The Complete Circuit: Akagera Safari · Gorillas · Chimps · Lake Kivu · Full Culture
Airside meet-and-greet at Kigali International Airport with Made-in-Rwanda welcome kit. Transfer to Kigali Serena Hotel. Private Genocide Memorial visit with historian guide — essential context for the extraordinary country you're about to discover. Rooftop sundowners.
After early breakfast, depart northeast to Akagera National Park — 2-hour drive. Full afternoon game drive in savannah, floodplains, and papyrus swamps. Akagera is one of Africa's most successful rewilding stories: lions reintroduced 2015, black rhinos 2017. Check in to Magashi Tented Lodge — perched on the remote northern shore of Lake Rwanyakazinga, accessible only by boat. Sundowners on the deck. Dinner under the stars.
Rise before first light for golden hour game drive — lions active, elephants at the water's edge, giraffes above the acacia. Breakfast at camp. Cross the lake by boat, drive back to Kigali. Afternoon: Nyamirambo Women's Centre walking tour. Late afternoon: coffee plantation bean-to-cup experience. Evening at leisure.
South on RN1 through terraced hills. Butare for the National Museum of Rwanda. Lunch in Butare. Continue to Nyungwe through increasingly dramatic highland scenery. Total: approximately 6 hours with museum and lunch.
Full day in Nyungwe — one of Africa's last great intact montane rainforests. Morning chimpanzee trek. Lunch at the lodge. Afternoon Nyungwe Canopy Walkway — 90-metre suspension bridge 50 metres above the forest. Optional evening ranger talk.
North through Nyungwe highlands to Lake Kivu. Lakeside brunch at Karongi. Congo-Nile ridge road through fishing villages. Pfunda Tea Estate to One&Only Gorilla's Nest. Optional: Iby'iwacu Cultural Village. Total: approximately 7–7.5 hours.
07:00 trek briefing at Volcanoes National Park headquarters. Enter the Hagenia and bamboo forest with guide, trackers, and porters. A regulated hour with a habituated mountain gorilla family — silverbacks, mothers, and infants. Nothing in wildlife travel compares. Long lunch. Afternoon: spa, forest walk, or Dian Fossey Fund Campus tour.
07:00 trek with a different gorilla family. This second encounter deepens everything: the closeness, the recognition of individuals, the silence of the forest. Farewell lunch. Drive west through Pfunda Tea Estate to Lake Kivu Serena Hotel (1.5 hours). Evening: private motorboat sundowner cruise, island-hopping past fishermen in pirogues.
Morning kayak along the northern papyrus shore or cycle the Rubavu lakeside road. Lunch at a locally-owned lakeside restaurant. Afternoon: traditional fishing cooperative, hand-built pirogues, and Lake Kivu's extraordinary methane reserves. Sundowners watching the Congo volcanoes turn to silhouette.
Final breakfast on the lakeshore terrace. Scenic 2.5-hour drive east to Kigali. Optional Caplaki stop. Direct escort to Kigali International Airport.
| Configuration | Low Season Nov–Dec · Mar–May | High Season Jun–Oct | Festive Dec 22–Jan 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo traveller | $29,500 | $38,000 | $38,000 |
| 2 sharing (per person) | $19,700 | $25,300 | $25,300 |
| 3 guests (per person) | $20,000 | $26,600 | $26,600 |
| 4 guests (per person) | $17,500 | $23,100 | $23,100 |
All prices include permits, accommodation, transfers, fees, VAT, and bank charges. Gorilla permits (USD 1,500 each) are included.
Tell us a little about how you travel. Gerry will personally reply within 24 hours with a draft itinerary composed for you alone.
Private expeditions are typically composed from USD $9,500 per guest, fully inclusive of gorilla permits, lodging, guiding and transfers.
