Day 1: Kigali – Volcanoes National Park

Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport (KGL), you will be met by a representative of Peak Cruise Safaris outside the airport arrivals section. After a briefing, you will depart on a scenic drive to the northwest through the beautiful terraced hillsides that display Rwanda’s landscape. You will arrive in Ruhengeri, the base for gorilla trekking at the Parc National des Volcans (Volcanoes National Park).

The town itself is located only 25 kilometers from Uganda border. It is relatively a small city of about 70,000 people. The constant flow of humanity is quite remarkable. The town also has great views of the surrounding volcanoes. Here, people are very friendly and despite being a former Belgian colony (and thus French-speaking), many people here speak English. On this day, you will stay overnight at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge

• Meals: lunch, dinner, bed and breakfast

Day 2: Volcanoes National Park – Gorilla Trek

You will have an early breakfast. At 06:20, You will be transferred to the Volcanoes National Park headquarters for your first day of trekking. At 07:00, there will be a briefing delivered by your trackers and then you will drive to the trailhead for the start of your amazing gorilla tracking adventure. Porters may be hired for the trek to carry your backpack and gear. The cost is 10 USD per person / day. You are advised to utilize this service.

Your trek again starts in the cultivated foothills of the Virunga which offers stirring views in all directions. When entering the national park, trekkers will be immersed in the mysterious intimacy of the rainforest, alive with the colorful bird calls, chattering golden monkeys, littered with fresh spoor of the mountains’ elusive buffalos and elephants. Through gaps in the canopy, the magnificent peaks are glimpsed, among the highest in Africa yet easily accessible, beckoning an ascent.

Weaving through overhanging vines, moss-covered hagenia trees and giant lobelias that thrive in the tropical climate, your experienced trackers, who have spent their entire lives in or close to this forest, soon will bring you up close with one of the gorilla families. Upon sighting the gorillas, you will stay with them for a magical hour as they go about their daily life, feeding, playing, resting, and raising their young. Coming face to face with a giant silverback must be truly one of the greatest wildlife experiences on earth.

Afterward, you will depart from the foothills of the volcanoes and drive south past coffee, tea and banana plantations on a scenic drive to Kigali. Everything and everywhere, sheer green and hanging on the hills, Rwanda is truly the land of a thousand fertile green hills. In the evening, you will stay overnight at Lemigo hotel or Flame Tree Village

• Meals: bed and breakfast

Day 3: Kigali

You will have breakfast at the hotel and then enjoy a city tour of Kigali. The history of Rwanda dates back centuries ago, Kigali has been a part of it for 100 years. Founded in 1907 as a German settlement, Kigali did not become the capital until Rwanda’s independence in 1962 when it replaced the colonial seat of power in Butare.

You will visit the Kandt House Museum of Natural History, see old Kigali and the craft centers, then visit the genocide memorial site. You will learn about Rwanda’s history from pre-colonial times to the 1994 genocide. You will find out other genocides in the world and how this country has dealt with that past. You will surely have more tour and see the new developments in Rwanda. The recovery has been incredible, a testament to humankind’s resilience. Afterward, you will have lunch in Kigali and be transferred to Kigali International Airport (KGL) for your scheduled departure flight. This is the end of services.

What’s included

• 2 nights’ accommodation
• Airport transfers and assistance
• Bottled drinking water while trekking and in vehicle
• City tour of Kigali
• Meals as per itinerary
• Private transport in a 4×4 Land Cruiser
• Services of an English-speaking driver / guide