9 days Rwanda Primates and Wildlife Tour offers you an ultimate primate trekking and game viewing experience. During the 9 days, 8 nights in Rwanda, expect to engage in the most memorable experiences ranging from Kigali city expedition, game viewing & boat tour in Akagera, chimpanzee tracking & canopy walk in Nyungwe Forest National Park to gorilla trekking Volcanoes National Park Rwanda. With combination of primate and wildlife experiences, expect ultimate holiday in Rwanda. The 9 days Rwanda Primates and Wildlife Tour begins and ends in Kigali.
Detailed 9 Days Rwanda Safari Itinerary
Day 1: Kigali City Expedition, Rwanda
Have a leisurely breakfast and after, get the best of Kigali capital, one of the world’s cleanest and peaceful cities. You will be accompanied by an experienced city tour guide who will take you through a 2 hours’ Kigali City Tour.
The highlights of your city expedition include visiting Gisozi/Kigali genocide centre, Presidential Palace Museum where late Juvenal Habyarimana plane crash occurred. You will also explore craft centres, Natural History Museum and Hotel des Milles Collines.
Day 2: Travel to Akagera N/Park & Launch cruise on L. Ihema
Breakfast early morning and after, vacate Kigali for Akagera National Park in Eastern Rwanda. This will take you on a road trip of 130kms, approximately 2 hours and half drive. Arrive early and enjoy your lunch in the best lodge at Akagera. Later, expect a short boat tour on Lake Ihema, Rwanda’s second largest lake where you will enjoy sights of hippos, crocodiles, water birds.
Day 3: Game drive & vacate Akagera for Butare
Wake up for your leisurely breakfast and later, go for a game drive in the vast Akagera savanna plains. On 2-3 hours’ game viewing tour, expect to keep an eye on numerous savanna dwellers ranging from the big five (elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos & buffaloes), impalas, roan antelopes, waterbucks, zebras, Masai giraffes, birds. This is a rewarding wildlife sighting trip and after, return for relaxed lunch before connecting to Butare, about 4 hours’ drive.
Day 4: Butare Expedition & travel to Nyungwe National Park
Enjoy a leisurely breakfast and later, go explore Butare region. Areas of interest on Butare expedition include visiting the Nyanza Palace where King Musinga lived plus his successor King Rudahigwa. This cultural centre features distinct hut crafted in unique traditional architecture.
You will also pay a visit to the Ethnographic Museum, the biggest in Rwanda consisting of thousands of artifacts and genocide sites. After, go have lunch in Butare and be transferred to Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, 3 hours’ drive away from Butare.
Day 5: Nyungwe Chimpanzee Trekking & community experience
Have a relaxed cup of tea/coffee and after, chimpanzee trekking briefing before setting off to look for chimpanzees at 8:00am. Explore the montane forest of Nyungwe National Park for 2 to 5 hours on a search for habituated chimp community. Once you have found chimps, you have absolute 1 hour with chimps. There are also many primates to expect keep your eye on not forgetting interesting forest birds.
Return to the lodge after in-depth exploration of chimp and you will enjoy a relaxed lunch. Rest and later in the afternoon/evening, you will visit the nearby community to interact with locals, learn their daily practices, traditional & cultural experiences.
Day 6: Colobus monkey tracking in Nyungwe & canopy walk
Have a leisurely cup of tea/coffee and later, you will have a memorable colobus monkey tracking experience Nyungwe National Park. Expect to encounter the biggest troop of colobus monkeys in the wild and return after your 2-4 hours day experience which is inclusive of 1 hour of close encounter with colobus monkeys.
Later in the afternoon after a relaxed lunch, you will be on Nyungwe canopy walk to encounter more primates, birds then you retire for the night at the lodge.
Day 7: Volcanoes National Park/Parc National des Volcans expedition
Have breakfast and after, expect to spend approximately 9 hours’ drive, about 338kms from Nyungwe National Park. This comes with astonishing views of Lake Kivu, cultivated hillsides of Rwanda and lunch en-route. When you arrive at Volcanoes N/Park, you will be checking into your lodge.
Day 8: Gorilla Trekking in Parc National des Volcans – PNV
Get up for a leisurely morning breakfast so as to catch up with 7:00am briefing on gorilla trekking guidelines. You will meet the rest of the visitors at Kinigi offices of Parc National des Volcans Rwanda. With some packed lunch, bottled water, it is during this period when you get assigned to a gorilla group and park guide. You will be accompanied by park guide to enjoy your 2-6 hours’ trek to see mountain gorilla family.
The whole experience with mountain gorillas during the 1 hour largely involves learning more on how they socialize, forage, mate, play, groom each other and photo taking while in their habitat. Thereafter, get back to lodge to relax and later, you have a chance to visit Iby’Iwacu village for a thrilling Banyarwanda cultural experience.
Day 9: Golden monkey tracking & return to Kigali
Breakfast early in the morning and after, briefing on Rwanda golden monkey tracking rules. Later at 8:00am, expect to start your actual Golden monkey Trek starting from Kinigi offices. The entire adventure will involve navigating via the beautiful vegetation, bamboo zone where you will come across Golden monkeys.
Enjoy an hour with them, take pictures and then retreat from your experience. After, check out of the lodge and your Rwanda driver guide will drop you off to the airport/hotel.
End of 9 Days Rwanda Primates & Wildlife Tour.
