Journey Overview
This tailor-made Rwanda tour will take you into the misty bamboo jungles of the Virungas, in Volcanoes National Park, on an excursion to trek and locate a family of mountain gorillas led by a patriarch silverback. You’ll be allowed to spend an hour with the gentle giants under strict guidelines not to make contact. The mystical jungle floor will take a piece of your emotions and physical energy, so be prepared to store some unforgettable memories on the Rwanda Safari adventure. The minimum age for gorilla trekking is 15 years.
Highlights
Trekking the mountain gorilla in their natural habitat, Volcanoes National Park.
Witness Rwanda’s lush, natural beauty and warm, friendly people.
Know before you go
This tour is physically demanding, which means you’ll hiking moderately steep slope searching for the mountain giants and high altitudes between 2400 and 4507 meters. There strict rules to going in these places and meeting the gorillas and you’ll be escorted by a tracker, rangers and a guide with a group of other six trekking travelers.
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park
A drive-guide from Vazquez Tours & Travel Ltd will pick you from your hotel/residence in Kigali, short briefing about your gorilla trekking tour, and then drive to The Bishop’s House in Musanze near Volcanoes National Park, which will be your home for one night.
The Bishop’s House is a luxurious, colonial style boutique hotel with just nine elegant bedrooms, located just a stone’s throw from the wilds of the Volcanoes National Park that is home to Rwanda’s famous mountain gorillas and a myriad of spectacular wildlife.
We adore this lovely property for its colonial style architecture and furnishings which truly sets it apart from others in the area. With just nine luxuriously decorated rooms, this is a haven of tranquility, surrounded by flora and fauna along with sights and sounds of nature, making it the perfect location to unwind and enjoy the calm of the land of a thousand hills. All rooms are furnished with large, antique hand crafted four-poster beds on a wooden floor that envelopes the occupant in warmth and grandeur in the en-suite bathrooms you will be met with hot showers and bathrobes warm and soft to the touch.
You can take your time to ease into your home from home before your big day tomorrow - trekking to find those beautiful gorillas in their natural habitat!
Hotel/lodge : The Bishop’s House
Meal : Dinner, all soft drinks, local beers, house wine, and laundry services
Day 2: Gorilla Trekking Experience
After an early breakfast, you will be collected at the lodge and driven to the Volcanoes National Park to be allocated a gorilla tracking group. At Approximately 07h00 you will receive a briefing by your trackers, and then drive to the trailhead for the start of an amazing adventure.
Your exhilarating trek, in the footsteps of the rare and endangered Mountain Gorillas, the largest living primate on earth, starts in the cultivated foothills of the Virungas with stirring views in all directions. Upon entering the national park, her paths littered with fresh spoor of the mountains’ elusive buffalo and elephant, trekkers will be immersed in the mysterious intimacy of the rainforest, alive with colorful bird calls, butterflies, etc.
Our experienced trackers, who spent their entire lives in or close to this forest, soon bring us up close with the family. Upon sighting the gorillas, you will stay with them for a magical hour as they go about their daily life, feeding, playing, resting, and raising their young. Coming face to face with a giant silverback must truly be one of the greatest wildlife experiences on earth!
Following this magical experience, you will then make your way back down the mountainside. Arriving back at the ranger station you will enjoy a short transfer back to your lodge for lunch and check-out.
After lunch, you will say goodbye to the wonderful team here at The Bishop’s House and make you way back to Kigali, straight to your hotel in Kigali or to International Airport, assisted bid farewell to your driver-guide and proceed to check-in for your outbound flight.
Hotel/lodge :
Breakfast and lunch
