Your guide picks you up at Kigali International Airport or your hotel and drives south toward the Cyangugu border. You’ll stop for lunch at Butare Ibis Hotel before crossing into DRC and continuing to Bukavu. If time permits, a stop at the genocide memorials along Nyungwe road offers a moment of reflection before the trip’s wildlife focus begins.
After an early breakfast, drive roughly an hour to Kahuzi-Biega National Park headquarters. A pre-trek briefing includes traditional cultural dance and hot tea, a warm welcome before heading into the forest. Eastern lowland gorillas live in noticeably larger family groups than their mountain cousins, making this trek a distinct and memorable encounter. After spending time with the gorillas, return to your lodge for a relaxed dinner and overnight stay.
After breakfast, cross back over the border into Rwanda and drive toward Nyungwe National Park, one of Africa’s oldest rainforests. The journey winds through terraced hillsides and tea plantations with sweeping views of the Albertine Rift valley. Along the way, keep an eye out for colobus monkeys and forest birdlife visible from the roadside. Arrive in the late afternoon and check into your lodge, with dinner and overnight near the park.
Rise early for a pre-dawn departure to maximize your chances of finding the chimpanzees before they move deep into the canopy. Guided by park rangers, you’ll follow forest trails through dense, ancient rainforest, listening for calls that signal a nearby troop. Watching chimpanzees forage and interact in the wild is a fast-paced contrast to the previous day’s gorilla encounter. Return to the lodge in the afternoon for rest, dinner, and overnight.
Meal Plan and Accommodation: Same as Day 3
After breakfast, begin the drive back to Kigali, retracing the scenic route through Rwanda’s hills and valleys. Depending on timing, there may be an opportunity for a short stop along the way to stretch and take in the views. On arrival in Kigali, you’ll be dropped at the airport or your hotel, marking the end of a rewarding five-day primate safari across two countries.
The trip begins and ends in Kigali, Rwanda, with a border crossing at Goma, and centers on a single, unforgettable hour spent with a gorilla family in their natural habitat.
This 4-day itinerary combines mountain gorilla trekking with a summit hike of Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, in Virunga National Park.
Virunga National Park is Africa’s oldest national park and one of the last places on Earth where mountain gorillas roam free in volcanic rainforest.