6 Days Gorilla & Chimpanzee Trekking in Rwanda

Upon landing at Kigali International Airport and after clearing with the immigration and collecting your luggage, you will meet your driver, our representative, who will warmly welcome you into Rwanda and transfer you to the hotel where you will spend the night.

Rwanda’s capital and biggest city stretches across lush, undulating hills surrounded by towering mountains, the largest of which is Mount Kigali, rising 1850 meters above sea level. Kigali is the country’s financial, commercial, and cultural hub, served by an international airport and featuring a wide range of accommodation options. It also offers a collection of restaurants and points of interest, including the Kigali Genocide Centre, an atmospheric market, and numerous craft shops. With its interesting architecture, busy streets, meandering boulevards, and green hillsides, Kigali is said to be one of the most attractive cities in Africa and is definitely worth a visit.

Accommodation: Kigali Serena Hotel

• 0800: Begin the day with breakfast.
• 0900: Transfer to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum for a visit
• 1030: Transfer to Volcanoes.
• 1300: Estimated time of arrival and check-in
• 1320: Lunch at the hotel.
• 1500: Take part in complementary activities at the Lodge.
• 1800: Dinner and overnight stay at your Lodge.

Located just outside of Kigali City Centre in the Gasabo district, Kigali Genocide Memorial & Museum was created by a joint partnership of the Kigali City Council and the UK-based Aegis Trust. The center is an extremely moving, challenging, educational, and ultimately inspiring as well as a great place to understand the cause, tragedy, and successful rebuilding post-genocide.

Accommodation: Virunga Inn Resort & Spa

Virunga Inn Resort and Spa offers stylish accommodations with beautiful views of the mountains. The property features beautifully appointed rooms equipped with comfortable bedding, a private bathroom, a flat-screen TV, a safety deposit box, and a seating area. The property also features a 24-hour front desk, free Wi-Fi throughout, room service, and a restaurant serving a tasty breakfast each morning.

• 0600: Begin the day with a morning breakfast.
• 0630: Transfer to the park headquarters for gorilla trekking briefing.
• 0800: Start the gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park.
• 1200: Estimated time of returning from the jungle.
• 1230: Transfer back to the Lodge.
• 1300: Lunch at the Lodge.
• 1500: Afternoon visit Ellen DeGeneres Gorilla Fund Museum.
•  1800: Dinner and overnight stay at your lodge.

Gorilla Trekking in the Volcanoes National Park offers visitors the unique opportunity of discovering the 10 families of gorillas that live within the national park. Visitors can enjoy a cup of coffee before the trek starts and will be separated into groups of 8 depending on their physical abilities. Each group is guided by a guide and two scouts who are well-trained in emergencies. The amount of time set aside per trek is different depending on where the gorilla family is situated. Some trips may take as little as half an hour, and some may take the better part of the day.

The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is an expansive, 12-acre property that rests adjacent to the Volcanoes National Park in northern Rwanda. The campus showcases the best in sustainable architecture, local resourcing, and environmentally responsible practices and will offer state-of-the-art laboratories, a scientific conservation library, and meeting space for large groups. The goal of the campus is to inspire everyone who visits to cherish gorillas and encourage a lifetime of conservation.

Accommodation: Virunga Inn Resort & Spa

• 0800: Begin the day with a morning breakfast
• 0600: Begin the day with a morning breakfast.
• 0630: Transfer to the park headquarters for the Golden Monkey trekking briefing.
• 0800: Start the Golden Monkey trek.
• 1100: Return from the Jungle.
• 1130: Drive to Nyungwe with a Lunch break in Gisenyi.
• 1400: Drive to Nyungwe Forest
• 1730: Estimated arrival time at your Lodge.
• 1800: Dinner and overnight stay at your Lodge.

Situated in southwestern Rwanda, the Nyungwe Forest National Park is known for its exceptional biodiversity and its wide range of endemic species. The park is composed of lush tracts of rainforest set high up on fertile mountain slopes. It is one of Africa’s most ancient forests and the home of Rwanda’s sole remaining chimpanzee population, as well as 85 additional mammal species, 43 reptile species, nearly 300 bird species and over 1000 plant species. Visitors can enjoy spotting colobus monkeys and chimpanzees hiding in the trees, hiking on a well-maintained network of trails passing through lush equatorial rainforest and catching a glimpse of a beautiful array of colourful birdlife. Don’t miss the thrilling Canopy Walk; it is one of its kind in Africa and offers impressive views of the forest.

Accommodation: Nyungwe Top View Hill hotel.

Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel is an elegant place, a heaven on earth, idyllically situated on top of one of the hills of
Nyungwe forest area; the largest single forest block in East Africa and the biggest water reservoir for Rwanda Nyungwe Top view hill hotel offers most beautiful and tranquil accommodation facility comprises of 12 self
contained with 4 twin and 8 queen size bed apartments having a sitting room with a fire place to warm you up and a balcony with picturesque view of sunrise or sunset from all the rooms including incomparable view of part of the Nyungwe National Park, Kahuzi Biega National Park, Tea plantations, Lake Kivu, the volcanoes and Idjwi Island right from the top of the hill. The accommodation is offered as a bed and breakfast, half board or full board facility.

• 0800: Begin the day with a morning breakfast.
• 0500: Begin the day with a morning breakfast.
• 0530: Prepare for transfers to Park headquarters for Chimpanzee trek briefing.
• 0530: Start the Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe forests.
• 1230: Estimated time to return from the jungle.
• 1330: Lunch at the Lodge and an entire day relaxing and winding down at the Lodge.
•  1500: Take on a Canopy Walk experience
•  1800: Special Dinner arrangement in the Tea Plantation.

Located within the Nyungwe National Park, the Nyungwe Forest National Park Cyamudongo Forest Chimpanzee Trekking provides visitors with a unique chimpanzee experience. Visitors will follow a path through the lush vegetation to a point where they will be able to witness the chimpanzees acting out their daily activities, such as waking up, eating, and socialising within their natural environment.

Suspended above a ravine amidst the lush vegetation and montane forest of the Ngungwe National Park, Canopy Walk offers participants an exhilarating perspective atop the ancient treetops and wildlife. The 160-meter-long suspended bridge is accessible as part of a guided hike along the Igishigishigi trail or those hiking the Imbaraga and Umuyove trails.

• 0800: Begin the day with a morning breakfast.
• 0830: Relaxing and chilling at the hotel.
•  1200: An early lunch at the Lodge.
•  1300: Prepare for a return transfer back to Kigali.
•  1400: Visit the Ethnographic Museum.
•  1420: Return to Kigali at your convenience
•  1700: Proposed time of arrival in Kigali and transfer to Kigali International Airport.

Located in Huye, south of Kigali, the Ethnographic Museum is one of the six museums that make up the Institute of
National Museums of Rwanda. This Museum was built in 1987, and now houses one of Africa's finest ethnographic collections. Its seven galleries display historical, ethnographic, artistic and archaeological artefacts accompanied by visual aids, giving visitors a rich insight into the culture of Rwandans.