7 Days Rwanda and Bwindi
Day 1: Arrival in Kigali, City Tour.
Upon arrival, you will be greeted by a corporate representative/driver guide and driven to your accommodation. You can book a city tour on this day to explore Kigali’s attractions, including Caplaki Craft Village, Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, Inema Arts Gallery, Kimironko Market, and Nyamirambo Women’s Centre, among others. Dinner and overnight stay at the Step Town Hotel (Budget), Milles Des Collines Hotel (Midrange), or Kigali Marriott Hotel (Luxury).
Day 2: Transfer to Nyungwe and Canopy Walk, a journey that takes approximately 6 hours.
In the morning, the driver will pick you up from your Kigali hotel and transport you south to Nyungwe Forest National Park. You will stop in Butare to see the Rwandan National Museum and the King’s Palace in Nyanza, with lunch on route. After lunch, you’ll take a walking route to the Canopy Walk, a 50-meter-long swing bridge strung between enormous trees. You will be able to observe the spectacular rainforest from a bird’s-eye view, witnessing wildlife moving about below you before returning to your hotel to relax for the evening. Dinner and stay at the Gisakura Visitor Centre (Budget), Nyungwe Top Hill View Hotel (Midrange), or One & Only Nyungwe House (Luxury).
Nyungwe One & Only House offers a variety of complimentary activities, including Hilltop Archery, Nature Boot Camp, Chefs Garden, Spear Throwing, Conservation/Nature Walk, Tea Estate Tour, and Cycling. If you’re interested in any of the above activities, please let us know so we can make hotel arrangements the day before.
Day 3: Chimpanzee Trek and Transfer Back to Kigali (about 6 hours driving)
Before entering the jungle to search for the lively and playful colleagues in Nyungwe Forest, stop for breakfast and a briefing on endangered chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are significantly easier to recognize because they hop from one tree to another while chatting and laughing. Chimpanzee tracking typically takes roughly three hours. Spend an hour searching for them, photographing, and filming. You will then return to your accommodation to clean up, have lunch, and check out before beginning a 6-hour trip back to Kigali. Dinner and overnight stay at the Step Town Hotel (Budget), Milles Des Collines Hotel (Midrange), or Kigali Marriott Hotel (Luxury).
Day 4: Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda (about 3-5 hour drive).
After breakfast, travel to the Katuna border to enter Uganda and continue on to Bwindi. Stop for lunch at Lake Bunyonyi, one of Africa’s deepest lakes. You may spend the day boating on the lake before driving to your Bwindi lodge for dinner and stay at Buhoma Community Rest Camp (Budget), Buhoma Haven (Midrange), or Buhoma Lodge (Luxury).
Day 5: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi.
Today is the long-awaited day! You will have breakfast early in the morning and meet your driver, who will transport you to the park headquarters for a briefing before the hike to lead you. This briefing starts at 7 a.m. After that, they will assign you to a tracking group, and you will venture into the forest to search for these incredible creatures. It could take anywhere from two hours to half a day to encounter them. When you meet them, you get one hour to appreciate these creatures, study them, and snap photographs (without flash) from a distance of six meters.
After the trip, you may return to your resort for lunch and rest. If you are not too tired in the evening, you can take an optional community tour, seeing surrounding villages and sites before returning to the lodge before nightfall. You will have dinner and spend the night in the lodge, just like the previous night. Buhoma Community Rest Camp (Budget), Buhoma Haven (Middle Range), and Buhoma Lodge (Luxury).
Day 6: Batwa Community Tour (Optional) and Return to Kigali (about 3-5 hour trip)
Enjoy a leisurely breakfast from your lodge. You may take a morning community trip to one of the Batwa indigenous settlements, which departs outside Bwindi National Park. Learn more about their fascinating old culture and enjoy the local dance team’s music and dance performances. Cross the Katuna border into Rwanda, then drive to Kigali, stopping for lunch along the way. Dinner and overnight stay at the Step Town Hotel (Budget), Milles Des Collines Hotel (Midrange), or Kigali Marriott Hotel (Luxury).
Day 7: Kigali City Tour (optional) and departure.
Wake up at leisure and eat breakfast at your hotel. You may take a tour of Kigali city, seeing locations like Caplaki artisan village, Kimironko market, Kigali Genocide Museum, and Umusambi crane village, to name a few. Drop off at Kigali Airport.
Includes;
• Gorilla trekking permit
• Golden Monkey Permit
• Chimpanzee permit
• Canopy walk
• all accommodation as per itinerary
• 4X4 dust-proof safari vehicle (with pop-up roof) & Fuel
• Full-time English-speaking driver/guide
• Park entrance fees
• Boat cruise
• Vehicle entrance fees
• Bottled mineral water while on safari
• All activities as indicated
Excludes;
• All optional activities as indicated
• Tips
• Visa fees
• Air tickets
• All items of personal nature like laundry, phone calls, beer, e.t.c.
• Anything else not included in the itinerary
