5 days Rwanda Gorillas and Chimpanzees Tour
This 5 days Rwanda gorillas and chimpanzees tour is the trip to do if you like to combine a Great primate’s experience. Rwanda is endowed with rich forests that harbor a lot of primates with the mountain gorillas and the chimpanzees being the prime species. You will do the gorilla trekking adventure in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park which is part of the magnificent Virunga. For the chimpanzees in Rwanda they are located in Nyungwe Forest National Park. Nyungwe forest is most known for its many species of primates which includes a population of about 500 chimpanzees. You will also enjoy incredible views across the forest on a canopy walkway as well as see several species of monkeys.
DAY ONE
Meet with your Agasaro Safaris’ guide and drive for approx. 6hours to Nyungwe Forest National Park in the southwest of Rwanda. Check into your lodge for lunch and thereafter set out for the canopy walk tour at Uwinka and explore the canopy of Nyungwe forest where monkeys and birds can be seen at eyelevel. The canopy walkway offers stunning views over Nyungwe Forest, you will feel a rush of adrenaline as you walk across the wobbly walkway while taking in the breathtaking sight of endless.
Overnight: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel / One & Only Nyungwe House
DAY TWO
Drive to Nyungwe National Park to meet your guides for the day and begin chimpanzee tracking. An experienced guides and trackers will lead you into the thick moist forest to begin searching for the wild chimpanzees. On the way, you may as well get entertained by several other species of primates that keep running back and forth in their habitat. You may have an opportunity to be within metres of these amusing and very social apes, sharing in their daily lives and experiencing their day-to-day activities. Chimpanzees, our closest cousins and are extremely endangered .Following the trek, you may enjoy a boat ride, take an afternoon drive or relax as you reflect on your time with the chimpanzees.
Please note: tracking may be fairly strenuous as the chimpanzees are highly mobile as they search for food throughout the forest. Also, chimpanzees are wild animals and, as such, sightings cannot be guaranteed. However viewing success rates are over 90%.
After the chimpanzee adventure you will spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure.
Optional activity:
- In the afternoon you can do one of the following activities: Tea experience – visit a tea extent at the edge of Nyungwe forest and discover how tea is grown, harvested and processed locally.
- Colobus monkey trekking – go tracking a group of habituated Colobus monkeys in Nyungwe forest. These monkeys are nice to watch and photograph and would make a great addition to your primates’ experience. You will track a group near to the edge of the forest at Gisakura area. It is a light and short trek. A maximum 1 hour is spent with the monkeys.
Overnight: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel / One & Only Nyungwe House
DAY THREE
Have breakfast and check out by 7am and depart for Musanze in the north of Rwanda. You shall drive along Lake Kivu and enjoy wonderful views of the lake – the biggest lake in Rwanda and one of the most beautiful lakes in Central Africa! It is approx. 5 hrs drive from Nyungwe to Musanze. Check into your lodge and have lunch and thereafter, set off for a canoe ride on River Mukungwa. This is a 3 – 4 hours adventure trip offering great views of the lush countryside and rolling landscape and an insight into the lives of the local people.
Overnight: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge/ Virunga Lodge
DAY FOUR
Following breakfast at the lodge, travel to National Park Headquarters to meet your guides for the day and begin your gorilla tracking experience. Experienced guides and trackers will accompany your party on an early morning trek up the volcanoes to the forest above. The journey, through the forest and up steep climbs, is abundantly rewarded with the lifetime experience of viewing mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. You will have an opportunity to be within metres of these magnificent apes, sharing in their daily lives and experiencing their day-to-day activities. Mountain gorillas are extremely rare with only an estimated 1000 remaining in the wild. This is an experience you won’t soon forget! Following the trek, return to your accommodation to relax and reflect on your experience with the amazing mountain gorillas.
Overnight: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge/ Virunga Lodge
DAY FIVE
After breakfast, check out and transfer back to Kigali
Optional activity: Today you can do another tour in the morning before departing to Kigali.
- Golden monkey tracking: This is a good addition to the gorilla trek and primates adventure. The golden monkeys are endangered and unique to the Virunga Mountains, living in the bamboo forests in the base of the mountains where they are easily found without a lot of trekking. The golden monkeys are very beautiful and active hence exciting to watch and photograph. It may take 1 hour to find the golden monkeys and 1 hour is allowed to be with them
- Gorilla Guardians Village tour: Take a short cultural tour of about 1 hour to the gorilla guardian’s village where the local people will present to you the different traditions of the Rwandan people such as local wedding, treating with local medicine, traditional dance, hunting with bow and arrow.