African Rock Safaris

This 9 days Gorillas and Chimpanzee trekking Rwanda tour take you to Rwanda’s top tourist destinations including a great primate adventure of Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe Forest National park and Golden monkey trekking in Volcanoes National park.

DAY 1: ARRIVAL AT KIGALI AIRPORT AND TRANSFER TO YOUR HOTEL

This is the day you arrive in to this beautiful country, you are welcomed in by our professional driver guide at the airport and then you are driven to the hotel to rest as you wait for the fascinating awaiting adventures of this epic wonderful beautiful country (Rwanda is nicknamed as land of thousand hills) in the following days. You will have a relaxed overnights at your hotel in Kigali which is a few minutes’ drive from the airport. You will have dinner and overnight at Great Season Hotel Kigali

DAY 2: TRANSFER TO AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK, BOAT CRUISE ON LAKE IHEMA AND EVENING GAME DRIVE

We start the Best of Rwanda safari by travelling to Akagera National Park in the eastern part of Rwanda. The drive is approximately 2½ hours and on arrival you will go for a boat cruise on Lake Ihema to see aquatic animals such as Hippos, Crocodiles as well as water birds like the papyrus Gonolek, shoebill stork and African fish eagle.

In the afternoon you will go for a game drive in the park after which you will retire to the lodge for dinner and overnight at Akagera Game Lodge

DAY 3: FULL DAY GAME DRIVES IN AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK & TRANSFER TO KIGALI

After an early breakfast, you will embark on a Best of Rwanda morning game drive. In a circuit you will visit different lakes where you will see buffaloes and elephants drinking from the water ponds and see various species of birds like Egyptian goose and fish eager.You will have a picnic lunch in the park then continue with the hills game drive where you will see; impalas, zebras, bush bucks, water bucks, topis, oribis, baboons, giraffes, cape elands among others. In the late afternoon you will set off for Kigali. You will have dinner and overnight at Great Seasons Hotel Kigali

DAY 4: CITY TOUR OF KIGALI & TRANSFER TO VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK

You will have breakfast and set off for Kigali to visit the memorial sites scattered in various parts of the city. The memorial sites will include the Nyamata church and the Rwanda Hotel where people who had sought refuge as the genocide raged were butchered, the Gisozi genocide memorial where the remains of the dead are buried and you will finish with a visit the Presidential Palace Museum which was the place of residence for the Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, at the time of genocide.

You will later transfer to Ruhengeri town just outside the Volcanoes National Park and check in at Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge

DAY 5: DIAN FOSSEY HIKE IN VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK AND IBY’IWACHU CULTURAL CENTRE

After having breakfast, drive to the park headquarters for briefing and be equipped about the hike. This guided hike takes you to where Fossey and Digit were buried and you can see the remains of her former research camp. Along the way, you’ll also learn more about Dian Fossey’s life and the tragic circumstances surrounding her death. You will as well see the house in which Dian Fossey was strangely murdered back in 1985 however more calm is at the place where she was laid to rest just close to her most-loved gorilla. After an amazing trek, return to the trailhead, drive back to the lodge for lunch and a refreshment and later in afternoon be taken to the Iby’wachu cultural village where you will learn about the fascinating culture of the Rwandese people depicted through folk songs, storytelling, music, dance, and drama. You will retire to the lodge of the lodge for dinner and overnight at Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge

DAY 6: GOLDEN MONKEY TREKKING & TRANSFER TO KIBUYE TOWN ON THE EDGES OF LAKE KIVU

You will have breakfast and move to the Park headquarters for a briefing on the Golden monkey tracking rules before going out to track them in the forest. The trek takes 1– 4 hours and you have one hour to stay with the Golden monkeys once sighted. You will return to your lodge for lunch and some rest and later transfer to Lake Kivu. Dinner and overnight will be at Paradise Malahide Resort

DAY 7: OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES ON AND AROUND LAKE KIVU & TRANSFER TO NYUNGWE FOREST NATIONAL PARK

You will have your early best of Rwanda safari breakfast and head for Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu is the perfect place to chill out after the tiring Gorilla and Golden monkey trekking and hiking of the volcanoes. For most people, it is simply a place to relax and rebuild energy.

You can take a nature walk, go birding on a boat ride, explore some islands, visit the nearby hot springs, go fishing, or visit the Congo boarder. You can also visit the Ndaba Falls or take a walk around Kibuye town to acquaint yourself with the lifestyles of the inhabitants. You will later transfer to Nyungwe Forest National Park where you will have a relaxed evening, dinner and overnight at Nyungwe Topview Hill Hotel

DAY 8: CHIMPANZEE TREKKING IN NYUNGWE AND CANOPY WALK

An early morning breakfast, and later proceed to Nyungwe Forest at 6:00am to search for chimpanzee. You will also track the colobus monkeys in the forest and have a chance to view the other habitants of the forest like birds, reptiles and butterflies. Chimpanzee tracking will enable you to meet man’s closet cousins in the wild. This exciting up-close encounter with human’s closest relative will forever live with you. After the chimp tracking you will have an afternoon Canopy walk which takes place above a deep gorge cutting across the massive forest. Lasting about 1½ hours, the walk takes you through some beautiful foliage and animal habitats and you’ll have the chance to spot blue monkeys and unique birds that dwell in the upper levels of the forest canopy. You will have a relaxed evening plus dinner and overnight at Nyungwe Topview hill Hotel

DAY 9: TREKKING OTHER PRIMATES, VISIT TO TEA FACTORY & TRANSFER TO KIGALI

You will have breakfast and make another visit to the forest to trek other primates such as L’Hoest’s monkey, Angola colobus, Silver monkey, Hamlyn’s Monkey, Dent’s Mona Monkey, Red-tailed Monkey, Grey-cheeked Mangabeys, and Olive Baboon.

You will also see various types of birds in the verdant flora of this ancient forest. In the afternoon you will take a tour to the adjacent tea factory to see how the locally grown tea is processed to become one of the finest products Rwanda has for export and later transfer to Kigali Airport for your departure flight.