7 Days Gorillas & Chimps Safari: Rwanda Gorilla and Chimpanzee Safari

🛏 Overnight: Kigali Serena Hotel (Bed & Breakfast)

Your Rwanda gorilla and chimpanzee safari begins in Kigali. Fly into Kigali International Airport, for example with RwandAir (flights not included), where our safari team welcomes you, transfers you to your hotel and helps with check-in. The rest of the day is at leisure, with lunch and dinner at your own arrangement.

🛏 Overnight: Mantis Kivu Marina Bay (Deluxe Room) · Full Board

After breakfast, drive to Butare, the cultural heart of Rwanda and home to the former Mwami (King’s) Palace and several universities. Visit the National Museum, a fascinating ethnographic museum with traditional clothing, maps, photographs and historical artefacts.

After lunch in Butare, continue to Nyungwe Forest National Park. At 1,600–2,950 metres above sea level, this mountainous rainforest is rich in flora and fauna, with over 260 species of trees and shrubs and more than 100 types of orchid, as well as giant lobelias and breathtaking views.

🛏 Overnight: Mantis Kivu Marina Bay (Deluxe Room) · Full Board

After a very early breakfast, transfer at 04:30 to the Nyungwe Forest National Park offices, then set off at 05:00 into the forest, home to a large population of chimpanzees. These intelligent, endangered great apes are closely related to humans, and you’re also likely to meet troops of other primates along the way.

After the trek, return to the lodge for lunch and an afternoon at leisure.

🌳 Optional (permit quoted separately): Nyungwe canopy walk. Walk a suspended bridge, about 160 metres long, high above the rainforest canopy. This exhilarating guided walk takes about two hours.

🛏 Overnight: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel · Full Board

Check out with a picnic lunch and drive along the shores of Lake Kivu to Gisenyi, a picturesque lakeside town on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, often called the “Martha’s Vineyard of Rwanda” for its pretty shoreline and colonial-style hotels. Rwanda’s largest lake lies in the Albertine Rift, part of the Great Rift Valley, with a secluded inland beach lined with palms and enclosed by green terraced hills. Spend the rest of the day at leisure.

🛏 Overnight: Bishop’s House (Deluxe Room) · Full Board

Enjoy a relaxed morning at the hotel and lunch at the lodge, then drive to Volcanoes National Park through the beautiful terraced hillsides that characterise much of Rwanda’s landscape.

🛏 Overnight: Bishop’s House (Deluxe Room) or Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge · Full Board

The highlight of your Rwanda gorilla and chimpanzee safari. After an early breakfast, transfer at 06:30 to the park headquarters. At 07:00, park staff register you and assign you to a gorilla group, advising on trekking times and conditions based on where each group was the evening before. A maximum of eight trekkers visit any one group.

Each group’s lead guide briefs you on trekking procedures and the do’s and don’ts around gorillas, then you drive up the mountain to the starting point. Porters can be hired for a small fee to carry your backpack and gear, and we recommend it.

Trekking can take from two to six hours or more, depending on how far the gorillas have moved. Guides stop often so you can rest and take photos. After the trek, rejoin your driver-guide for the transfer back to your lodge for lunch.

Choose a second gorilla trek (subject to permit availability) or track the endangered golden monkey in Volcanoes National Park. Then check out and drive back to Kigali for your transfer to Kigali International Airport in time for your onward flight.

End of your Rwanda gorilla and chimpanzee safari.

7 days and 6 nights: 1 night in Kigali, 2 nights near Nyungwe Forest, 1 night at Lake Kivu and 2 nights near Volcanoes National Park.

No. Gorilla, chimpanzee, golden monkey and canopy walk permits are quoted separately when you book, as their prices are set by the Rwanda Development Board.

From two to six hours or more, depending on where the gorillas are. A maximum of eight trekkers visit each gorilla group, and porters can be hired to carry your bags.

In Nyungwe Forest National Park, one of Africa’s oldest rainforests. Chimpanzee treks start very early, around 05:00, when the chimps are most active.

Yes. On day 7, you can choose a second gorilla trek, subject to permit availability, or go golden monkey tracking in Volcanoes National Park before returning to Kigali.

The dry seasons, December to February and June to September, when forest trails are easier to walk. Gorilla and chimpanzee trekking are possible all year round.