Book Now!
Tour Overview & Highlight
Rwanda, also known as the land of ‘a thousand hills’ is dotted with a variety of landscapes, diversity of wildlife, and a remarkable culture. Our highlight for this Rwanda Safari will be coming close to the endangered mountain Gorillas and witnessing their natural behaviors in their protected habitat. Rwanda as a travel destination offers much more for travelers who seek to venture away from the more famous safari destinations and journey to a lesser-known place.
Detailed Day by Day Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival to Kigali
Upon arrival of your flight into Kigali International Airport, you are met by a Vacanza Adventure Safaris representative who will transfer you to our hotel for the night.
Overnight: Kigali Serena Hotel
Day 2: Akagera National Park
After breakfast, we will depart Kigali and head to the remote northern region of Akagera National Park .This National park is comprised of profoundly scenic savannah plains, woodlands, lakes, swamp, and grassy hills. Akagera National park is home to large concentrations of hippo, large crocodiles, the rare sitatunga antelopes, zebra, buffalo, giraffe, and more, Akagera now also boasts a healthy population of lion, which were reintroduced in 2015 after a 20-year absence. We will arrive to check in at our safari accommodation for the next three nights; the newly built Magashi Camp. This intimate, comfortable and luxurious Safari camp is situated in the wildlife-filled northeastern corner of the park overlooking scenic Lake Rwanyakazinga. In the afternoon we will head for an evening game the park.
Accommodation: Magashi Camp/Akagera Game Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3 and 4: Game Drives, Boat Cruise
Game drives in Akagera National Park are quite exciting. For the next two days, we will have full day and half-day game drive where we will spend the morning tracking various animals in our safari vehicles accompanied by experienced safari guides. Safari game drives may last from a few morning hours to a full day. As we come upon groups of animals, we allow plenty of time to simply observe and also take photographs. We will also have time to take a boat cruise on the lake.
Accommodation: Magashi Camp/Akagera Game Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 5: Drive to Volcanoes National Park
An early start of the day to begin your journey across Rwanda to Volcanoes National Park by making your way south. You will drive to the Bugesera district, south of Kigali, through a beautiful country-side not often visited by tourists. Aside from mountain gorillas and other wildlife, Rwanda is known for its pretty, rural countryside, where roads snake through terraced farmland. We continue west, towards Volcanoes National Park. As we pass through Kigali, we stop for lunch at another popular restaurant before covering the last two and a half hours of the journey. By late afternoon, we arrive in Musanze, gateway to Volcanoes National Park, where Rwanda’s remaining mountain gorillas live.
We have the evening at our leisure to rest before our gorilla tracking adventure tomorrow.
Accommodation: Five Volcanoes Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 6: Gorilla Tracking, Volcanoes National Park
Early morning rise from the lodge, you drive into the park headquarters for a briefing before your gorilla trek. Prepare for an exciting journey along forested slopes, entwined vines, bushes and bamboo before you eventually reach the gorillas. Experienced ranger guides will accompany us on our tracking, many of who have been involved in the habituation process themselves. The guides and trackers will use their knowledge of the gorilla’s habits and information from the previous day to locate them .They will also point out signs of previous gorilla activity, including dung, nests and chewed bamboo shoots. The time taken to track the gorillas can take as little as half an hour to as much as 8 hours! Once located, you will be allowed a maximum of one hour with the gorillas. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly memorable and emotional experience. Return to venue as per the previous day
Accommodation: Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 7: Second Gorilla tracking or Golden Monkey Tracking
This day, you may opt for either another day of gorilla trekking (no two experiences are ever the same) or track Golden monkeys in Volcanoes national park. True to their name, these beautiful primates have a golden body, cheeks, and tail, with contrasting black limbs, crown, and tail tip. Living in social groups of up to 30 individuals, their diet consists mainly of leaves and fruit, although it is believed that they eat insects too. Restricted to the highland forest of the Virungas, especially near bamboo, they share this habitat with their relative, the mountain gorilla, inhabiting a small area that overlaps the territory of one of the gorilla families. Together, they face the same threats: snares and human encroachment, and are listed on the IUCN Red List of critically-endangered species.
Tracking usually takes two to four hours. Once we find the habituated families, we will spend the allowed one hour with them as they go about their daily life; adult males typically frolic in plain view, feeding on bamboo leaves and leaping from perch to perch, while females carry their young, completely oblivious to onlookers.
After the hike and lunch back at our hotel, for those who would like, there is the option of visiting the Karisoke Research Center or explore the Musanze caves.
Accommodation: Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 8: Departure
Today after a relaxed breakfast you will be transferred by your driver/guide back to Kigali in time to catch your flight back home. Sadly, this is where you say goodbye to Rwanda.