This 10 Days Best of Rwanda Safari is long enough to give travelers a great exploration experience of the “Land of a thousand hills”. It begins with a city tour, introducing you to the scenic Kigali; visit Kigali Memorial Site, local markets, and the Presidential Palace museum. While at Akagera national park, you will take a game drive and a boat cruise, go gorilla and golden monkey trekking at Volcanoes national park plus visit the Ibyiwachu cultural village. Nyungwe national park excites with its chimpanzees which are easy to spot when you go for chimpanzee tracking. Other things to do on this 10 Day Rwanda safari include canopy walk and an option of visiting Lake Kivu when transferring from Volcanoes national park to Nyungwe National Park.
Details of a safari
Day 1: Arrival at the airport and head to booked hotel in Kigali
Arrival at the airport, transfer to booked hotel in Kigali and attend a short briefing about this country and the 10 Day safari. The guide driver will thereafter leave you at the hotel after communicating the next day’s program.
Day 2: Kigali city tour.
Take a good time while discovering the Kigali city where you will visit Kimironko market which sells fresh food stuffs and fruits, art and craft pieces, and clothing among others. You will also visit Kigali Memorial site, the Presidential palace museum, and Kigali hill for the panoramic view of Kigali city. Back to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 3: Head to Akagera national park.
Right after breakfast in Kigali, traverse in the hills of Rwanda heading to Akagera national park. This is the only savannah national park in the country, located along its border with Tanzania. On arrival, you will check-in to your lodge, later have lunch and go for the afternoon boat cruise on Lake Ihema. Expect to see crocodiles, hippos and water birds among other things. Back to the lodge in the evening.
Day 4: Game drive and boat cruise.
Take a morning game drive in the endless plains of Akagera National Park. Starting after having breakfast and taking about 4 hours, it will grant you an opportunity to spot different animals including zebras, the Maasai giraffes, elephants, buffalos, lions, warthogs, and olive baboons among others.
After this experience, you will return to the lodge, have lunch and spend afternoon relaxing and enjoying the tranquility of the park.
Optional evening activity: Nature walk
Day 5: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park.
You will wake up at your leisure, check out of the lodge and head to Volcanoes National Park, which is located on Rwanda’s boarder with D.R. Congo and Uganda. You will have an en-route lunch and arrive at the lodge in the late afternoon. Check in to the lodge and rest.
Day 6: Golden monkey trekking.
Golden monkeys are endangered species of primates and Volcanoes and Mgahinga are some of the places you can see them in Africa. All you need here is to wake up early, transfer to the park offices to catch up with briefing with fellow trekkers, meet your ranger guide for the day and thereafter set off to the forest in search of the monkeys. When you spot them, you will stay with them for a precious one hour in the bamboo forest before trek back and head to the lodge for a leisure time. Like any other trekking experience, golden monkey trekking can last between 2 to 5 hours depending on where the primates are located.
Day 7: Gorilla trekking and visit Iby’iwacu cultural village.
Early morning breakfast at the lodge, and a transfer to the park offices for another briefing, this time for gorilla trekking. Enter the forest, search for gorillas. It is always a breathtaking moment spotting these great apes and having an hour to observe them and learn facts about them with a face to face encounter.
After the experience, you will be served with lunch at the lodge and then head to visit the Iby’iwacu cultural village which is an initiative for reformed poachers. They will entertain you with traditional music and dances, meals, art and craft of the Kinyarwanda culture.
Day 8: Transfer to Nyungwe national park.
After breakfast at your lodge, you will head to Nyungwe national park in the south of Rwanda. The route takes you via Lake Kivu and you have an option of visiting Lake Kivu for a short boat cruise and then proceed to Nyungwe.
Day 9: Chimpanzee trekking and canopy walk.
Just like other primate tracking adventures, chimpanzee tracking also starts with a briefing. You are therefore expected to be at the park offices early for this activity and the park warden will also cross check your trekking permits. Briefing is important and it covers aspects like the chimpanzee behaviors, the dos and don’ts like not to make noise and mimic to keep a friendly environment with the chimpanzees. As you walk through the forest, you might come across monkeys and interesting bird species. When the chimps are spotted, maximize your hour with them to observe their behavior and capture the heartwarming moments with photos and videos.
Have lunch at the lodge and head for another exciting adventure; the canopy walk. You will walk on a 160m long bridge suspended at a height of 70m. The 2 hours canopy walk starts with a 200m walk in the forest giving a chance to see some resident wildlife such as the black and white colobus monkeys, red colobus monkeys, and Vervet monkeys. It grants you an aerial view of Nyungwe forest plus birds both in the air and in the forest. Back to the lodge.
Day 10: Transfer back to Kigali and fly back home.
On this day, you will be served with breakfast and then check out of the lodge, straight away head to Kigali city. The driver guide will take you to Kigali International Airport after lunch or any time depending on your scheduled flight.
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