Rwanda: Gorillas, Golden Monkeys, Nyungwe Chimpanzees and Akagera

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Kigali

   Kigali International Airport to your hotel in Kigali

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Kigali
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Kigali International Airport (KGL), about 12 km and twenty minutes from the centre, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall. Kigali spreads over a series of green ridges at about 1,500 m, so the air is mild and evenings are cool. The rest of the day is yours: rest after the flight, or walk out to a café for your first cup of Rwandan coffee. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week ahead: how the permits work, what to wear on the treks, and why tomorrow starts before dawn. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, a good first taste of grilled tilapia, brochettes and plantain. Plan to land by about 4 pm to make the briefing; later arrivals are met and briefed at breakfast.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Kigali International Airport (KGL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : A day in Akagera

   Kigali to Akagera National Park and back

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Kigali
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave Kigali at about 5:30 am with a packed breakfast and drive east for about two and a half hours to the south gate of Akagera, Rwanda's only savanna park, along the Tanzanian border. The early start puts us on the game tracks while it is still cool and the animals are moving. Rebuilt by African Parks and the Rwanda Development Board, it has had lions again since 2015 and black rhinos since 2017. In the morning we drive the southern lakes and plains in our own pop-up roof 4x4s (two for larger groups) with a park guide, looking for giraffes, zebras, buffalo, elephants, topi and baboons. Lunch is at the park, near the water, and then we go out by boat on Lake Ihema, close to hippos, crocodiles and fish eagles. We start back mid-afternoon and reach Kigali by early evening. That makes about five hours on the road, over our four-hour cap, because Akagera has no night on this plan. The game drive, lunch and the boat trip break it into two drives of about two and a half hours; the easy option is a free day in Kigali.

   Compris

   • Akagera National Park entry
   • Morning game drive with a park guide in our pop-up roof vehicles
   • Lunch in the park
   • Boat trip on Lake Ihema

   Option plus facile : Stay in Kigali for a free day to recover from the flight; tell us when you book.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Kigali

   Activité : A long day, mostly seated: about 5 hours on the road in two halves, with the game drive and boat in between. Bring a hat, sunscreen and binoculars.

   

3. Jour 3 : The memorial, Nyamirambo, then north to the volcanoes

   Kigali to Kinigi, at the edge of Volcanoes National Park

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Kinigi
   Détail du jour 3

   We are at the Kigali Genocide Memorial when it opens at 8 am, while it is quiet. It stands over the graves of more than 250,000 victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, and its exhibits explain how it happened and how the country has rebuilt. Take the time you need; your guide stays with the group. Late morning we walk through Nyamirambo, Kigali's oldest neighbourhood, with a local guide: tailors and craft workshops, a coffee roaster where you taste the beans grown on the hills you will see this week, and lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch we drive about two and a half hours north on a good road through terraced hills to Kinigi, at the foot of the Virunga volcanoes, where we stay two nights. You reach the lodge by late afternoon, with time to settle in before dinner.

   Compris

   • Kigali Genocide Memorial at opening, with your guide
   • Coffee and crafts walk in Nyamirambo with a local guide (stops confirmed with your final itinerary)
   • Lunch in Nyamirambo
   • Drive to Kinigi

   Temps libre : Early evening free at the lodge

   Activité : The memorial is hard going; some guests prefer a quiet half hour in its gardens afterwards, and there is time for that.

4. Jour 4 : Mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park

   Kinigi to the park headquarters and the trailhead, and back

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Kinigi
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave the lodge at about 6:15 am for the 7 am briefing at the park headquarters in Kinigi, where rangers assign each party of up to eight visitors to a gorilla family; if there are more than eight of us, the group splits across two families. The trek starts at the edge of the farmland and climbs into bamboo and forest on the slopes of the volcanoes. Trackers go ahead to find where the family nested last night, so the walk can take one hour or six, depending on where they have moved. A porter carries your bag and helps on the steep parts, and the rangers set the pace. When you reach the family you spend one hour with them at a few metres, watching the silverback, mothers and young feed, groom and play. Lunch is packed for the trail. The afternoon is free at the lodge: rest, or go out for one of the options below. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Compris

   • Mountain gorilla trek with park rangers and trackers, one permit per guest
   • A porter for each guest
   • Packed lunch on the trek

   Activités en option

   • Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, Kinigi (price confirmed at booking)
   • Iby'Iwacu Cultural Village, Kinigi (price confirmed at booking)

   Option plus facile : Ask the rangers at the briefing for a family that is usually closer to the park edge; it is not guaranteed, but they try to match fitness to family.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : The trek runs between about 2,500 and 3,000 m on steep, often muddy slopes with nettles. Wear boots, long trousers tucked into socks and gloves.

   

5. Jour 5 : Golden monkeys, then down to Lake Kivu

   Kinigi to Rubavu, then along the Kivu Belt road to Karongi

   • Environ 4.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Karongi
   Détail du jour 5

   Back at the Kinigi headquarters for 7 am, this time for the golden monkeys, an endangered monkey found in the Virunga bamboo forests of Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. The trek is gentler than yesterday's: usually one to three hours on the lower slopes, where a habituated troop feeds and leaps through the bamboo. You get an hour with them, and the light through the bamboo stems makes for good photographs. We are back on the road by late morning and drive about an hour and a half down to Rubavu for lunch on the lakeshore. Lake Kivu sits at about 1,460 m on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, and from Rubavu the Kivu Belt road follows its shore south, through banana groves and coffee hills, for about three hours to Karongi: only about 105 km, but a winding road that is slow going. That makes about four and a half hours of driving, slightly over our four-hour cap, because there is no shorter road to the lake's southern half; the lakeside lunch in Rubavu splits it in two. Evening on the lake, with dinner at the hotel.

   Compris

   • Golden monkey trek in Volcanoes National Park with park rangers
   • Lunch on the lakeshore in Rubavu
   • Drive along the Kivu Belt road to Karongi

   Option plus facile : Skip the golden monkeys and have a slow breakfast at the lodge before we drive.

   Temps libre : Evening free on the lake

   Activité : The golden monkey trek is shorter and less steep than the gorilla trek, but still muddy underfoot.

   

6. Jour 6 : Lake Kivu by boat, then to Nyungwe

   Karongi along Lake Kivu to Rusizi, then east to Nyungwe

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Nyungwe
   Détail du jour 6

   A slow morning on the water. At about 8 am we take a boat out among the islands off Karongi, while the lake is calm and the fishermen are coming in; the trip takes about two hours, with a stop to walk on one of the islands. Back on shore we head south on the Kivu Belt road, with the lake on the right most of the way, and stop for lunch near Rusizi at the southern end of the lake. From there the road climbs east into the hills and the tea estates on the western edge of Nyungwe National Park, a mountain rainforest listed by UNESCO in 2023 and home to 13 primate species. We reach the lodge in the middle of the afternoon, about four hours of driving in all. The rest of the day is free: walk out through the tea, or sit on the terrace and listen to the forest.

   Compris

   • Morning boat trip among the islands of Lake Kivu
   • Lunch near Rusizi
   • Drive to Nyungwe National Park

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free

7. Jour 7 : Chimpanzees at dawn and the canopy walkway

   Nyungwe: chimpanzee tracking, then Uwinka and back

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Nyungwe
   Détail du jour 7

   This is the one very early start: we meet the rangers at about 5 to 5:30 am, because the chimpanzees leave their nests at first light and are easiest to follow before they spread out to feed. Tracking takes two to five hours on forest trails, sometimes steep, and when the trackers find them you spend up to an hour watching and listening as they call through the canopy. Chimpanzees move fast and are seen most days, but not every day; the rangers say so at the briefing. We are back for a late breakfast and a rest. In the afternoon we drive about an hour along the road through the forest to Uwinka for the canopy walkway, a suspension bridge hung high over a forested valley, where you look straight across into the treetops and often see monkeys and turacos. Back at the lodge by late afternoon, with the evening free.

   Compris

   • Chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe National Park with park rangers
   • Canopy walkway at Uwinka
   • Late breakfast and lunch at the lodge

   Option plus facile : Skip the canopy walkway and rest at the lodge, or walk the gentle trails through the tea estate.

   Option plus active : Stay on at Uwinka for a longer ranger-led forest trail after the walkway.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : Chimpanzee tracking can be steep and slippery, and the walkway is high: fine for most people, but sit it out if heights trouble you.

8. Jour 8 : Fly back to Kigali and home

   Nyungwe to Kamembe airport, then a flight to Kigali International Airport

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 8

   An early start: we leave the lodge at about 6 to 6:30 am with breakfast, and drive about an hour west to Kamembe airport, near Rusizi, for the scheduled domestic flight to Kigali. It departs in the morning, at about 8 am at the time of writing (we confirm the time with your booking), and takes about 40 minutes over the hills you have spent the week crossing. Flying saves the five to six hours it takes to drive back. The route runs only on certain days of the week, so our departure dates are set so that day 8 falls on a flight day. Your main bag flies with you within the airline's limit, and your guide travels with the group. We land at Kigali International Airport in the mid-morning. If you have time before your flight home, your guide can arrange a stop in the city for lunch or a last coffee. Book an international flight leaving after about 2 pm; if you would rather stay on, ask us about an extra night in Kigali.

   Compris

   • Transfer to Kamembe airport
   • Scheduled domestic flight from Kamembe to Kigali
   • Drop-off at Kigali International Airport (KGL)

   Activité : Book an international flight leaving after about 2 pm. The Kamembe flight leaves at about 8 am and runs only on certain days, which our dates are set around.

Faune et météo : June to September and December to February are the drier months, with firmer trails and clearer views of the volcanoes. Gorillas and chimpanzees are seen year-round, but Nyungwe is rainforest and can rain any day, and the March to May rains make the gorilla trails slippery.

• Kigali2 nuits
• Kinigi2 nuits
• Karongi1 nuit
• Nyungwe2 nuits