14 Days Discover Rwanda Safari
On this 14 Days Discover Rwanda Safari, you will explore and experience the beauty of Rwanda – the land of a thousand hills. Enjoy the different backdrops and landscapes as you drive along the hilly roads, explore a mixture of savannah, forest and mountainous of Rwanda’s protected area. Trek chimpanzees in Nyungwe Forest, trek the endangered gorillas in Volcanoes National Park and have a close interaction with the Rwanda local people as you visit their homes and engage in different local activities giving you an immersive experience.
Rwanda Safari Highlights
- Kigali Genocide Centre visit
- Game drive
- Boat ride
- Chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe Forest
- Colobus monkey trekking
- Canopy Walk in Nyungwe Forest
- Gorilla tracking in Volcanoes
- Golden monkey trekking
- Community experiences
- Lake Kivu Experience
Detailed itinerary of 14 Days Discover Rwanda Safari
Day 1: Arrival to Kigali
Welcome to the land of “a thousand hills”, as you walk out of the airport you will be warmly welcomed by our representative and drive you to your hotel in Kigali.
Drive time – 20 minutes
Day 2: Reconciliation Village tour & Kigali City Tour
Start your morning with a tour of the Reconciliation Villagge and hear the stories of genocide survivors as they live alongside the perpetrators. Visit the Bugesera Church Nyamata where many people lost their lives in the genocide.
After this tear-shading experience, return to Kigali and visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Kandt Museum and shop for arts and crafts.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 3: Transfer to Akagera National Park
After breakfast, your driver guide will pick you up from the hotel to transfer to Akagera National Park. When you arrive in the park, check in to your lodge for check-in, have lunch and head to Lake Ihema for a boat safari enjoying the amazing views of the lake and animals like hippos in the lakes water. Spend the rest of the day exploring the northern sector of the park, return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Drive time – 2 hours 30 minutes or Helicopter (Augusta) – 30 minutes
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 4: Game drive and Boat Safari
Have an early breakfast, meet your guide and head to the northern part of the park for a game drive, this part is where most animals prefer to inhabit. Lookout for zebras, Giraffes and impalas which are usually scattered along the game tracks. You will take the Lake Shore Track which normally has a number of animals because it is near the lakes.
Return to the lodge for lunch, in the afternoon you will return to the park for a boat safari on Lake Ihema on which you spot some of the prolific bird species such as Carruther’s Cisticola, the extraordinary shoe bill among others. Lookout for hippos and crocodiles, resident to the lake plus herds of buffaloes wandering down to the lake shores.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 5: Community Tour near Akagera National park
Have a leisurely breakfast, meet your guide and head to the local community sharing borders with the park for a cultural experience. Join in milking cows with hands, the herdsman will guide on how to sooth the cow and milk it. You also have lessons on how milk is converted traditionally into different products like ghee and yoghurt.
This experience will give you a glimpse in the everyday life of these local people.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 6: Transfer to Nyungwe Forest – The Home of Chimpanzees
Depart Akagera National Park for Nyungwe Forest National Park via Kigali. Along the way, you shall have a stopover in Huye for lunch and visit to the national museum to learn more about the history and traditions of the Rwanda people. Alternatively, you can instead take on the coffee experience at Huye Mountain Coffee Plantation. After this enriching experience, continue to your lodge for overnight.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Drive time – 7 hours Or Helicopter (Robinson) – 35 minutes
Day 7: Chimpanzee tracking and Canopy walk in Nyungwe Forest
After an early breakfast, leave for chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe Forest. This rainforest is home to a rich biodiversity and 13 species of primates including chimpanzees, L’Hoest monkeys and Colobus monkeys with 300 bird species.
You will join other trekkers at the park headquarters for briefing, then head into the forest in search for the chimpanzee community assigned to you. The trek takes approximately 30 minutes to 6 hours depending on the movement of the chimpanzees and where they spent their previous night. When locate the chimpanzee community, you are allowed to spend 1 hour watching them go on with their life and take amazing pictures.
Return to the lodge after the chimp trek, or you can choose to do the Canopy Walk immediately so that you rest once. The Nyungwe Canopy Walk allows you beautiful views of the forests from above as you admire nature.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 8: Colobus monkey trekking
This morning, return to the park headquarters again for briefing. Then your guide will lead you through the forest for the Colobus Monkey Trekking. The habituated troops are normally many individuals when in the same group but often split into different groups.
Enjoy watching the playful interactions of the monkeys as they groom, feed and play with each other. You are allowed to spend 1 hour in their presence before you start the trek back to the lodge for an afternoon of rest.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 9: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park
Leave for Volcanoes National Park after breakfast, enjoy different sights and winding roads along the way in the land of a thousand hill. You will also have opportunities to have different stopovers for pictures and stretching depending on your needs.
Drive time – 6 hours Or Helicopter (Robinson) – 35 minutes
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 10: Gorilla trekking
Wake up early for breakfast, meet your guide and head to the park headquarters in Kinigi. Join other treks for briefing about the dos and don’ts when in the forest and in the presence of the gorillas, after the briefing your ranger guide leads you to the starting point of the trek.
You might need to drive to the starting point of the trek depending on the location of the gorilla, the trek in search for the gorillas takes approximately 2 to 6 hours or more depending on the movement of the gorillas and where they spent their previous night.
On locating the gorilla family, you are allowed to spend 1 hour watching them go on with their life in the misty forests, groom each other and take as many photos as you wish to. Trek back to the starting point, meet your guide and spend the rest of the day the lodge reminiscing on today’s fascinating encounter with mountain gorillas.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 11: Golden Monkey Trekking | Gorilla Guardians Village
Just like yesterday, wake up early and head to the park headquarters for a briefing sessions about golden monkeys. Generally golden monkeys are more active than gorillas and will require you to move as you follow them foraging for food. Once you locate them, you are only allowed to stay with them for 1 hour after which you start the trek back.
On return from the park, you will go for a visit to the Guardian’s Village where you will learn more about the Rwandan Culture. Become a King or Queen for a day, get involved in knitting, and learn how to use a bow and arrow.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 12: Transfer to Lake Kivu
Have a relaxed breakfast and then transfer to Lake Kivu for a relaxing time from all the hectic travel and mind-blowing experience.
Depending on your interest, there is an evening boat safari on Lake Kivu on which you will enjoy amazing views of the lake and the local fishermen going on with their Depending on your interests, are an evening boat safari on Lake Kivu.
Drive time – 1 hour
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 13: Lake Kivu Experience
This day is mostly a resting day for you to reminisce about all the amazing experience you have hard while on the shores of the beautiful Lake Kivu. There are several activities you can engage in including a visit to the hot springs, take a boat trip to an island, kayaking on Lake Kivu, visit DR.Congo – Rwanda Border, and relax at the lakeside in the evening while sipping on your favorite drink.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 14: Transfer to Kigali
Today is the last day of your Rwanda Wildlife Safari, start your day with breakfast and transfer to Kigali International Airport to catch your departure flight back home.
End of 14 Days Discover Rwanda Safari.
