14 Days Comprehensive Gorilla Safari In Rwanda, Uganda And Congo

Female Gorilla in Rwanda at the Volcanoes National Park

This 14-day com­pre­hen­sive goril­la safari in Ugan­da, Rwan­da and Con­go is a com­bined safari and one of the best to do while on your vis­it to Africa and par­tic­u­lar­ly in East Africa as it will take you to the most vis­it­ed points and three major goril­la hom­ing parks of Bwin­di impen­e­tra­ble Nation­al park of Ugan­da, vol­ca­noes nation­al park of Rwan­da and Virun­ga nation­al park of Demo­c­ra­t­ic repub­lic of Congo.

The safari will begin from Kam­pala city where you will spend a night in a hotel and trans­fer to Murchi­son falls nation­al park hav­ing a stopover at Ziwa rhi­no sanc­tu­ary and then have your morn­ing game dri­ve and after­noon boat cruise and pro­ceed to Queen Eliz­a­beth nation­al park for a game dri­ve and boat cruise at Kazin­ga chan­nel. You will con­tin­ue with the safari to Bwin­di impen­e­tra­ble nation­al park for your first goril­la trekking and the Bat­wa cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence before dri­ving to Ruhen­geri of Rwan­da for a cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence at Iby’iwachu cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence. Have your sec­ond goril­la trekking expe­ri­ence in vol­ca­noes nation­al park and after con­tin­u­ing with your tour to the Goma bor­der of Con­go pre­pare for your third goril­la trekking expe­ri­ence in Virun­ga nation­al park after which head for a hike in Nyi­ran­gon­go from where you will dri­ve to Kigali a city tour and then dri­ve to the air­port for your flight.

Detailed Itin­er­ary

Day 1: Arrival at the air­port in Entebbe and trans­fer to the hotel in Kampala

Our pro­fes­sion­al safari dri­ver guide will be wait­ing for you at the air­port as soon as you arrive and will meet you and brief you short­ly about the safari imme­di­ate­ly after the brief­ing he will dri­ve to the booked hotel in Kam­pala which is also the cap­i­tal city of Ugan­da. Spend a night there for your meals and overnight stays.

Day 2: Trans­fer to Murchi­son falls nation­al park

On this sec­ond day of your safari, begin with your break­fast at the hotel and after a dri­ve head to Murchi­son falls nation­al park. On your way to this park, have a stopover at Ziwa rhi­no sanc­tu­ary for your Rhi­no track­ing expe­ri­ence an activ­i­ty that will last for 3–4 hours and on reach­ing these ani­mals an hour will be giv­en to you in their pres­ence. After the trek pro­ceed with the jour­ney to Murchi­son falls nation­al park and check in at your booked lodge for your meals.

Day 3: morn­ing game dri­ve and after­noon boat cruise

Enjoy your break­fast at your lodge and dri­ve to the park for a morn­ing, game dri­ve an activ­i­ty that will take you 3–4 hours to dri­ve through the park. On this dri­ve, you will have high chances of spot­ting some of the big five ani­mals and a vari­ety of oth­er savan­nah ani­mals such as giraffes, buf­fa­los, African Ele­phants, olive baboons, har­te­beests, lions, water­bucks, Ugan­da kobs and many more ani­mals. Return to the lodge for your lunch.

In the after­noon pre­pare your­self for a boat cruise on the riv­er Nile which will give you a fas­ci­nat­ing expe­ri­ence of the Murchi­son falls. On this cruise, expect to encounter croc­o­diles, hip­pos and some bird species such as the long-tailed cor­morant, king­fish­ers, pel­i­cans and many more. Have a hike up at the top of the fall pass­ing through the bak­er’s trail and have a chance of sit­ting at his stone. While at the top of the falls your dri­ver guide will pick and dri­ve you to the lodge for dinner

Day 4: Trans­fer to Queen Eliz­a­beth nation­al park

Begin your day with your break­fast at the lodge and then dri­ve to Queen Eliz­a­beth Nation­al Park. On your way to the park, enjoy the beau­ti­ful grass­lands and have a view of the vol­canic explo­sion craters and more dark craters. Have pho­tos here as you enjoy the scenic views of the nat­ur­al setups. Check-in at your lodge for your meals.

Day 5: morn­ing game dri­ve and evening boat at Kazin­ga channel

Be served with your morn­ing break­fast at the lodge and then dri­ve head­ing to the park to have your morn­ing game dri­ve in Kasenyi plains. Dur­ing this dri­ve, expect to have a view of dif­fer­ent num­bers of ani­mals includ­ing the Savanah ele­phants, buf­fa­los, giraffes, antelopes, Ugan­da kobs and many more species that will add to your expe­ri­ence. Return to your lodge for lunch.

In the evening of this day, dri­ve head­ing for an evening boat cruise which is done from Kazin­ga chan­nel. Dur­ing this boat cruise, you will have a look at dense­ly pop­u­lat­ed hip­pos, croc­o­diles and oth­er ani­mals includ­ing the ele­phants and some of the small mam­mals which come to the chan­nel to drink water. Report back to your lodge for dinner

Day 6: Trans­fer to Bwin­di impen­e­tra­ble Nation­al park via Ishasha

Enjoy your break­fast at the lodge and then dri­ve head­ing to Bwin­di impen­e­tra­ble nation­al park the home of moun­tain goril­las pass­ing through the Ishasha sec­tor of Queen Eliz­a­beth nation­al park to the Buhoma sec­tor in Bwin­di. This route is the short­est route to Bwin­di impen­e­tra­ble nation­al park and it will give you a chance of spot­ting the rare tree-climb­ing lions lazi­ly hang­ing in the tree branch­es. Check-in at your lodge for your meals.

Day 7: First goril­la trekking and Bat­wa cul­tur­al experience

Wake ear­ly in the morn­ing and enjoy your break­fast at the lodge and after head for your favorite activ­i­ty, goril­la trekking. Dri­ve to the park offices for pay­ment, brief­ing on how to behave while trekking and get­ting divid­ed into groups of 8 peo­ple who are rec­om­mend­ed to trek one par­tic­u­lar group. After the brief­ing, an armed war­den will lead you to the park for trekking an activ­i­ty which usu­al­ly takes 2–8 hours but depend­ing on the move­ment and loca­tion of these giant ani­mals and reach­ing the goril­la unex­pect­ed­ly is one of the fas­ci­nat­ing expe­ri­ences. An addi­tion­al will be giv­en to you in their close range for you to take some pho­tos. After the ranger guide will lead you back to the start­ing point for your trekking certificate.

In the evening of this day, dri­ve head­ing for a Bat­wa cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence where you will have a look at the once for­est inhab­i­tan­t’s music, dance, dra­ma, and art and have a taste of their cul­tur­al meals and per­for­mances. Option­al­ly buy their local­ly made crafts as sou­venirs to make you remem­ber your expe­ri­ence with these peo­ple. Dri­ve back to your lodge for dinner.

Day 8: Trans­fer to Ruhen­geri and a cul­tur­al experience

On the 8th day of your safari, have your break­fast at the lodge and imme­di­ate­ly after the break­fast, dri­ve head­ing to Ruhen­geri in Rwan­da pass­ing at the Cyani­ka bor­der that will con­nect you to vol­ca­noes nation­al park. Check in at your lodge and be giv­en your lunch and in the evening head for a cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence at Iby’iwachu cul­tur­al vil­lage which is an asso­ci­a­tion aimed at improv­ing the liveli­hoods of the for­mer poach­ers in vol­ca­noes nation­al park by pro­vid­ing them with incentives.

The place is inter­est­ing and reward­ing as you will have a guid­ed walk around and be explained all the infor­ma­tion about the tra­di­tions and cul­ture of the Kin­yarwan­da in form of songs, dances, dra­ma, art and crafts. Retreat to your lodge for your dinner.

Day 9: Goril­la trekking in vol­ca­noes nation­al park

Enjoy your morn­ing meals at the lodge and then head for your sec­ond goril­la trekking expe­ri­ence this time in Rwan­da’s vol­ca­noes nation­al park. Final­ize your pay­ments at the park head­quar­ters and be briefed short­ly about the expe­ri­ence. An armed ranger guide will be ready to lead you to the start­ing point and begin your expe­ri­ence. The trek usu­al­ly lasts for 2–8 hours depend­ing on their where­abouts, move­ment, and loca­tion weath­er con­di­tion. As soon as you reach them, an hour will be giv­en to you in their pres­ence learn­ing and exam­in­ing some of their behav­iors. Dri­ve back to the head­quar­ters for your goril­la trekking cer­tifi­cate and then dri­ve to your lodge for your meals

Day 10: Trans­fer to Goma bor­der Dr. Congo

Have your peace­ful meal in the morn­ing at your lodge and then dri­ve head­ing to the Goma bor­der of Con­go for reg­is­tra­tion and meet­ing your dri­ver guide for a short brief­ing about the safari after embark­ing on a jour­ney to a tourism body strate­gi­cal­ly locat­ed at the grand post sta­tion and get­ting your goril­la and vol­cano per­mits that you will present to the offi­cials before the begin­ning of each trek. Move to your lodge for your meals near the trail­heads to Nyirangongo.

Day 11:  Goril­la trekking in Virun­ga nation­al park

On this 11-day of your 14 days com­pre­hen­sive goril­la safari in Ugan­da, Rwan­da and Con­go, have your break­fast at the lodge and dri­ve to Buki­ma patrol post a point where you will final­ize your pay­ment, reg­is­tra­tion, brief­ing and pre­sent­ing your per­mits and pass­port. After, a ranger guide will lat­er meet you and take you to the for­est and start trekking, expect to hike until you reach these pri­mates for 1–7 hours and imme­di­ate­ly after reach­ing them, an hour will be giv­en to you in the pres­ence of these ani­mals as you are won­der­ing about their huge size and oth­er relat­ed behav­iors. Report to your lodge for your meals and night stays.

Day 12: Nyi­ran­gon­go Hike

Wake up ear­ly in the morn­ing and be giv­en a well-served break­fast and dri­ve head­ing for a hike in Nyi­ran­gon­go where you are expect­ed to be at 8:00 am and meet your ranger guide who will take you for a hike up at the top of the vol­cano where you will have a look at the lava boil­ing. You will be served your meals and spend a night in the wood­en shel­ters at the top of the world’s active volcanos.

Day 13: Descend from Nyi­ran­gon­go and pro­ceed to Gisenyi of Rwanda.

On this day of your 14 days com­pre­hen­sive goril­la safari in Ugan­da, Rwan­da and Con­go, we shall descend the vol­cano at Kibati where you will meet your dri­ver guide who will dri­ve you back to Kigali city. It is impor­tant to note that your Rwan­dan visa expired imme­di­ate­ly after cross­ing to Con­go, so you need to reap­ply for your new visa and find it secured at the bor­der for your tour. Dri­ve to your hotel in Kigali for your din­ner and night’s stays

Day 14:  Kigali city tour and fly back home.

Be served a deli­cious meal at the hotel in Kigali city after which dri­ve around the city where you will vis­it the Kigali geno­cide memo­r­i­al cen­ter and have a look at the 1994 vic­tims which last­ed for 100 days that left over 800,000 peo­ple dead. Have a look at the weapons used in the geno­cide and be told about how the geno­cide start­ed with some videos and audio. After the vis­it, Dri­ve to the air­port in the evening and fly back home.

“A long journey to East Africa begins with a single step…”

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