4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari
This 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari Rwanda will expose you to activities like Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes national park, savannah game drive in Akagera national park, and Kigali city tour.
The Rwanda safari starts and ends in Kigali other activities on this safari include a boat cruise, camping, hiking in the misty highlands. You should have one gorilla trekking permit for this particular safari which is included in the cost of this Rwanda safari.
The safari takes you on a game drive and wildlife watching in Akagera National Park as well as a city tour in Kigali
The highlight of the 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari
- Arrival in Kigali and Transfer to Akagera National Park
- Game drive in Akagera and transfer to Volcanoes National Park
- Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park
Mountain Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park Rwanda
Activities on this trip
4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari: Detailed Trip
Day 1: Arrival in Kigali and Transfer to Akagera National Park
When you arrive at Kigali airport, for the 4 days Gorilla and Akagera Wildlife Safari you be received by our guide driver who will transfer you to Akagera National Park. You will arrive in the afternoon and check in in your lodge.
You have lunch. After refreshing up, your guide will brief you for the whole events and prepare you for the next event. You will go for a boat cruise on the beautiful lake Ihema and this cruise you will be able to spot animals like hippos, giant crocodiles and a profusion of water birds like the African fish eagle, papyrus gonolek and the shoebill stork
Recommended Accommodation:
- Luxury: Ruzizi tented camp
- Midrange: Akagera Game Lodge
- Budget: Dereva Hotel
- Mean plan: lunch and dinner
Day 2 of the 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari: Game Drive in Akagera and Transfer to Volcanoes National Park
After breakfast on the second day of a 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari, the guide driver will come to pick you and set off for an early morning game drive.
You will be able to catch up with the early risers plus the large predators including Lions, hyenas, bushbuck, zebra, elephants, giraffes, buffalos, cape elands, impalas, oribi, antelopes and much more.
After this exciting game drive, you will return to the lodge, have lunch and check out for a transfer to Volcanoes National Park. on arrival you will have a chance to tour Ruhengeri town, visit the vibrant local markets before heading to the lodge to check in. later have dinner and rest
Recommended Accommodation
- Amarembo gorilla village
- Virunga lodge
- Governor’s camp
- Mountain Gorilla view lodge
- Gorilla nest lodge
- Le Bambou Gorilla lodge
- Meal plan: full board
Day 3 of the 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari: Gorilla Trekking in Vocanoes National Park
On the third day of your trip, you will have an early breakfast head to the park headquarters where you will be briefed and told about the rules and regulations of gorilla trekking. They will allocate you a park ranger guide to guide you in trekking for the gorilla family allocated.
You will hit the forest in search of the gorilla in the volcano Virunga Hills and the verdant Valley. When you locate the gorillas, you will be allowed to spend strictly one hour with them in their nature setting and watch them taking care of their young ones and as their go on with their day-to-day life.
Take as many photos as you can close with them with the guide of the guide ranger. You will return to your lodge for lunch and have a rest and refresh up. Later you will visit the twin lakes of Ruhondo and Burera in the late afternoon for cultural experience. You will return to the lodge, have dinner and rest
Recommended Accommodation:
- Amarembo gorilla village
- Virunga lodge
- Governor’s camp
- Mountain Gorilla view lodge
- Gorilla nest lodge
- Le Bambou Gorilla lodge
- Meal plan: full board
Day 4: Transfer Back to Kigali and Departure
After breakfast early in the morning, you will travel back to Kigali. If your flight is not scheduled for that very day, you can have brief Kigali city tour and have a chance to visit the Genocide Memorial site and the colorful market souvenirs before taking you to your hotel or transfer to the airport for your flight back home
Meal plan: breakfast and lunch
End of the 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari
Background Information of the 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari
Akagera National Park
Akagera National Park is located in Eastern Rwanda, and it overlooks the savannah plains of Tanzania. This park, the only protected savannah region of the country, shelters a range of lakes including Ihema-the second largest in Rwanda, as well as Rwanyakizinga, shakani, Mihindi, and Gishanju lakes which together combine to form the largest wetland system in the whole of central Africa
Following the end of the Rwandan Genocide, the national park was depleted, with returning refugees using trees for timber and wild life food- lions were hunted to extinction, as were Rhinos. Biodiversity was almost completely ruined and tourism and local commerce disappeared
The park has recovered remarkably, so much in that that in 2017 it witnessed the return of black Rhinos for the first time and after the reintroduction of lions, their population is now on an increase. With strict anti-poaching monitoring methods in effects, elephants, buffaloes, and leopards have also been spotted again, with a growing population of monkeys as well
The park offers the traditional suite of savannah safaris experience, with game drives and lake adventures, boat cruise, birding and nature walks. Bathing in the waters is strictly forbidden since they are the home of some of the largest concentrations of hippos in East Africa
Lake Ihema
Situated in the southern arm of Akagera National Park, lake Ihema has more to it than meets the eye. It is not the second largest lake in Rwanda, but it also enjoys a high degree of protection, owing to the fact that it sits in the aforementioned national park.
According to www.globalnature.org the main threat to this revered Rwandan lake is water hyacinth, which the lake has in abundance. Water hyacinth is an aquatic plant that multiplies at a high rate, and is known to be unlikeable to the areas outside its native range.
Therefore, the presence of the water hyacinth on this lake is not just as a serious threat to the biodiversity of the region, but it also hinders water transport. Its damaging effects, among others include, lowering the quality of water because it covers the water and reducing the quantity of dissolved oxygen, phosphate and temperature, resulting in the direct decrease and disappearance of biodiversity of the affected water body.
Additionally, the lake is connected by the Akagera swamps with the Akagera river, which implies that this water hyacinth could be easily spread into nearby waterways such as Lake Victoria and the Nile River
A boat cruise on this lake will give you the opportunity to see a variety of aquatic life like birdlife, elephants, hippos, and crocodiles. However, since lake Ihema is not that blessed with a plethora of fish types, yes should only anticipate seeing a few of these reptiles here and there.
In any case fishing is highly restricted on this lake. In spite of all this, your sightseeing expedition on a boat cruise on this lake will still be rewarding undertaking
Adventure Volcanoes National Park on the 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari
In the heart of central Africa, so high up that you shiver more than you sweat, wrote the eminent primatologist Dian Fossey “are great, old volcanoes towering almost 15,000 feet, and nearly covered with rich, green rainforest – the Virungas”.
Situated in the far northwest of Rwanda, Volcanoes National Park protects the steep slopes of this magnificent mountain range home of the endangered mountain range- home of the endangered mountain gorillas and rich mosaic of montane ecosystems.
Which embrace evergreen and bamboo forest, open grassland, swamp and heath. Volcanoes National Park is named after the chain of dormant volcanoes making up the Virunga Massif: karisimbi– the highest at 4,507m, Bisoke with its verdant crater lake, Sabinyo, Gahinga and Muhabura
4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour and Akagera Wildlife Safari Inclusions
Safari includes:
- Transportation in a tour van/Landcruiser
- Service of an English -speaking tour guide/driver
- All activities mentioned in the itinerary
- Park admissions
- Accommodation on full board
- Entrance fees to all destinations as per the program
- Transfer to and from the airport
Safari exclusions
- All activities not mentioned in the program
- Phone calls bills
- Tips
- International transfers
- Gratitude to tour guides
- Personal insurance
- Personal effects of any nature
- Hotel fees before and after the safari
