Itineraries
On this popular nine-day scheduled tour, you spend three nights in Nyungwe Forest, then by travel by road along Lake Kivu to Kibuye, and by boat to Gisenyi. You go gorilla tracking in Volcanoes National Park and finish with an optional activity. Kigali is included at either end of the tour, depending on flight times.
L’Hoest’s monkey - Nyungwe Forest
Depart from London Heathrow on the Kenya Airways overnight flight to Nairobi.
On arrival in Nairobi, connect with your flight to Kigali. On arrival in Kigali this morning, your driver-guide will meet you and take you to Chez Lando where you overnight. You will be taken for a guided city tour of Kigali.
After breakfast, depart by road for Nyungwe Forest to stay 3 nights at the simple Gisakura ORTPN Resthouse on the edge of the forest. On the way, stop in Butare (2½ hours from Kigali) to see the National Museum, housing probably the finest ethnographic collection in East Africa, and to watch a performance by the famous Intore dancers. After lunch, proceed to Nyungwe Forest (approx 2½ hours), stopping en route to see the Murambi Genocide Memorial (see Bradt p.139. This is harrowing and you should be aware of what you would see there).
Intore dancers - Butare
Days to search with your guide for primates and birds on guided walks in lovely Nyungwe Forest. Trails are steep, but manageable by anyone in good (normal physical condition.) The National Park has just been gazetted – and not a moment too soon - to save this forest from the depredations of agriculture. Maize, beans and bananas are intensively cultivated right up to the forest's edge.
A very scenic drive today (about 4 hours) on unmade roads to Kibuye on the shores of Lake Kivu, where you stay overnight at Moriah Hill Resort.
This longish drive, on un-made roads, may not appeal to everyone but it does offer the opportunity to see life as it has been for centuries, virtually unchanged. You have the opportunity to see the people at work – intensively cultivating bananas, cassava, sorghum, beans, rice, potatoes, even coffee in their steep and tiny fields. In addition there are several massive tea plantations, villages, innumerable tiny brickworks, and surprises around every corner. Lake Kivu forms the border between Rwanda and the Congo. It’s a beautiful and mysterious lake, always alive with traders and fishermen in their dugout canoes.
Fishermen at Lake Kivu
Today you travel north across Lake Kivu by boat to Gisenyi, arriving for lunch. Gisenyi is an attractive, though somewhat faded lakeside resort which is also a border crossing point into the Congo. The shore is lined with crumbling colonial villas.
In the late afternoon, you will continue by tarred road on the two-hour drive to Musanze near the Parc National des Volcans where you will stay for 2 nights at Gorillas Volcanoes hotel.
At 07h00, you will be met by staff from ORTPN Park Headquarters, in Parc National des Volcans, who will brief you on conduct during gorilla tracking. Then trackers lead you into the forested slopes to seek one of the groups of Mountain Gorillas. Reaching the gorillas can be quick, or it can take a few hours. In the afternoon, you will be taken to visit the panoramic twin volcanic lakes of Burera and Ruhondo.
Mountain gorilla - Volcanoes National Park
There is a choice of optional activities today: a second gorilla trek, climbing the Bisoke volcano, visiting the Golden Monkeys, or trekking to the Dian Fossey memorial. Any permits required are an additional cost.*
In the afternoon, you will be driven to Kigali (2½ hours) to stay overnight at Chez Lando, breakfast included.
If you did not have time to explore some of Kigali on your day of arrival, you will be taken on a guided city tour before you are transferred to Kigali airport to check in at midday for flight departing to Nairobi. On arrival in Nairobi, connect with your flight to London Heathrow.
Arrive into London Heathrow early this morning.
From £2560 per person sharing.
Minimum 4 participants.
Ring 020 7226 1004, or email us, if you would like to speak with one of our friendly and knowledgeable consultants.
Price includes: International flights with Kenya Airways from London Heathrow, departures taxes, accommodation based on two people sharing, all meals, one gorilla permit and the services of an English-speaking driver-guide.
Not included: any meals not listed, the second gorilla permit, personal items (drinks, tips, phone calls, laundry, travel insurance).
Single supplement £175.
Optional activities
Dian Fossey memorial visit and climbing Mt Bisoke are £67 each per person; a visit to the golden monkeys is £80; a second gorilla permit is £343.
Photographs courtesy of: Richard McManus (main photograph), Ariadne Van Zandbergen & Roger Diski Rainbow Tours