7 Day Wildlife & Gorilla Rwanda Safari
Overview
This 7 Day Amazing Wildlife and Gorilla Safari of Rwanda is the ultimate journey through the country’s most iconic wildlife destinations. The safari combines classic game viewing in Akagera National Park, chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park, and mountain gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park. Along the way, you will discover Rwanda’s remarkable landscapes, ranging from open savannah plains and scenic lakes to ancient rainforests and volcanic mountains.
This itinerary is perfect for travellers seeking a complete Rwanda safari experience that combines the Big Five, primates, birdlife, cultural encounters, and stunning scenery in one unforgettable adventure.
Safari Highlights
- Chimpanzee trekking
- Gorilla trekking
- Canopy walks
- Nature walks
- Kigali city tour
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Kigali and City Tour
Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport, you will be welcomed by your professional driver-guide and transferred into the city. Depending on your arrival time, you will embark on a guided Kigali City Tour.
Visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial to gain insight into Rwanda’s history and remarkable journey of recovery and transformation. Continue to local craft markets, art galleries, and cultural centres where you can interact with local artisans and purchase handmade souvenirs.
Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before checking into your hotel. Spend the remainder of the day relaxing and preparing for the adventure ahead.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Iris Guest House
Mid-range: Hotel des Mille Collines
Luxury: Kigali Serena Hotel
Meals: Dinner
Day 2: Transfer to Akagera National Park and Afternoon Game Drive
After breakfast, depart Kigali and drive east towards Akagera National Park, Rwanda’s only savannah national park and home to the Big Five.
The journey takes approximately three hours and offers beautiful views of Rwanda’s rolling hills and rural landscapes. Upon arrival, check into your lodge and enjoy lunch before heading out for an afternoon game drive.
Explore the park’s diverse ecosystems, including savannah grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, and lakes. Look out for elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, impalas, topis, waterbucks, and numerous bird species. With luck, you may also encounter lions and rhinos.
As the sun begins to set, enjoy spectacular views across the park before returning to the lodge.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Akagera Rhino Lodge
Mid-range: Akagera Game Lodge
Luxury: Ruzizi Tented Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 3: Morning Game Drive and Boat Safari on Lake Ihema
Rise early for a sunrise game drive when predators are most active. Search for lions, leopards, hyenas, elephants, buffaloes, and antelope species as they begin their day.
Your guide will help track wildlife while sharing fascinating information about the park’s successful conservation efforts that have restored populations of lions and rhinos.
Return to the lodge for breakfast and relaxation before lunch.
In the afternoon, enjoy a boat safari on Lake Ihema, one of Rwanda’s largest lakes. The cruise offers excellent opportunities to see hippos, Nile crocodiles, African fish eagles, kingfishers, herons, cormorants, and numerous other bird species.
After the cruise, return to your lodge for dinner and overnight.
Accommodation
As above
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 4: Transfer to Nyungwe Forest National Park
After breakfast, depart Akagera National Park and begin the scenic drive to Nyungwe Forest National Park in southwestern Rwanda.
The journey takes you through some of Rwanda’s most beautiful landscapes, including terraced hillsides, tea plantations, valleys, and traditional villages.
Stop for lunch en route and enjoy photography opportunities throughout the drive.
Arrive at Nyungwe Forest in the late afternoon and check into your lodge. Spend the evening enjoying views of the ancient rainforest, which is one of Africa’s oldest and most biodiverse forests.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Gisakura Visitor Centre Guest House
Mid-range: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel
Luxury: One&Only Nyungwe House
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 5: Chimpanzee Tracking and Canopy Walk Adventure
After an early breakfast, transfer to the park headquarters for a briefing before starting your chimpanzee tracking experience.
Enter the forest accompanied by experienced guides and trackers. The forest is home to a large population of chimpanzees as well as numerous other primate species, including L’Hoest’s monkeys, colobus monkeys, owl-faced monkeys, and blue monkeys.
The excitement builds as you follow calls and movements through the forest until the chimpanzees are located. Spend time observing them as they feed, communicate, groom, and move rapidly through the canopy.
Return to the lodge for lunch before heading back into the forest for the famous Nyungwe Canopy Walk.
Suspended approximately 70 metres above the forest floor, the canopy walkway provides breathtaking views of the rainforest canopy and surrounding mountains.
Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Accommodation
As above
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 6: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park
After breakfast, depart Nyungwe Forest and drive north to Volcanoes National Park.
The scenic journey passes through beautiful countryside, bustling towns, and fertile agricultural landscapes. Enjoy lunch en route while admiring views of Rwanda’s rolling hills.
Arrive at your lodge near Volcanoes National Park in the late afternoon. Depending on your arrival time, relax at the lodge or explore the surrounding area.
Your guide will brief you about the gorilla trekking experience and ensure you are fully prepared for the following day’s adventure.
Accommodation Options
Budget: Kinigi Guest House, Hotel Muhabura
Mid-range: Le Bambou Gorilla Lodge, Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge
Luxury: Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel, Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, Virunga Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 7: Gorilla Trekking and Return to Kigali
After an early breakfast, transfer to the Volcanoes National Park headquarters for registration and a ranger briefing.
You will be assigned a habituated gorilla family and guided into the forest by experienced rangers and trackers. Trekking duration varies depending on the location of the gorillas and may range from one to six hours.
The trek takes you through bamboo forests, dense vegetation, and volcanic slopes while offering incredible scenery and wildlife encounters.
Once the gorillas are located, you will spend one unforgettable hour in their presence. Watch silverbacks supervise their families, females care for their young, and playful juveniles interact with one another.
After the trek, return to the park headquarters where you will receive your gorilla trekking certificate.
Enjoy lunch before departing for Kigali. Depending on your flight schedule, transfer directly to Kigali International Airport or your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Optional Activities
Akagera National Park
- Night game drive to search for lions, leopards, hyenas, and bush babies
- Behind-the-scenes conservation experience
- Bird watching excursions
- Fishing on Lake Shakani
- Community cultural visits
- Guided nature walks around the park
Nyungwe Forest National Park
- Colobus monkey tracking
- Bird watching excursions
- Tea plantation experience
- Guided waterfall hike
- Orchid and butterfly walks
- Forest photography tours
Volcanoes National Park
- Golden monkey tracking
- Dian Fossey Tomb hike
- Mount Bisoke hike
- Mount Karisimbi hike
- Twin Lakes of Burera and Ruhondo excursion
- Gorilla Guardians Village cultural experience
- Community village walks
- Bird watching excursions
Kigali
- Inema Arts Centre visit
- Kimironko Market tour
- Local coffee experience
- Rwanda Art Museum visit
- Cultural and culinary tours
Tour Includes
- Travel in a 4×4 car
- Professional guide
- Park fees
- Accommodation
- Meals
- All Activities In Itinerary
Tour Excludes
- Alcoholic drinks
- Laundry
- Tips
- Shopping
- Insurance
- Anything not included per itinerary
A Fuller Rwanda Circuit
This seven-day itinerary combines mountain gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park with Akagera’s Big Five wildlife, giving genuine time to both the country’s headline primate experience and its classic savannah game viewing within a single, well-paced week.
Because Volcanoes and Akagera sit on roughly opposite sides of Rwanda, this itinerary typically routes through Kigali between the two destinations, using the capital as a natural midpoint rather than a rushed connection.
Practical Notes
Rwanda requires a yellow fever certificate for entry if arriving from an at-risk country, and most nationalities can apply for a Rwanda e-visa online before travel. Travel insurance covering trekking activities and medical evacuation is strongly recommended, and malaria prevention is worth discussing with a travel health clinic ahead of your trip.
US dollars printed after 2009 are widely accepted for permits, park fees and lodge bills, while Rwandan francs are more practical for tips, markets and smaller day-to-day purchases along the route.
Because gorilla permits are limited and non-refundable once issued, sell out well in advance during the June to September and December to February peak seasons. We recommend booking this itinerary at least four to six months ahead of your intended travel dates.
Tipping is customary though not compulsory. Rangers and trackers typically receive a tip at the end of any trekking activity, generally scaled to group size, while your driver-guide is usually tipped separately at the end of the full trip.
A private 4×4 safari vehicle with an experienced English-speaking driver-guide accompanies you throughout this itinerary.
Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park
Volcanoes National Park protects the Rwandan side of the Virunga Massif, a chain of dormant and active volcanoes shared with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is where Dian Fossey carried out much of the mountain gorilla research that first drew international attention to the species. Treks here tend to reach gorilla families faster on average than in Bwindi, since the park’s habituated groups generally range at somewhat lower altitudes on the volcanoes’ lower slopes, though the terrain is still often steep and can be muddy. A visit to the Dian Fossey Tomb and former research camp, reached by a moderately strenuous hike, is a popular add-on for travellers interested in the conservation history behind the park.
Big Five Safari at Akagera National Park
Akagera National Park, in Rwanda’s far east along the Tanzanian border, is the country’s only savannah park and, following a sustained reintroduction and anti-poaching programme, is once again a genuine Big Five destination — lions were reintroduced in 2015 and eastern black rhinos in 2017, joining the park’s existing elephant, buffalo and leopard populations. The park’s landscape of rolling savannah, papyrus swamp and a chain of lakes along its eastern edge supports one of the richest bird lists in Rwanda, alongside substantial herds of zebra, impala and topi. A boat cruise on Lake Ihema is one of the park’s highlights, bringing close sightings of hippo pods, crocodiles and fish eagles against a backdrop that feels markedly different from Rwanda’s mountainous west.
Canopy Walk and Chimp Trekking in Nyungwe
Nyungwe Forest National Park protects one of Africa’s oldest and most biodiverse montane rainforests, home to thirteen primate species including chimpanzees and large troops of Angola colobus monkeys that can number in the hundreds. The park’s canopy walkway, suspended around 60 metres above the forest floor and stretching roughly 200 metres between three viewing platforms, offers a rare perspective on the rainforest ecosystem below and views across the forested valleys toward Lake Kivu. Chimpanzee trekking here is generally more physically demanding than in Uganda’s Kibale Forest, since Nyungwe’s chimps range across steep, hilly terrain, but the reward is time with one of the largest habituated chimp communities in East Africa.
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