6-DAY RWANDA WILDLIFE AND GORILLA SAFARI: (PJT 052)

After breakfast, we take the Kigali city tour visiting key areas like Genocide Memorial, craft centers, Kandt National Museum, etc. You can choose which sites to visit because in the afternoon we journey to Akagera National Park after having lunch in the city. Akagera National Park is located in eastern Rwanda; our journey will be about 2 hours arriving late afternoon and continuing to the lodge for check-in. You can have short stopovers en route to Akagera Park for photo moments of the beautiful landscape and people. Dinner & Oivernight at Mantis Akagera Game Lodge – Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner

We arise early and leave right after breakfast to explore Akagera National Park in search of the big mammals like Elephants, Giraffes, Buffaloes, several Antelope species, and recently the re-introduced Lions. Most of the game drives happen in the northern part of the park where we will spend the better part of the day and return to the lodge later that afternoon. Akagera National Park is the biggest in Rwanda with beautiful scenery and landscape. It has varied habitats for wildlife and a birder's haven with over 500 species in the park. There are also opportunities to explore the park on foot together with a ranger by taking a nature walk, this can be incorporated on request, especially in the afternoon. You have opportunities for a boat safari on Lake Ihema to watch Hippos and crocodiles in the water or by the shores. Dinner & Oivernight at Mantis Akagera Game Lodge – Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner

After breakfast, we relive the great wildlife safari experience in Akagera National Park before transferring to the Volcanoes National Park where the massive gentles giants inhabit. It is a natural habitat for the mountain gorillas providing the perfect environment and food for the gorillas. Volcanoes National Park is located in northern Rwanda about 2 hours from Kigali in Kinigi, Musanze. The drive from Akagera National Park to Musanze will be through Kigali city, enjoying several villages with great landscape views. You can ask the driver to stop for picture moments at different viewpoints as you see the endless hills and understand why indeed Rwanda is referred to as ‘the land of a thousand hills. We will arrive at the lodge later that evening ready for the gorilla hike the next day. Dinner & Oivernight at Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge – Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner

After a good restful night, your whole agenda today is tied to meeting the mountain gorillas in the lush and dense jungles of the Virunga ranges – precisely the Volcanoes National Park. Your driver-guide will transfer you to the briefing place right after your early breakfast to listen to the ranger guide on how to behave while in the park and divide you into the different gorilla groups. In the meantime, as you wait for the briefing enjoy the Rwandan cultural dances and the freshly brewed Rwandan coffee. After a briefing from the visitors Center – you embark on the trek that will eventually bring you to the gorillas in their natural habitat. The trek can last from an hour to several hours depending on where the gorillas nested the previous night – you need to be relatively fit to enjoy this experience. Depending on the time the gorilla tracking lasts, you have an opportunity to visit the Gorilla Guardians village and Ibiwachu Cultural village for a taste of the Rwandan culture. Dinner & Oivernight at Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge – Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner

On this day, have an early morning breakfast drive to the park offices for the briefing, and head for Diane Fossy’s monumental area where you will explore and learn about her endeavors to start the conservation journey of mountain Gorillas before she was killed by poachers. Later we start the journey to Kigali.