This luxury crafted 5 Days safari gives you a rare opportunity to track the rare mountain gorillas twice in Volcanoes National Park, one the world’s most thrilling wildlife experiences.
Arrive in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, check in at the Kigali Serena Hotel, a relaxed yet elegant five-star hotel that is ideally located one of Kigali’s most charming avenues. It is built around a polished granite atrium that showcases the very best of Rwanda’s cultural art.
You will receive a full briefing of your safari from our guide. After this brief starter, you will be left alone to relax in your room.
Have a relaxed breakfast, check out of the hotel and go for a city tour where you will visit the Kigali Genocide memorial museum, one of the museums that were established to commemorate the victims of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. This is the final resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi tribe in Rwanda. It honors the memory of the more than one million Rwandans killed in 1994. This dark tour will make you appreciate how this relatively small country has quickly recovered from its painful history. This recovery has been facilitated by education and peace-building. Visit the King’s palace that showcases Rwanda’s culture and history.
After the city tour, go for lunch at Hotel Des Mille Collines, that was featured in the Hollywood movie ’Hotel Rwanda’ in 2004. You will relax here until you are transferred to Volcanoes National Park through the rolling hills. Brace yourself for spectacular scenery of the country side to Kinigi Town, gateway to the Virunga Mountains.
On arrival, you will be checked in at the most luxurious Bisate Lodge. It is located in the natural amphitheatre of an eroded volcanic cone. The area has dramatic views of the peaks of the volcanoes Bisoke, Karisimbi and Mikeno all of which have thriving Afro-alpine forests of the nearby Volcanoes National Park. Each of the six en-suite rooms here maximize comfort, warmth and views while retaining environmental principles and reflecting the culture of surrounding rural Rwanda.
The Parc National des Volcans is the heart that pumps life into Rwanda’s ecosystem. It is part of the Virunga region which is shared between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the only habitat to the world’s surviving mountain gorillas (just over 1,000). Make a short drive to park headquarters this morning where you’ll meet your gorilla trekking guides. Ranger guides to be exact. They will give you a brief talk on the procedures and etiquette of gorilla tracking before you set off to the dense rain forest. In an effort to give you an 80% probability of seeing these majestic primates, a team of trackers will be in the forest ahead of your departure. Their task is identifying where the gorillas were seen the night before and pursuing them to a point/climax—where you will be able to connect. Although the hike can be physically demanding, the beauty of the forest and surrounding scenery makes the effort worthwhile in addition to the ultimate reward of getting a close-up with the gorillas; a profoundly moving wildlife encounter. Return to the lodge and relax as you watch the sun burry itself over the horizons; Virunga volcanoes.
Experience has shown that you can visit the same gorilla group twice on different days and get completely different experiences. Individual Mountain gorillas behave differently and same mountain gorilla can behalf differently on different days depending on moods. Some individuals are more active than others, some juveniles are more playful.
On the second day, after briefing, you will be led into the forest to track a different gorilla and you will agree with us that it is a different experience! Return to the lodge for a relaxed evening.
Have an early breakfast and return to the park headquarters where you will meet the park guide ahead of a guided trek to the forest—to observe rare golden monkeys. These old world monkeys are active throughout the day and mostly live in the bamboo zone of this mountainous park, not so far from its foot. A golden monkey trek operates similarly to the early morning gorilla treks. Groups are limited to eight travelers, and once you meet up with the golden monkeys, you will have one hour to spend with them and return to the lodge for lunch. Refresh and get transferred to Kigali where you will arrive on time for your departing flight.