In your 10 days while visiting Rwanda and Uganda, you will visit Nyungwe Forest National Park for chimp tracking and canopy walk. Next is Volcanoes National Park where you will do Gorilla trekking and Golden monkey trekking. Cross border in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and expect gorilla trekking there. From Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, you will head to Queen Elizabeth National Park via its Ishasha sector famously known for tree climbing lions. Enjoy the beauty of Uganda on a game drive in the park as well as the boat safari along the Kazinga channel, the connect to Kampala.
Day 1: Arrival in Kigali City Rwanda.
On arrival at Kigali International Airport in Rwanda, you will be received by one of our safari guides who will welcome you to Rwanda and brief you about your safari. Thereafter, you will be transferred to your accommodation for relaxation and the overnight stay.
Accommodation: Lebanon Hotel
Meals: Dinner and Drinking water
Day 2: Transfer to Nyungwe Forest National Park
Depart to Nyungwe Forest National Park. Along the way, we’ll make stops at places of interest including local markets, and the traditional palace of Rwanda’s Former King in Nyanza. In Butare, visit the Botanical Gardens and a cultural museum. We’ll have lunch after our stops. We’ll drive past green fields of tea scattered across the hillsides along with small wooden houses unique to the areas surrounding Nyungwe Forest.
Accommodation: Emeraude Kivu Resort
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 3: Enjoy Chimpanzee trekking and afternoon canopy walk
Sheltering the highest population of chimpanzees in Rwanda (roughly 400), Chimpanzee trekking is a major activity done in Nyungwe Forest National Park. Have your breakfast and transfer to the trekking point where you will first receive some briefing on the dos and don’ts during chimp trekking. Thereafter, enter the forest to encounter these fascinating and human-like primates firsthand in their natural habitat.
Return to the accommodation for lunch and some rest before going out again for the canopy walk experience. The two hours walk starts and ends at the park’s headquarters – Uwinka information centre. Travelers walk on the built trail which hangs 60 meters above the forest rewarding them with an aerial view of the national park, wildlife, adjacent communities, Virunga volcanoes and attractions in the neighbouring countries.
Accommodation: Emeraude Kivu Resort
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 4: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park
Very early in the morning after having your heavy breakfast, you will transfer to Kinigi near Parc Nationale des Volcans home of gorillas. It is about 4-5 hours’ drive so you will stop at Gisenyi on shores of Lake Kivu for lunch, and then proceed to the park for dinner and overnight at La Palme Hotel.
Accommodation: La Palme Hotel
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 5: Gorilla Tracking experience in Volcanoes National Park
This day will be remembered for a lifetime as you encounter the engendered mountain Gorillas. Very early in the morning, you will have early breakfast and drive to the park’s headquarters for briefing. You will get to know the does and don’ts while in the forest. You will be assigned lead trackers and ranger then begin on your journey into the forest.
There is no guess as to how long or short our hike will be, as it depends on the gorillas and the weather, so you can stay in the park from one hour to six or more.
No matter how long the hike is, once you spot the gorilla family, you will have one magical hour of watching these magnificent animals as they relax, play and eat in the heart of the jungle. At the end of the hike, we will return to our lodge for dinner and relaxation.
Accommodation: La Palme Hotel
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 6: Golden monkey trekking in Volcanoes N.P and transfer to Bwindi in Uganda
The golden monkey trekking takes place in Volcanoes National Park and at the same as the gorilla trekking. These rare monkey species are also listed as endangered. Volcanoes NP has habituated groups that are available for trekking by visitors. The exercise starts very early in the morning, same as Gorilla trekking as you get a short briefing from the park ranger at the RDB office.
Thereafter, you will proceed to trek the golden monkeys through the rainforest of the Volcanoes National Park. Return to the accommodation for some rest and lunch. After lunch, drive to the Cyanika border post. From Cyanika, you will be received by our Uganda-based professional tour driver-guide who will take over from his Rwanda-based colleague. You will cross the border into Uganda and overnight at a property close to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where you will undertake the gorilla trekking the next day.
Accommodation: Buhoma Gorilla Camp
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 7: Gorilla trekking & batwa cultural encounter in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Encountering the rare and endangered Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is an experience of a lifetime.
Half of the world’s populations of gorillas live under the mist-covered canopies of Uganda’s oldest and most biologically diverse rainforest. In the company of an experienced park ranger, you will be tracking the whereabouts of one of the habituated family groups who reside here.
Your tracking experience will be an exciting, yet challenging, journey along forested (often muddy and slippery) slopes, tangled vines, thick vegetation, and bamboo forests before you reach the territory of these gentle giants. En route, your ranger will point out telltale signs of previous gorilla activity like dung, nests, and chewed bamboo shoots. Depending on the location of the gorillas on any given day the walk can take anything from 2 to 7 hours. Once the family of gorillas has been located, settle into your surroundings and enjoy the 1 hour you have to quietly observe these fascinating primates whose habits and mannerisms remind us so much of our own.
After tracking you will transfer to the lodge for relaxation as you wait for the evening where you will have a community visit to the batwa people of Bwindi. The Batwa experience begins with a nature-walk through the forest seeing the forest in a new way, take your eyes through the original people of the Forest. They still leave in this forest despite of the many years of civilisation in the area. After this cultural experience, you will head back to the lodge for relaxation and dinner.
Accommodation: Buhoma Gorilla Camp
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 8: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth NP with a game drive in Ishasha sector
This morning you will depart for Queen Elizabeth National Park, be prepared for some incredible scenery along the way. You will arrive in time for lunch at the lodge and game drive in the plains of Kasenyi in search for Savannah wildlife that may include herds of buffaloes, antelopes, elephants and if lucky, some wild cats such as tree climbing lions and leopard.
Accommodation: Buffalo Safari Lodge
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 9: Lion and leopard tracking game drive and afternoon boat cruise at Kazinga channel
On this day, after your breakfast, you will head out to the Northern section of the park “Kasenyi planes”. While there, you will interface with the predators under the guidance of a ranger guide and researchers who drive around the park with radiation trackers. These trackers help them to find lions that have radio collars placed around their necks. The lion tracking experience takes about 3 hours and later on, you will return to the lodge for relaxation and lunch.
Later in the day when the sun is high in the sky and the animals make their way to the river for a drink, we will head to Kazinga Channel for an exciting boat cruise. You will spot more hippos today than you can possibly imagine. Herds of elephants and buffaloes will also wander down to the shoreline to bathe in the cooling waters. A boat cruise is a fantastic way to get close to wildlife and for many visitors and the highlight of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Dinner and overnight
Accommodation: Buffalo Safari Lodge
Meals: All meals and Drinking water
Day 10: Morning game drive and transfer to Kampala.
After an early breakfast drive to the northern bank of Queen Elizabeth National Park (Kasenyi) area in searches the wild animals which include: Elephants, Buffaloes, and the wild cats, Savanna birds and different species of antelopes such waterbuck, Uganda Kobs among others.
After, you will drive out of the park with a stop over in Mbarara town for a lunch break, and another stopover at the Equator for some Souvenir Shopping and photography. After you will drive straight to Kampala/ Entebbe for your flight back home.
End of your 10 Days Rwanda and Uganda Wildlife Safari.