5 Days Rwanda Gorilla and Akagera Wildlife Safari
Tour Overview
During this five-day safari in Rwanda, guests will have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to embark on a game drive in Akagera National Park, which is located in the northeastern part of the country, follow endangered mountain gorillas, and see golden monkeys in Volcanoes National Park.
Safari highlights
Day 1: Kigali Pickup and Akagera National Park Game Drive
Day 2: Akagera Game Drive and journey to Volcanoes National Park
Day 3: Gorilla Trekking and Ibylwacu Cultural Center
Day 4: Golden Monkey Tracking & Musanze Caves
Day 5: Return to Kigali
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Kigali Pickup and Akagera National Park Game Drive
Start your Rwanda vacation in lovely Kigali! Your guide will take you up at Kigali International Airport or your hotel if you’re staying there.
Please inform your guide upon pickup if you need any supplies for your Rwanda week. He would gladly assist you. Most travel needs and non-essentials are accessible in Kigali but scarce elsewhere.
Your Rwanda safari starts with a 2.5-hour drive to Akagera National Park. Drive along twisting roads and witness the alpine vistas turn into flatlands to reach your hotel. Lunch will be in a Rwandese restaurant with your guide. Have samosas, fried dough pockets filled with meat, chicken, or veggies, or a cool Skol or Mutzig beer from Rwanda.
After checking in, enjoy the park’s grasslands, lakes, and beautiful sky in the evening. Your hotel serves dinner.
Day 2: Akagera Game Drive and journey to Volcanoes National Park
Enjoy a morning Game Drive with your Adventure in the Wild Safari guide after breakfast. Lions and hyenas may be hunting in the park while it’s still cold. Search the wetlands and marshes for local bird species from your automobile.
Akagera National Park is less visited than Kenya and Tanzania’s more popular parks, so you and your party may have the park to yourself. Look for rhinos and lions, which were just added to the park. This Rwanda tour drive is memorable.
Gorilla viewing starts with a 2.5-hour trip to Volcanoes National Park. Your guide will educate you on your Gorilla Tracking Safari while you ascend winding roads and enjoy the mountain views on the approach to your hotel. The sweeping hills of Rwanda seem like patchwork of bananas, tea, and other crops due to its many 1-acre farms.
A local stroll with your Adventure in the Wild Safari guide follows check-in. Visit the park’s colorful, rural villages for two hours and meet the friendly locals. You will experience the native lifestyle’s simplicity and richness. The hardy, modest villagers here keep family close and utilize stuff long after richer folks would toss things away.
You will have supper at your lodge and watch the sun set behind the park’s mountains after your stroll.
Muhabura Hotel (Budget)
Le bamboo gorilla lodge (Mid-range)
Mountain Gorilla View Lodge (Luxury)
Day 3: Gorilla Trekking and Ibylwacu Cultural Center
Start your day with coffee, tea, music, and local dancers at the Park Headquarters after an early breakfast.
Your next assignment is one of ten Mountain Gorilla families. A park ranger will advise you on park etiquette before you begin lowland gorilla tracking.
Your Ranger Guide will follow your gorilla family once you are driven to the tracking start site. The mountain gorillas are always moving, so meeting them might take one to eight hours.
Rangers will enter the forest early in the morning to follow your gorilla family’s track. These rangers communicate with your Ranger Guide. They will instantly notify your Ranger Guide of the gorillas’ whereabouts, and you will head there.
If the journey takes all day, you’ll get a packed lunch before or after visiting the gorillas. Visitors cannot eat near gorillas.
You have one hour to photograph and watch the gorillas when your group discovers them. This will give you lots of opportunity to observe gorilla communication, movement, and play. Your Ranger Guide will gladly answer your Mountain Gorilla queries.
Visit Ibyiwacu Cultural Center
Following your Rwanda gorilla hike, return to your hotel for lunch and a well-deserved relaxation. When ready, your Adventure in the Wild Safari guide will transport you to Kiningi’s Ibyiwacu Cultural Center. Drummers and dancers perform native dance and music at the Center, while local performers reenact a traditional wedding ceremony. This traditional theater will brighten your Rwanda vacation.
Your lodging will host supper before evening.
Day 4: Golden Monkey Tracking & Musanze Caves
Return to the Park Headquarters for coffee, tea, music, and local dancers after an early breakfast at your hotel. You will join a Golden Monkey Tracking Group and go to the woodland start location after a Park Ranger performance and briefing.
Unlike your mountain gorilla expedition, Golden Monkeys are easy to see eating in the Bamboo Forest near the mountain’s foot. It takes an hour to study, photograph, and ask questions about the lively Golden Monkeys, like the gorillas. Your Park Ranger will take you back to your car, where you’ll meet your Adventure in the Wild Safari guide and return to your hotel for lunch.
After a delicious lunch, your guide will take you to the Musanze Caves, a lesser-known but stunning region of Rwanda. The longest cave is almost 2 km. As you descend the huge stone stairs from the forest into the cave’s entrance, wear a helmet. Discover locals’ long-lost houses by following subterranean pathways.
Your accommodation will host supper before evening.
Day 5: Return to Kigali
After breakfast, your Adventure in the Wild Safari guide will help you pack for Kigali. Winding mountain roads in western Rwanda go past banana fields, tea plantations, and tiny settlements.
Optional Kigali International Airport or Hotel Return City tour of Kigali
If time allows, your guide will take you to one of Kigali’s famous bakeries, coffee shops, or handicrafts markets to buy some of the city’s magnificent art. Discover the country’s rich recent history at the Genocide Memorial Center. Visit the rose gardens and drink Rwandan coffee at Memorial café.
When ready, your guide will take you home or to Kigali International Airport.
Hope you loved your Rwanda vacation with Adventure in the Wild Safaris!
End of your safari
Tour Includes & Excludes
TOUR INCLUDES
- Transportation
- A professional tour guide
- Entry and trekking fees plus permits
- All activities unless labeled optional
- Drinking water
- Accommodation and meals
- Airport transfers
TOUR EXCLUDES
- Visa
- International flights
- Gratuity (tip)
- Laundry services
- Beverages
- Souvenirs