This 7 days’ safari is a perfect tour exposing you to exceptional tourism features in Uganda and Rwanda – a combination which offers you a phenomenal primate experience. The tour involves double gorilla trekking in Uganda’s Bwindi impenetrable forest national park and Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park and mpanzee trekking in Nyungwe forest Reserve plus canopy walk. The trip starts in Rwanda, crosses to Uganda and ends in Rwanda.
Details.
Day 1- Transfer to Nyungwe national park.
After the morning breakfast at your hotel, check out of the hotel and meet our guide who will then transfer to Nyungwe forest national park. You will drive through the culture corridor visiting the Nyanza Kings Palace and the Ethnographic museum in south Rwanda, have lunch en-route and continue to Nyungwe. The whole drive will take you about nine hours and you reach the lodge in the evening.
Day 2- Chimpanzee tracking and canopy walk.
Have an early morning breakfast and after transfer to the park headquarters for briefing about chimpanzee trekking by a head ranger. You will then penetrate into the lush Nyungwe forest while following the endangered chimpanzees with which you will spend up to one hour.
The tracking will also give you an encounter with other animals such as elephants, monkeys and bird species among others. Return to the lodge for lunch after tracking and after you will go for canopy walk, which will provide you with aerial view of the entire national park and wildlife and then go back to the lodge for dinner and relief.
Day 3- Transfer to Volcanoes national park.
After early breakfast, proceed to Volcanoes National Park Headquarters from Nyungwe via Gisenyi and Ruhengeri. This is a 6hrs drive that traverses the most beautiful sceneries, providing spectacular views of the tea growing countryside of Gisovu and Kayove. You will have brief stops for photography and stretching.
Arrival for lunch in Gisenyi and a brief city tour or continue to visit Musanze caves further northwards. There after drive to Ruhengeri and finally Kinigi which is the base of gorilla tracking.
Day 4- Gorilla tracking in Volcanoes National park.
In the morning, have breakfast and drive from the lodge to volcanoes national park headquarters in Kinigi for a simple briefing about gorilla trekking by the park rangers. After the briefing, hike into the forest to the allocated gorilla family with which you will spend an hour but although you spend an hour with the gorillas, the time to spend in the forest varies depending on the movements of the gorillas and where they slept the previous night
After trekking, go back to the lodge for refreshment. In the evening, you will transfer to Ibyiwachu cultural village where you will be introduced to Rwanda culture in form of traditional dances, songs and poems. Later return to the lodge for a night stay and dinner.
Day 5- Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable N/P.
Have a morning breakfast, check out from the lodge and then drive to Bwindi Impenetrable national park’s Northern sector via Kisoro. You will have to cross the border at Cyanika and have lunch in Kisoro then continue to Bwindi Impenetrable national park (Nkuringo or Rushaga sectors).
Arrive at the lodge in the afternoon refresh and relax at the views of the forest. You can opt for an evening nature walk in the forest.
Day 6- 2nd Gorilla tracking in Bwindi.
After your morning breakfast, transfer to the park offices for briefing about gorilla trekking. At 8:30am, you will start you trek and hikes into the jungle following specific trails depending on the allocated mountain gorilla family.
Trekking time will depend on the movements of the gorillas and where they slept the previous night and it usually takes 3-8 hours. After meeting a family of gorillas, you will be permitted to spend only one hour observing and learning about their lifestyle and characteristics, capturing memorable videos / photographs after which you will trek back to the starting point and later be driven back to the lodge.
After, you can opt for an evening walk and visit the Batwa local communities who will tell you more about their traditional forest life.
Day 7- Transfer back to Kigali.
You will have a morning breakfast and then transfer to Rwanda which will take you roughly 3 hours via Kisoro – border.
Arrive in Kigali and do a city tour to various tourism sites in the city such as the Kigali genocide memorial center, presidential palace and the Kigali convention Centre among others and you will have lunch at a local restaurant then later transfer to the airport for your departure.
