Day 1: Kigali
Arrival at Kigali international airport met and transferred to your Kigali Hotel.
Kigali is the capital and largest city of Rwanda, located geographically at the heart of the Country and one of Africa’s / World’s cleanest cities. The history of Rwanda dates back centuries, Kigali has been a part of it for 100 years. Founded in 1907 as a German settlement, Kigali did not become the capital Until Rwanda’s independence in 1962 when it replaced the colonial seat of power in Butare.
Dinner on own arrangements.
Overnight: Kigali Serena Hotel. (Bed and Breakfast)
Day 2: Kigali – Ruhengeri
City Tour of Kigali – Kigali city is inhabited by 1.2 Million people and is divided into three districts—Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge. The Kigali City Tour begins as a historic journey through the city with a guided tour from the first modern building from which the capital city was first founded, to the rapidly growing neighborhoods that are changing the face of the city.
Kigali is one of the friendliest, cleanest and safest of Africa’s cities attracting numerous visitors and investors to the capital. Kigali City was founded in 1907 as a small colonial outpost by Dr. Richard Kandt, the first German colonial resident of Rwanda. His residence at the base of Mount Jali and Mount Kigali in the heart of the city has been converted into the Natural History Museum in honor of Dr. Kandt’s work, and is one of the first stops on the tour. Along the tour, we will pass by Kigali’s older commercial “quartiers”, business and residential areas.
Visit to the Genocide Memorial site, a grim reminder of a senseless massacre of innocent’s lives in 1994. Learn about Rwanda’s history from pre-colonial times to the 1994 genocide; learn about other genocides in the world and how Rwanda has dealt with that past. Tour more and see the new developments in Rwanda; the recovery has been incredible, a testament to humankind’s resilience.
Depart from Kigali and drive north-west wards to the foothills of the Virunga volcanoes past coffee, tea and banana plantations to arrive at Ruhengeri, your base for the splendid Virunga volcanoes. Everything and everywhere, sheer green and hanging on the hills; Rwanda truly – land of a thousand fertile green hills. (2.5 hrs),
Overnight: Gorilla Mountain View Lodge. (Full board)
Day 03: Volcanoes National Park – Gorilla Trekking / Lake Kivu
Early breakfast at your lodge.
0630 hrs: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park HQs
0700 hrs: Registration is a simple process where the park staff determines which group of gorillas you will visit. The park staff discusses your fitness level and advises you of the trekking times and conditions to the various groups based upon their location in the park the previous evening. There are a total of 80 gorilla permits available each day with a maximum of eight trekkers visiting any one group.
Treks vary in duration depending on which gorilla group you are assigned to. After locating your assigned gorilla group, you will spend approximately one hour in their company before heading back down the volcano slopes.
Drive to Gisenyi, in the north-west most Province of Rwanda on the shores of Lake Kivu in the Albertine (western) Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valleys. The lake is a 2650 Square kilometer freshwater expanse.
Overnight: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel. (Full board)
Day 04: Lake Kivu / Gisenyi
Day at the Lake Kivu, an extraordinarily beautiful inland sea enclosed by steep, green terraced hills and the most serene environment within the central African Region. This lake is the largest of all lakes that fill the valleys of Rwanda and has a beautiful sandy beach lined with swaying palms and colonial-era hotels that exude an atmosphere of tropical languor.
Overnight: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel. (Full board)
Day 05: Lake Kivu – Kigali / Departure
Drive south east wards to Kigali City. The journey take you back to Ruhengeri through the beautiful terraced hillsides that display Rwanda’s landscape.
The history of Rwanda dates back centuries, Kigali has been a part of it for 100 years. Founded in 1907 as a German settlement, Kigali did not become the capital until Rwanda’s independence in 1962 when it replaced the colonial seat of power in Butare.
Transfer to Kigali International Airport for your departure flight.
