4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Double Gorilla Trekking Tour
4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Double Gorilla Trekking Tour Itinerary
Day 1: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park-Rwanda
On arrival at Kigali International Airport or from your hotel in Kigali City, you will meet and greet with your driver/guide who will transfer you to a nearby hotel for welcome drinks and lunch after which you will continue to Volcanoes National Park the home of gorillas in Rwanda. The journey is 3 hours drive taking you through undulating and extremely hilly picturesque countryside. As you near the end of your journey, you will begin to catch glimpses of the Virungas – a chain of 9 impossibly steep and lofty volcanoes straddling the western branch of the Rift Valley from east to west.
Each mountain possesses its own unique character and silhouette, but together they form one of the most isolated and visually dramatic ecosystems in the world. A ‘true island in the sky’, the Volcanoes National Park (established in 1925) was Africa’s first, and it was granted status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. The park is home to some of the worlds few remaining Mountain Gorilla, which were first studied here in 1959 by George Schaller, and through the 1960’s by Dian Fossey and her colleagues.
Accommodation Options: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge / Volcanoes Lodge (Luxury), Le Bambou Gorilla Lodge / La Palme (Mid-range), Muhabura Hotel (Basic).
Days 2: First Gorilla Trekking Experience
After an early breakfast, you will transfer to the park headquarters at Kinigi to register and be allocated your gorilla family for today. Once this is done, you set out by vehicle to the start of on your gorilla safari. The gorillas are by no means tame, and are completely wild animals. However, experienced guides will accompany you on your gorilla tracking, many of who have been involved in the habituation process themselves. The guides will use their knowledge of the gorillas’ habits and information from the previous day to locate the group’s whereabouts.
Because of this, the time taken to track the gorillas varies enormously, from as little as half an hour to as much as 9 hours before one return to lodge. Once the gorillas are located, your group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. The hour is often over all too quickly, and you slowly make your way back to your lodge to recount the day’s adventures.
Accommodation Options: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge / Volcanoes Lodge (Luxury), Le Bambou Gorilla Lodge / La Palme (Mid-range), Muhabura Hotel (Basic).
Days 3: Second Gorilla Trekking Experience and Visit twin lake of Ruhondo & Burera
Today after an early breakfast, you will head out for another gorilla trekking adventure. You will enter the forest after a briefing from a ranger guide about gorilla trekking tips. Very much advisable to visit a different group from the one you visited the previous day. In the afternoon you will visit twin lakes of Ruhondo and Burera then transfer to Kigali City arriving in time for dinner and overnight.
Accommodation Options: Kigali Serena Hotel (Luxury), Hotel Des Mille Collines (Mid-range), Five to Five Hotel (Basic).
Day 4: Kigali City Tour & Transfer to Airport
This morning you take a city tour of Kigali and for those who wish to, there is the opportunity to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. The Centre in Kigali was created by a joint partnership of the Kigali City Council and the UK-based Aegis Trust. It contains a permanent and extremely moving exhibition of the Rwandan genocide and an exhibition of other genocides around the world. You then relax for the rest of the day to prepare for your flight out marking the end of the trip.
End of Tour
