4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking & Akagera National Park Safari

This 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking & Akagera National Park Safari will take you to visit Akagera National Park for game drives and a boat cruise on Lake Ihema and you also have a chance to visit Volcanoes National Park to track the endangered mountain gorillas.

Akagera National Park lies in eastern Rwanda, hugging the border with Tanzania. It’s characterized by woodland, swamps, low mountains and savannah.

The varied terrain shelters wildlife including zebras, giraffes, elephants, lions and hundreds of bird species, such as the rare shoebill stork. In the southern part of the park, vast Lake Ihema is home to hippos and crocodiles.

Volcanoes National Park lies in northwestern Rwanda and borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda.

The national park is known as a haven for the rare and endangered mountain gorilla and golden monkeys

Day 1: Transfer to Akagera national park from Kigali

After a relaxed breakfast from your hotel in Kigali, you head to Akagera National Park on your first day of 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking & Akagera National Park Safari.

Akagera National Park covers 2500 km² of savannah west of the Kagera River, in the north-east of Rwanda. The park has a variety of wildlife and is a habitat for over 500 different species of birds.

Herds of elephant and buffalo emerge from the woodland to drink at the lakes, while you might stumble across a leopard, a spotted hyena or even a lion. Giraffe and zebra haunt the savannah, and more than a dozen types of antelope inhabit the park.

You will have lunch  and in the afternoon you will go for a long game drive in the national park.

You will stay at your booked lodge where you will have a nice hot meal in the evening.

Travel time: 2 hours

Meal plan: Lunch & Dinner

Lodge: Akagera Rhino Lodge

Day 2: Game drive and Boat ride on Akagera National Park

Enjoy an early morning breakfast and start your game drives in an open roofed vehicle on your second day of 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking & Akagera National Park Safari.

A half day game drive here offers you an opportunity to spot a variety of game including elephants, buffalos, hippos, lions, Masai giraffe, gazelles, impala, baboons, oribi, Butchel’s zebra, topi, bush baby, leopard and bush-buck, etc.

Proceed for a boat trip after lunch on Lake Ihema, for a close encounter with the Crocodiles and Hippos along the river banks, coupled with large concentration of over 525 bird species both migratory and savanna related.

Unique species such as Shoe billed stocks and papyrus gonolek can be encountered. Endemics include the jacanas, ibis, sand pipers and herons. Return to your lodge for dinner.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Lodge: Akagera Rhino Lodge

Day 3: Transfer from Akagera National Park to Volcanoes National Park through Kigali

In the Morning after breakfast at around 10 am you will bid Akagera National Park Farewell and return to Kigali on your third day of 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking & Akagera National Park Safari. You will be able to visit the the Genocide memorial center then have lunch.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial is the final resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi

Later transfer to the North to Parc des National (Volcanoes National Park) which is located 80km from Kigali; approximately a two hours drive.

Travel time: 4 hrs

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Lodge: The Garden Place Hotel

Day 4: Gorilla Trekking in the Volcanoes National Park – transfer to Kigali

Wake up for an earlier morning breakfast and get ready to leave your lodge at 6:30 am for the Gorilla Trekking. We head to the park head quarters where we are allocated guides and briefed before heading into the forest on your last day of 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking & Akagera National Park Safari.

We will trek one of the 10 habituated Gorilla family in Rwanda and only eight people are able to trek each Gorilla Family.

Move in a company of experienced ranger guides through the forest while search for the Mountain Gorillas. Time taken while searching for these great apes, ranges between 2 to 6 hours depending on the location and the movement of the gorillas as their territory can range up to 40kms. The park rangers and guides will clear the way and assist you through the forest.

Once a Gorilla group is located you will spend an hour with them as they move, feed, play and rest. Sitting the Mountain gorillas is one of the most amazing experience you will ever have.

You will need long pants, long sleeve shirt, hiking boots or sports shoes, gaiters and rain jacket.

After the gorilla trekking is done, transfer to Kigali Airport for your flight back home.

Note: Your flight out of Kigali should be after 10:00 pm.

Meal Plan: Breakfast & Lunch

End of 4 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking & Akagera National Park Safari