8 Days Rwanda Primates Adventure Safari

Destination: Rwanda

Travel time: 2023

Overview

This 8 days epic Rwanda safari adventure will give you a great memory of Rwandan tour and you explore and wrap up Rwandan attractions in just 8 days. You will be able to visit Nyungwe NP for chimpanzee and Canopy walk, Lake Kivu, Volcanoes national park for Gorilla trekking and Golden monkey trek and Kigali known as the cleanest city in Africa. , adding in a visit to Lake Kivu to spice up your stay. You will well be able to do both gorilla and golden monkey trekking which is a life time adventure.

8 Days Rwanda Primates Adventure Safari

Detailed itinerary.

Day Itinerary

Upon arrival at Kigali international airport, you will go through custom and immigration, and you will be met by our company guide who will warmly welcome you to the Land of a thousand hills that Rwanda is know of, an later drive to your booked hotel accommodation for dinner and overnight stay.

Luxury Accommodation: Kigali Radisson Blu Hotel 

Meal Plan: Diner

Rwanda’s capital and biggest city stretches across undulating lush hills surrounded by towering mountains, the largest of which is Mount Kigali, rising 1850 metres above sea level. Kigali is the country’s financial, commercial and cultural hub, served by an international airport and featuring a wide range of accommodation options, restaurants and points of interest, including the Kigali Genocide Centre, an atmospheric market and numerous craft shops. With its interesting architecture, busy streets, meandering boulevards, and green hillsides, Kigali is said to be one of the most attractive cities in Africa and is definitely worth a visit.

Activities


Arrival and Transfer to Hotel

Basis

Dinner
Tea and Coffee Included

Day Itinerary

Today after taking your early morning breakfast, you will checkout of the lodge and drive for Kigali city tour by visiting the Kigali genocide memorial centre which honors the memory of the more than one million Rwandans killed in 1994 through education and peace-building. You will be able to watch and listen to some video clips from some of the survivors’ of the incident. Later after lunch you will proceed with a drive to Volcanoes NP through the magnificent route to your booked accommodation spend the rest of the afternoon relax and prepare for the next day’s trekking.

Luxury Accommodation: Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Diner

Bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo in Rwanda, the Volcanoes National Park is best known as a sanctuary for the region’s rare mountain gorillas. Visitors flock here to experience a face to face encounter with these intriguing creatures. The park is set high on the jungle-covered slopes of the volcanic Virunga Mountains. Highly regulated treks through the reserve allow visitors to spend an hour at a time with these incredible primates in their natural habitat. While the gorilla’s are without a doubt the main drawcard, visitors can also look forward to exploring a network of scenic hiking trails, visiting the tomb of the world-famous Dian Fossey and the Karisoke Research Centre, and enjoying a beautiful day hike to the crater lake on Mount Bisoke.

Activities

Morning

Kigali City Tour

Afternoon

Transfer to Volcanoes National Park

Kigali City Tour

Get to know this beautiful and amazing city. The Go Kigali City Tour is the best way to see and experience Kigali! Stops include: a trip to the top of Mt. Kigali for views of the city and the countryside, a milk bar, a neighborhood market, a mural walk, a great Rwandan lunch, the best coffee around, a ride on a water taxi, a neighborhood walk and ends at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

 

 

Overnight: Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel

Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel in Musanze (Ruhengeri) located on the road going to Kinigi is a convenient starting point to go for different activities that the Volcanoes National Park is offering. Each of the rooms features hairdryers, flat-screen TVs, private bathrooms and mini-bars. A the hotel guests will find a restaurant, a pool, and a beautiful garden. 24-hour front desk service is also available as well as massage service.

Basis

Full Board – Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch
Tea and Coffee Included

Day Itinerary

After an early morning breakfast, you will be transferred to the park headquarters. You will meet with your ranger who will brief you about the code of conduct while are trekking gorillas. You will then enter the forest in search of the gorillas. The trekking may take 2-6 hours depending on the movement of the gorillas in the jungle and your group speed as well. Meet and stay with the gorillas for a maximum of one hour.   After a great experience you will walk back to the starting point and be transferred to your lodge for lunch, and after lunch, you can decide to relax at your lodge at your leisure or head for a cultural encounter at community walk to get an insight of Rwandan culture. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Luxury Accommodation: Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotelhttp://www.fivevolcanoesrwanda.com/

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Diner

Activities

Morning

Gorilla Trekking Volcanoes National Park

Afternoon

Community walk in local villages

 

Gorilla Trekking Volcanoes National Park

Gorilla Trekking in the Volcanoes National Park offers visitors the unique opportunity of discovering the 10 families of gorillas that live within the national park. Visitors can enjoy a cup of coffee before the trek starts and will be separated into groups of 8 depending on their physical abilities. Each group is guided by a guide and two scouts who are well trained in emergency situations. The amount of time set aside per trek is different depending on where the gorilla family is situated. Some trips may take as little as half an hour and some taking the better part of the day.

 

Basis

Full Board – Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch
Tea and Coffee Included

Day Itinerary

Today after you warm early morning breakfast, you will be picked by our safari driver guide who will transfer you to the park headquarters for briefing with your packed lunch and start off you day golden monkey trekking in search for these shy primates in the jungle. Just like the gorilla trekking experience, the same applies to golden monkey trekking though no so hectic like gorilla trekking. You will later return to the lodge for lunch and later transfer to Lake Kivu for night fishermen experience in this beautiful lake.

 Luxury Accommodation: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Diner

Situated at Lake Kivu’s northeast corner and neighbouring the Congolese city of Goma, Gisenyi is a scenic Rwandan town at the foot of fertile hills. The town offers an excellent variety of activities, including fantastic coffee shops and restaurants, an array of watersports on the lake, and some delightful beaches. The Calafia Cafe is a not-to-be-missed spot which serves delicious pastries (the banana cake is famous) and other cuisine, alongside wonderful ethically produced local coffee. Visitors can kayak, boat, take hikes to see gorillas, or go on historical and cultural tours. The Gisenyi Public Beach offers a charming location for swimming and picnicking. Don’t miss the opportunity to meander through the atmospheric Main Market, go beer tasting at the brewery, or visit the local youth cultural center to see kids practice dance, music, and gymnastics.

Activities

Morning

Volcanoes National Park Golden Monkey Trekking

Afternoon

Transfer to Lake Kivu

Evening

Night Fishermen Experience on Lake Kivu

 

Volcanoes National Park Golden Monkey Trekking

Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda offers Golden monkeys trekking. This unique experience allows guests in groups of up to eight to look for and discover golden monkeys within their natural habitat.

The monkeys are incredibly active and enjoy showing off for tourists and researchers that they encounter daily. The monkeys can be found closer to the base of the volcano and enjoy eating the bamboo vegetation in the area.

Overnight: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel

Serenely sited on the white sandy shores of Lake Kivu, the sixth largest lake in Africa, and surrounded by extensive tropical gardens, the tastefully open-plan Lake Kivu Serena Hotel offers the ideal week-end escape.

Basis

Full Board – Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch
Tea and Coffee Included

 

Day Itinerary

After your morning breakfast, heads to Kimbiri for coffee plantation and processing experience, later you will be transferred to Nyungwe National park. On arrival we shall head to the canopy walk within this national park. This suspended bridge will reward you with great views. After drive to the hotel for diner and overnight.

 Luxury Accommodation: Lake Kivu Marina Bayhttps://www.mantiscollection.com/hotel/mantis-kivu-marina-bay-hotel/

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Diner

 

Formerly known as Shangugu, the town of Cyangugu rests at the southernmost tip of Lake Kivu overlooking the DRC’s town of Bukavu with which it is contiguous. The town serves as a popular gateway to both the lake and the nearby Nyungwe National Park, a beautiful forested area which is home to chimpanzees as well as a number of other primate species.

 

Activities

Morning

Coffee Tour Experience at Kimbiri

Afternoon

Transfer to Nyungwe National Park

 

Overnight: Mantis Kivu Marina Bay Hotel

Mantis Kivu Marina Bay Hotel invites you to experience a resort lifestyle in the Rusizi District of the Western Province of Rwanda. This luxury hotel is located in close proximity of Lake Kivu and Nyungwe National Park in the western region of Rwanda. Located just 1km from Kamembe Airport in Cyangugu, Rwanda.

It’s designed to accommodate a convention centre, lake view swimming pool, parking area and a luxurious health spa. The hotel compromises an upscale lobby, restaurant and bar, spa and gym. The appealing look of the Kivu Marina Bay creates an inviting atmosphere to visitors coming from all parts of the world and Rwanda. It has a beautiful view of the southern lake and surrounding islands.

 

 

Basis

Full Board – Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch
Tea and Coffee Included

Day Itinerary

Today, after your early morning cap of African coffee, you will leave your hotel to experience the natural forest of Nyungwe well known for having 13 species of primates, and transferred to the park for briefing and chimpanzee trekking. You will be entitled to one hour on finding the chimpanzees. After doing the chimpanzee trek, head for lunch before head for tea plantation visit, learn more about how tea is processed.

Luxury Accommodation: Lake Kivu Marina Bayhttps://www.mantiscollection.com/hotel/mantis-kivu-marina-bay-hotel/

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Diner

Activities

Chimpanzee Trekking in Nyungwe National Park

Tea Plantation Experience in Gisakura

 

Basis

Full Board – Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch
Tea and Coffee Included

Day Itinerary

After a relaxed morning breakfast, head for a waterfalls hike, in the park, which is roughly 2 -3 hour’s walk, exploring a number of waterfalls, within the park. On a lucky day, some primates can as well be spotted and a number of bird. Later return and drive off to Kigali, with enroute lunch, and visit to King Palace museum, reaching Kigali in afternoon.

Luxury Accommodation: Kigali Radisson Blu Hotel https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-convention-kigali?cid=a:se+b:gmb+c:emea+i:local+e:rdb+d:mea+h:RWKGLCCR

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Diner

 

As previously described

 

Activities

Nyungwe Forest Isumo Waterfalls Hike

Transfer back to Kigali with enroute visit to Royal Kings Palace

 

Nyungwe Forest Isumo Waterfalls Hike

The impressive Isumo Waterfall Trail starts off winding its way through green tea fields with grassy verges maintained by goats and is full of sun-loving wildflowers and butterflies. After this, the trail moves into the dense vegetation of Nyungwe Forest where a variety of fauna and flora can be seen. The main attraction of the hike is the Isumo Waterfall, roughly 17 metres in height. Many species of primate and birds can be seen near the waterfall. There are two main vantage points for taking in the beauty of the waterfall.

Day Itinerary

Have your breakfast at leisure and later go for a covid test, return to the lodge for lunch and leisure.

Activities

Morning

Leisure and Relaxation at Lake Kivu plus take Covid test

Evening

Fishermen Experience

 

Luxury Accommodation: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel.

Basis

Full Board – Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch

Day Itinerary

After getting done with your relaxed morning breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport to catch up with your onward flight. Depending on your flight time( if it is in the afternoon ) We will have the city tour by visiting the Nyamirambo Women Centre for walking around in Kigali suburb to experience the way of living for Rwandans prior to your departure flight. End of service!

Activities

Morning

Kigali Walking Tour

Afternoon

Transfer to Kigali

Basis

Bed and Breakfast

The End of the Expedition.

COST BASED PER PERSON SHARING

Accommodation options

2 Pax

4 Pax

6 Pax

SSR

LUXURY

$ 5295

$ 4730

$ 4550

$ 960

SSR: Single Supplement Rate

The Cost includes:

  • All Accommodation and meals as per itinerary
  • Bottles of mineral water per person per day whilst on safari
  • 1 Gorilla Permit ($1500)per person
  • Transportation by a 4*4 safari vehicles
  • Chimpanzee permit.
  • Canopy walk
  • Museum visit
  • Waterfalls hike
  • Kigali city tour
  • Golden monkey permits
  • Lake Kivu with Fishermen experience
  • Services of a professional English speaking driver/guides
  • Sightseeing and excursions as described in the itinerary, inclusive of applicable entrance fees

The Cost excludes:

  • Corona test fees
  • International and domestic flight fares
  • Items of a personal nature i.e., telephone/internet usage, alcoholic beverages, etc

Book this tour

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Based on 139 reviews
Jorge Madrid
Jorge Madrid
2022-03-04
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Amazing safari Super experience, everybody helpful and super nice. It feels like a family going into the wild. The driver knows where are the animals and he can spot them while driving safe. Good team and the places where we slept were wonderful, camping in ngorongoro and Serengeti is definitly something else. Even though it is a 5 Days tour It goes super fast. I recomend It 100% Asante sana!
Mya Z
Mya Z
2022-03-02
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Great experience Focus in Africa est une agence sérieuse pour effectuer son safari. Nelson est très professionnel et m'a donné tous les détails pour que le safari se passe au mieux. Prise en charge dès l'arrivée à Arusha, j'ai dormi dans l'hostel de Nelson au Lionsgate avant d'entamer le safari le lendemain. Habib notre guide est très professionnel avec de bons yeux pour observer certains big divers cachés au loin. Notre cuisiner était également au top. Je recommande Focus in Africa pour vos safaris.
Esra C
Esra C
2022-02-27
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Amazing safari experience! Onze safari was werkelijk geweldig! Nelson heeft alls voor ons geregeld naar onze wensen. Wij zijn keurig op tijd opgehaald van het vliegveld en zijn eerst gebracht naar het hostel. Een warme welkom en aardige kok die voor ons ook een gids heeft geregeld om het cetrum van Arusha te bezoeken, bezoek de mooie kleurrijke lokale markten en tanzanite museum bijvoorbeeld. Niet te vergeten de gegrilde mais met lime en chilipoeder? Wij hebben een 4 daagse safari geboekt, waarbij we eerst naar Tarangire zijn geweest, daarna Serengeti 2 dagen en tot slot Ngorogoro krater, onze gids Mozes was zeer ervaren en vertelde veel over de dieren als natuurgebieden. Hij had ‘eagle eyes’ waardoor we uiteindelijk meer dan de big 5 hebben gezien?. Onze groep (7 personen) was ook zeer divers waardoor het heel gezellig was. Onze wens was onder andere dat we ipv tenten in lodges wilde blijven. Nelson heeft het perfect geregeld, we voelden ons net in een 4 sterren verblijf midden in de prachtige natuurgebieden! Vooral Seronera en Rhino lodges waren onze favorieten ? Onze lunches waren lekker en goed vullend gemaakt door kok van onze safari. Het avondeten in de lodges waren van hotelkwaliteit??Het was ook fijn dat er altijd (gekoelde) water aanwezig was in onze auto. We willen Nelson en zijn crew nogmaals bedanken voor alles. Maak je dus geen zorgen als je via Focus on Africa boekt, regel alleen je vlucht naar Arusha en Nelson haalt je op en brengt je ook weer naar het vliegveld. Hakuna Matata, zero stress??
Claire B
Claire B
2022-02-23
Verified
Unforgettable safzri The safari with Focus in Africa was the highlight of my trip in Tanzania. Everything was perfectly planned and very well organized. I did a 4 days safari, exploring Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro and we made the most of every single day from sunrise to sunset. The driver, Ariel, knows a lot of African wildlife and we saw many animals thanks to his knowledges. All the team, Nelson and his family are very friendly, reliable and serious so that we can have a memorable trip. can only recommend to travel with Focus in Africa. Asante Sana !
Johannes von Simons
Johannes von Simons
2022-02-17
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Great Kili 7 day hike with super team, excellent food and very friendly & helpful guides We did a Kilimanjaro tour with Focus in Africa, and our guide was Emanuel, assistant guide Gadil, and cook Peter. We (Claire and Johannes) really liked everything, from the preparatory talk with Emanuel on the day before the tour, the fact that they also had women porters, the excellent level of service everybody in the team was providing, the outstanding cuisine of Peter (how did he do it?!? Secret miracle cooking device or what? ;-), the flora and fauna explanations of both Emanuel and Gadil during the hiking, the willingness to regularly sit down with us and explain, plan and organize the next steps and days, the help-when-needed-but-also-let-us-explore-our-borders-ourselves... so we were really happy to have booked with Focus in Africa! And we would recommend other tourists to also do seven days, not six. You pay a little more obviously, but it was the perfect mix for us between experiencing the nature, having a demanding-but-not-exhausting physical effort every day, and being proud of ourselves at the end. 6 out of 5 stars ;-)
Shubham Goyal
Shubham Goyal
2022-01-30
Verified
Wonderful Experience I went to Tarangire and Ngorongoro with Focus in Africa and had a really wonderful trip. The whole trip was professionally organised with everything and I didn't face any issues. My safari guides were very friendly and helpful and the vehicle was great as well. Their camp site is beautiful and have good food. I would definitely recommend Focus in Africa and would not think twice before booking with them
Fa
Fa
2022-01-28
Verified
4 Days Safari Great experience! We went on a 4 day Safari trip, organized by Nelson and Ayubu was our super fun Guide. Peta, also called the food engineer made our breakfast, lunches and Diner. Everything was well planned and the food was just the best. Especially the fresh bread and the different flavors of soup. The tents where also an adventure. I loved this experience! Thank you all for making it possible.
sonia
sonia
2022-01-23
Verified
Big 5 seen. Big experience lived! All was incredible. Super nice experience. Nelson organised all perfectly. The driver Abby and the chef Pita did their best to make us have the best experience we could.
melou2811
melou2811
2022-01-21
Verified
Amazing experience I've made the a 4 days safari with Focus in Africa. The experience was amazing, we saw a lot of animals during the four days. We went to Ngorongonro crater, serengeti and also tarangire. Bryson my guide was very good, we saw a lot of animals thanks to him. We had also a cooker during the trip. It was a very good safari. I've made also the kilimandjaro climbing with focus in africa with the guide Babalu. Babalu was amazing with us. Always taking care of us and asking if we were doing well. We made the marangu road. We had porters and cooker during the trip. Everybody was very very nice with us. I highly recommend FOCUS IN AFRICA. Also the prices are very correct. I compared with a lot of different companies here in Arusha and they were the less expensive ! So for the price and also the experience I highly recommend them. Thank you again
sandyrom7
sandyrom7
2022-01-11
Verified
Cool atmosphere and guide 4 days Safari with Focus in Africa was an interesting adventure for us . Especially cool and big thanks for meeting us from the airport and accommodation in the hostel the day before and day after . Big thanks to our guide George for all this 4 days -he did his best, tried to show as much as possible. But the other side of the trip - food. All meals were included in our safari , so we didn’t take any snacks with us and it was not possible to take smth from the restaurant, we tried it the first day in Arusha( not camp dinner) and got stomach poisoning.. First day we had good , balanced meals , but ijtger 3 days was always rice and meat for lunch and dinner . If the cuisine had been more thoughtful, I’d put all stars