorillas)
- Accommodation:
- Travellers Rest Hotel
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
Hiking Adventure, Kisoro to Lake Mutanda
Hiking Adventure, Kisoro to Lake Mutanda
You should break camp early to avoid the mid-morning heat on this day's walking and canoeing trail. Carry enough drinking water and a packed lunch and join the local walking safari guide through Kisoro and down villages, cultivated garden slopes, and undulating landscapes to a gorgeous volcano lake. Along the way, you may stop at the local coffee processing farm for a local insight into how they make and package some of the best-known coffee worldwide. At Lake Mutanda, you'll hop into the local fishermen's dug-out canoes for an hour's canoeing excursion to a resort across the lake. The serene boat ride on the calm water is renewing, the views are to die for, and the chants from your local guides will leave you forever connected with the land. It is truly an immersive adventure!
- Main Destination:
- Lake Mutanda (Uganda)
- Accommodation:
- Mutanda Lake Resort
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
Walking Adventure, Mutanda to Bwindi
Walking Adventure, Mutanda to Bwindi
This is another manageable hiking trail from lake Mutanda across valleys, meadows, villages, and ridges to reach the southern end of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Here, you'll spend three nights in a forest cabin above the mighty forest with out-of-this-world views. Have an early start to watch the sunrise over the lake while having breakfast and trek uphill to a ridge where you'll have spectacular views of the island-dotted lake with Virunga Volcanos backdrop. Trek through villages with kids chanting Mzungu, encounter natives in their gardens, drink from a spring and connect with the rugged land and its people on this trail. The driver will be trailing you to ensure you are supplied with water, carry your luggage and meals and give you a lift when you can't go on.
- Main Destination:
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Gorillas)
- Accommodation:
- Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge
Wildlife in Bwindi NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6
Nature Walk in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Nature Walk in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Our travelers’ favorite and pioneer activity is nature hiking on the ancient walking trail through the mystic Bwindi Impenetrable, this time not for gorillas but for the love of nature. The nature walking trail begins from the Lodge through villages, into the misty jungle along the Kashasha River valley, and out through Nteko near the DRC border. For 15 km, 4-6 hours, you’ll be immersed in the majestic beauties of the ancient jungle guided by a local expert who’ll furnish you with old tales and incredible forest knowledge and bring you close to being one with the forest trails. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet wild forest inhabitants like chimps, elephants, duikers, forest buffalo, and more. At the rendezvous point, your driver will pick you up and transfer you to the lodge.
- Main Destination:
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Gorillas)
- Accommodation:
- Buhoma Gorilla Camp
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 7
Nature Walk in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Nature Walk in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Early morning after breakfast, you'll transfer to the trailhead in time for the gorilla tracking briefing. It's a 10-meter walk. Briefing starts at 7:30 am, and for 30 minutes, you'll learn the guiding procedure, the gorilla group to track and be assigned two armed rangers (for security), and a lead tracker guide alongside seven other trackers. The jungle has dump floors and thick shrubs, which will definitely require waterproof hiking boots, a rain jacket, a waterproof backpack (it could rain anytime), trousers, a long-sleeved shirt and garden gloves to protect you from prickly plants and bush bugs. The tracking is at your pace and can take 30m to 6 hours before you find the gorillas, be prepared for this. Once you locate them, you will spend an hour with the gorillas, but you must observe a 10 meters distance from them and keep your mask on. Your time in the forest cannot be precisely pre-determined as every trek differs from the other. Then transfer to L Bunyonyi.
- Main Destination:
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Gorillas)
- Accommodation:
- Lake Bunyonyi Eco Resort
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 8
Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi to Kigali for canoe and relaxation
Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi to Kigali for canoe and relaxation
After breakfast, your designated driver will drive you to the Uganda-Rwanda border, process your immigration papers and transfer you to Kigali Airport, a journey that may take 5-6 hours. If you rather spend another night in Kigali, we can arrange accommodation at an extra cost.
- Main Destination:
- Kigali (Rwanda)
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
