Safari Highlights of 12 days Rwanda safari tour
- Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes national park
- Chimpanzee –
- Colobus monkey tracking, canopy walk experience done along spectacular treetop walkway in Nyungwe Forest National Park
- Experience for the Big Five species on game drives in Akagera National Park
- Boat Cruise experience on the tranquil water of Lake Ihema in Akagera.
- Drive through Rwanda’s marvelous scenic landscapes.
- Enjoy cool breathtaking as you relax on the sandy shores of Lake Kivu.
- Go adventure on a Boat cruise to beautiful Lake Kivu with lots of amazing optional activities like Kayaking, sport fishing, birding, mountain biking, hiking, Island hopping, and coffee among others.
- Go visit the ethnographic museum and king’s palace
- Visit Iby’Iwacu Cultural village for a community experience
- Go visit the tea plantation.
- Have a city tour by visiting Kigali Genocide Memorial.
- Tour of the Ethnographic Museum and King’s palace.
Day 1: Pick up and transfer to your hotel
Pick up: Depending on your location on day 1 of the 12 days Rwanda Safari tour, you will be welcomed by our professional driver guide who will brief you about the safari and drives you to your booked hotel in Kigali city for relaxation, dinner, and overnight stay.
While at your hotel you will wake up in the beautiful city that extends across lush undulating hills surrounded by towering mountains and a city offering a wide perfect accommodation options and a collection of spacious restaurants and points of interest like Kigali Genocide Centre, various craft shops and atmospheric market, busy streets and beautiful green hillsides.
Day 2: Transfer to Nyungwe National Park-Visit Ethnographic Museum
Transfer to Nyungwe: On day 2 of the 12-day Rwanda Safari tour you will be starting the journey of the trip after your breakfast at the hotel. You will be briefed about the trip as you drive to the southwest to Nyungwe National Park which takes about a 5 to 6 hours drive. You will drive through beautiful city streets continue to drive with rewarding views of mountains as you drive to the cultural corridor and get to know how the king ruled for a short period.
Visit Ethnographic Museum in Butare; You will go experience the historical display in one of the most astonishing ethnographic museums in all of East Africa. You will Proceed to drive to the reconstruction of the traditional king’s palace a thatch home from which all decision was made in Nyanza. Have Enroute lunch
After lunch, continue to drive to Nyungwe Forest home rich with wild chimpanzees over 500 species, endangered monkeys, endemic plants, and more than 322 species of birds. Arrive at the park late in the evening, and check in to your lodge or hotel rest. Dinner and overnight stay.
Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 3: Chimpanzee Tracking and Canopy walk in Nyungwe Forest
Chimpanzee tracking: After early morning breakfast, your driver guide will drive you to the meeting point for a short briefing about chimpanzee tracking dos and don’ts. You will then be guided by the park ranger to the forest trails to look out for these unique chimpanzees. As your track, there are other chances of seeing species like notable bird species, small primates, and plants. This activity can take about 30 to 5 hours depending on where were last seen the previous day.
Once you find them, spend one hour watching them as they play on the tree canopies, feed, groom themselves, enjoy their hooting and screams of communicating with each other, video taking, and memorable photography.
After the hike back to the lodge for relaxation and lunch.
Afternoon Canopy Walk; Later on, go for an impressive adventurous walk along a 70-meter-high, 160-meter-long canopy walkway that sways in the wind above Nyungwe Forest. Back to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 4: Colobus Monkey Tracking and Afternoon Tea Plantation Visit
Colobus Monkey Tracking: On day 4 of the 12 days Rwanda Safari Tours starts early after breakfast. Then after your driver guide transfer you to the park’s visitor’s center for a briefing about the rules of tracking monkeys and for this yet another fabulous adventure in Nyungwe Forest. After the briefing, you will embark on colobus monkey tracking. You will be allowed one hour with them to watch the troop of colobus monkeys while eating and swigging around the tree branches. Hike back to the lodge for lunch and rest.
Afternoon Tea Plantation Visit: You will go visit a tea plantation and be able to discover how tea is harvested and how it is processed from leaves to the final product. You can as well enjoy the aroma of coffee tea at the base. Have dinner and overnight stay.
Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 5: Transfer to Lake Kivu - Kibuye for Relaxation
Transfer to Lake Kivu: On day 5 of the 12-day Rwanda Safari Tour, wake up on a leisurely breakfast in Nyungwe. Then, check out of the lodge and drive out of the park and depart to the north part of Kibuye –a tranquil ton on the shores of Lake Kivu one of the largest lakes in central Africa thus extending as far as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kibuye is an amazing town to go chill around and also visit far the most beautiful area of Lake Kivu. The tour to Lake Kivu resort can take 3 to 4 hours. On your visit, you can decide to spend the day relaxing along the resort beach right outside your lodge.
Day 6: Boat cruise on Lake Kivu and Transfer to Volcanoes NP
Boat cruise: After having a beautiful breakfast, head out on a boat cruise to enjoy the peacefulness and tranquility of Lake Kivu, while on a boat cruise trip you will be able to visit various islands on the lake like Napoleon Island with its colony of fruit bats and Amahoro Island which became locally famous for the sundowner bar set up on the Island seasonally.
Transfer to Volcanoes NP; In the afternoon, drive a 4-hour drive north through Gisenyi to Volcanoes National Park covering an area of 160 square kilometers which inhabitant by mountain gorillas and encompasses 5 of the 8 Virunga Volcanoes.
Volcanoes National Park sounds like Rwanda’s best adventurous destination because of a mystical backdrop for immersive endangered mountain gorilla conservation activity. It is also home to various monkey species like golden monkeys, butterflies, rare plants, and forest birds among others. Arrive late in the evening, and check in at the lodge for relaxation, dinner, and overnight.
Day 7: Gorilla Trekking and Visit Ibywachu Cultural Village
Gorilla Trekking: On day 7 of the 12 days Rwanda safari tour, wake up early for the breakfast at 6 am and then transfer to park headquarters with packed lunch boxes by 7 am. Meet with the park ranger guide pre-gorilla trekking briefing. Thereafter, be grouped into a group of eight individuals to your assigned gorilla trekking family. You will then, start the hike on foot into the park to search for the gentle giants.
The trekking experience takes through thick vegetation and on tough terrain for about 1 to 7 hours. As you trek, you will be able to see all kinds of exotic animals, bird species, and plants.
Once you allocate the gorilla family, you will have to stop at a distance of about 5 to 7 meters away from them and an hour will be given to the trackers to watch them in the forest as they spend their day-long, feeding, playing, built their nests on the ground, take pictures and video capture, as well as enjoying your packed lunch boxes. Thus becoming once in a lifetime experience.
Visit Iby’Iwacu Village; Later no, you will go visit Iby’Iwacu village and be able to enjoy the amazing Rwanda cultural performances and traditional experiences like Intore dancers and shooting arrows with the Batwa hunter, among others. Dinner and Overnight stay
Meal plan; Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 8: Golden Monkey Tracking
Golden monkey tracking; After morning breakfast, you will be driven to the meeting point for the briefing about the rules of golden monkey. Then, after setting off to the bamboo forest walk to search for them with one hour to spend with them. After returning to the lodge enjoy lunch and leisure time at the lodge. Dinner and Overnight stay
Meal plan; Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 9: Transfer to Akagera NP
Transfer to Akagera National park; You will have breakfast at the lodge. Then drive out of the Volcanoes and continues to drive to Akagera National Park a drive which takes 4 to 5 hours’ drive. Arrive at the park do a short game drive and be able to spot some of the animals. Back to the lodge for lunch and relaxation.
Afternoon or evening Boat cruise; After, you will go for an afternoon boat cruise at Lake Ihema where you will be able to cruise out to hippo and crocodile territory, if the evening, you can enjoy the sunset boat ride on the peaceful and quiet areas. Dinner and Overnight stay.
Day 10 : Akagera and Back to Kigali
Full-Day Exploration: After breakfast, drive back to the park and be able to adventure what you may have missed seeing, take a drive to the south of the park to discover various habitats of wildlife species such as woodland, wetlands, bushes, thickets, forest as well as spotting out some animal species or else drive to the Kilala plains in the north. Then after, drive back to the lodge have lunch, and drive out of the park to Kigali. Dinner and Overnight stay
Meal plan; Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 12: Visit Kigali Genocide Memorial, Kimironko Market, and Departure.
Visit Kigali Genocide: This is the last day of your 12 days Rwanda safari tour. After your morning breakfast, go for an exciting Kigali city tour, visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial where you will discover more than 250,000 victims of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide a famous place for remembrance of the life of Rwanda in years past.
Go visit the Kimironko Market Rwanda’s biggest and busiest market in Kigali – a landmark of fresh vegetables, fruits, and all foodstuffs thus ending a 12-Day Ultimate Rwanda Safari Tour into an unforgettable lifetime experience on the land of beautiful 1000 hills.
Departure; After, drive to Kigali International Airport for your flight departure or to be dropped to your residents.
Meal plan; Breakfast
End of 12 Days Rwanda Safari Tours
Safari Inclusions;
Gorilla Permits ‘’USD1500 per person per day’’
Chimpanzee permits ‘’USD90’’
Full Board Accommodation on safari
4WD vehicle and fuel
Acknowledgeable English-speaking guide
Park entrances –Game drive
Bottled mineral water
Border crossing fees
Safari Exclusions
International Flights
Visas
Optional activities fees
Airport transfer ‘’ done on request’’
Personal expenses; beverages, laundry services, tips among others
