Essence of Rwanda Gorillas & Game

Our Essence of Rwanda Gorilla & Akagera Safari is a wonderful private safari throughout Rwanda with many highlights including tracking chimpanzees in Nyungwe, gorilla trekking in the highlands of the Volcanoes National park, golden monkeys, game-viewing in Akagera and Lake Kivu. On this tour you pack in many of Rwanda's treasures in an exciting 9 night safari.

Essence of Rwanda Gorillas & Game at a glance:

• 1 night Kigali Serena Hotel, Bed & Breakfast
• 2 nights Ruzizi Tented Camp, Akagera, Full Board & Activities
• 2 night Nyungwe Top View Lodge or One&Only Nyungwe House, close to Nyungwe Forest National Park, Full Board
• 2 nights Lake Kivu Serena Hotel, , Full Board
• 2 nights Mountain Gorilla View Lodge OR The Bishop's House, near Volcanoes National Park for the Gorilla Trek, Full Board

After a restful night in Kigali, you immediately head to Akagera National Park, a very scenic national park with a wide range of plains game and predators. Then you head to Nyungwe National Park where you spend 2 nights. Here you enjoy chimpanzee trekking and a canopy walk through the forest. On Day 6, you head along the shores of the scenic Lake Kivu for 2 relaxing nights.

Then you head to the base for gorilla trekking at the Parc National des Volcans (Volcanoes National park). This is a scenic journey through the lush terraced landscape of rural Rwanda.

On the following day you start early for your gorilla trek. You are given a full briefing, assessed and put into small groups for the gorilla trek. This can take between two and six hours depending on the movements of the gorillas. And the number of rests and photo stops that you may need. After the trek you return to the lodge where you spend another night.  There is time on the following day to do a second gorilla trek or the very popular Golden Monkeys trek or an alternative excursion. You return to Kigali in the afternoon for your onward flight in the evening.

Note that sometimes you may need to add an extra night in Kigali at the end, depending on your flight connections.

We have shown this safari at two different price points - Premier/Luxury and Mid-range. We also have a similar 8 night programme with more modest accommodation. So ask us about this.

Add the Gorilla permit

We have excluded the gorilla permit which is $1500 per person for one day in peak season and the chimpanzee trekking permits which are $150 per person. These are added on at time of quoting for your specific trip. This is because some people like to purchase two gorilla permits so that they can visit twice. And some people don't do the Gorilla trekking.

Plus, outside of the peak season (June to October), if you do the Chimp trekking in Nyungwe National Park AND the Gorilla trekking then the Gorilla permit price decreases to $1050 per person.

Other optional tours or permits:

• Nyungwe Colobus Monkey permit - $40 per person
• Nyungwe guided bird walk - $40
• Volcanoes Golden Monkey permit - $100