Mountain and Lowland Gorilla & Chimpanzee Safari

The package includes return economy airfare with RwandAir from Johannesburg to Kigali Airport (departing at 16h45, arriving at 21h20). Meet and greet our representative at the Kigali Airport and transfer to the hotel.

Stay: Amata n’Ubuki Boutique Hotel (Standard room)

Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast, we do a City Tour of Kigali and visit the Genocide Memorial Centre. The Kigali City tour offers you an in-depth overview of Kigali’s past and present, showing you the true heartbeat of the city. The nation's recovery is incredible and a testimony to humankind's resilience.  "Cleanliness and Security" is the motto of Kigali. By this motto, the city is a safe and secure place to live, visit, and explore. The Genocide Memorial Centre is regarded as one of the best museums in Africa! Learn more about Rwanda’s history from the pre-colonial era to the 1994 genocide war that shocked the world. No matter which part of the world you come from, this is the one place you must visit in your lifetime to be reminded and re-educated about life’s fragility and the danger of human vulnerability. 

Enjoy lunch at the Hotel des Mille Collines (previously known as Hotel Rwanda) in Kigali before we travel to the Volcanoes National Park driving through the stunning scenery of flourishing green hills and valleys. This beautiful country is known for its huge indigenous forests, large tea plantations, and other types of farming that stretch as far as the eye can see.   

Stay: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge (Cottage)

Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast

Early morning departure from the lodge to the Volcanoes National Park headquarters in Kinigi for your mountain gorilla trekking experience. After a briefing from the authorities at the headquarters of the park, we take a short drive to the starting point. Trekking usually starts in cultivated land on the base of the volcanoes from where you are guided into the dense misty forests. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is one of the most memorable wildlife encounters in Africa, if not the world. Daily visits have an impact on gorilla activity patterns and are a source of animal stress, justifying the “only spend one-hour” rule while still allowing adequate time for photography and observing these great primates in their natural habitat.

We will visit the nearby Iby'iwacu Cultural Village in the afternoon. A guided walk through this village will reward you with an unusual and unforgettable experience as you go to different sites in this community. You will be visiting the king's house, hearing all the interesting stories, and getting some insight into all the items in his house. Observe different types of traditional dances like Intore dance and Ibyivugo, performed by community members, using local and traditional musical instruments. Visitors can have an authentic traditional Rwandan experience of their daily lives by participating in day-to-day activities.

Stay: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge (Cottage)

Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast

After breakfast, we will drive along the lakeshore of Lake Kivu via Kibuye town. This drive is absolutely stunning. Winding roads hug the lakeshore and majestic hills make for some fantastic photo opportunities. You will see the locals at work, intensively cultivating bananas, cassava, sorghum, beans, rice, potatoes, and even coffee in their steep and tiny fields. In addition, there are several massive tea plantations, villages, innumerable tiny brickworks, and surprises around every corner. You'll be met with huge smiles and waves from the local children as you pass by and arrive at Kamembe in the late afternoon. 

Stay: Emeraude Kivu Resort (Standard room)

Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast

Enjoy an early breakfast at the lodge before your transfer to the park board office to register for chimpanzee trekking. The Rwandan chimp population consists of about 500 individuals and is thought to be confined to Nyungwe Forest National Park. You will be able to hear them before you see them. From somewhere deep in the forest, an exciting hooting will start, just one voice at first, then several, rising in volume before stopping abruptly or fading away. Unlike most other primates, chimpanzees don’t live in troops, but instead, form extended communities of up to a hundred individuals. They move around the forest in small mobile subgroups that often revolve around a few close family members like brothers, mothers, and daughters. Following the excursion, we will return to the lodge for lunch and an afternoon at leisure.

Stay: Emeraude Kivu Resort (Standard room).

Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast

After breakfast, we will do the Canopy Walk, which is situated in the Nyungwe Forest that hosts 25% of African primates. This walkway is 40 meters above ground level and 90 meters long. It is built above a steep, deep valley, that affords you a dizzying platform where you will be on an "eye-to-eye” level with different primate species and many bird species who all prefer the upper scales of the forest. We will then return to the lodge for lunch followed by a meet and greet at the hotel by your DR Congo guide. En route to the border into the DRC, you will see lush vegetation along the lake in this dense, green, mountainous area with its sparsely populated islands. There are a lot of small bays hiding ancient fishing villages and some beautiful beaches. We will transfer you from the port to your hotel in Bukavu. The city serves as the gateway to the Kahuzi Biega National Park and is situated on the southeastern edge of Lake Kivu.

Stay: Orchids Safari Club Hotel (Standard room)

Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast

Enjoy an early breakfast before driving (about an hour) to Kahuzi Biega National Park. After the briefing from the authorities of the Tshivanga Visitor Centre, set off to trek the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei). The eastern lowland gorilla is arguably the most impressive of the gorillas. The silverback can reach a weight of 200 kilograms and a height of just under two meters when upright. Their faces are more elongated and its nose, with compressed nostrils, are narrower than in other subspecies. You can stay close to the gorillas for a maximum of one hour, allowing for observation and photography. After the trek, you have the option to return to Bukavu by a local boat on Lake Kivu or by vehicle.

Stay: Orchids Safari Club Hotel (Standard room)

Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast

After breakfast proceeds to the Rwanda border to drive back to Kigali across beautiful landscapes of rolling verdant terraced hills. Stop at Butare and visit the National Ethnographic Museum of Rwanda where a fantastic display of Traditional Rwandan dancing will lift your spirit before you delve deep into the history and artifacts of Rwanda. The next stop is the Kings Palace Museum at Nyanza. This is the historical and traditional power center of Rwanda and here we visit the reconstructed Kings Palace to see how traditional monarchs lived in pre-colonial times. On arrival in Kigali, we stop for dinner (included) at Kigali’s premier Indian restaurant Khana Kazana before transferring to the airport for your onward flight home (departing at 11h20 Rwanda time, arriving at 02h10 South African time). 

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