African Adventure Specialists

1 night Volcanoes National Park & Kigali

Volcanoes National Park – Kigali
3 Days / 2 Nights

Date of Issue: 18 September 2019

Accommodation	Destination	Basis	Duration
Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel	Volcanoes National Park	FB	1 Night
Kigali Serena Hotel	Kigali	B&B	1 Night

Key
B&B: Bed and Breakfast
FB: Full Board – Dinner, Bed, Breakfast, and Lunch

Day 1: Kigali – Volcano National Park

Upon arrival at Kigali International Airport, you will be met by an African Adventure Specialists representative who will introduce your tour driver-guide. You will then be briefed on your safari before we depart. Start with a city tour of Kigali including a 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 and how Rwanda has dealt with that past. We continue our tour and see the new developments in Rwanda; the recovery has been incredible, a testament to humankind’s resilience. We enjoy lunch at a restaurant in Kigali. Thereafter, we drive to Musanze (formerly called Ruhengeri) in the northwest part of Rwanda, the main base town for Gorilla tracking. The drive is through beautiful rolling hills passing coffee, tea and banana plantations on a comfortable paved road and is approximately 2.5 hours from Kigali.

Overnight: Five volcanoes hotel (FB)

Day 2: Gorilla trekking

After your morning wake-up call and breakfast transfer by road in a 4WD Land Cruiser and report to the park headquarters, for gorilla trekking formalities and briefing by the Volcanoes National Park’s guides on the gorillas’ etiquette. The gorilla group that you will visit will depend on the assignment of travelers to the seven habituated gorilla groups. Park rangers have already left to locate the 7 habituated Gorilla groups that are accessible to visitors.

You will be assigned to a specific group of gorillas. Groups of trekkers will have a maximum of 8 visitors per gorilla family. Your trek will vary in length depending on which gorilla group you have been assigned to and will commence at about 7,000 feet of altitude in the upper terraced slopes of the volcano. Soon you will enter the forest of bamboo and thick undergrowth.

You follow paths and the walking is steep but not overly strenuous. There are no words to describe the thrill of recognition attached to staring deep into the liquid brown eyes of these gentle giants, which share some 97% of their genes with humans. After locating your assigned Gorilla group you will spend one hour in their company before retracing your steps back down the volcano slopes. Lunch at the lodge.

Afternoon Enjoy the drive back to Kigali

Overnight: Kigali Serena Hotel.

Day 3: Departure

Transfer to the Airport for your departure flight.