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Forested ridgelines of Nyungwe at dusk

Private safari

12-Day Complete Rwanda Private Safari: Chimps, Gorillas & Akagera

12 daysPrivate safariRwandaIndividually quoted

Rainforest, lake, volcano and savanna on one unhurried private loop, and the only one of our Rwanda journeys that reaches all three national parks.

Customize This Journey
Duration12 days · 11 nights
Best monthsMid-June–September & mid-December–February
Comfort levelsPremium · Luxury
RouteKigali · Huye · Nyungwe National Park · Karongi (Kibuye) · Volcanoes National Park · Akagera National Park · Kigali International Airport
Best forPrimate enthusiasts, photographers and returning safari-goers who want the whole country rather than one park
Trip typePrivate safari

This is the journey for gorilla and chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda on the same trip, with time left for the country in between. It opens with three nights in Nyungwe National Park, a UNESCO-listed montane rainforest that shelters 13 primate species, then rests for two nights on the shore of Lake Kivu before three nights in the Virunga volcanoes and two in Akagera.

Twelve days let the loop run in one direction without doubling back: south through Nyanza, seat of the former Rwandan kings, and the university town of Huye; west into the forest; north through the lake country; and east to the savanna. It suits travelers who enjoy the road as much as the destinations. Chimps here are one memorable morning within a Rwanda-wide trip, and because they move fast and high through the canopy, the gorilla hour usually proves the more intimate encounter of the two.

Why this route works

The loop runs clockwise so that its longest drive, 5–6 hours from Kigali to Nyungwe, comes early while you are fresh, and each transfer after it is shorter or broken by a rest stop. We reach Nyungwe by road rather than by flying to Kamembe, the airport closest to the forest, because Kamembe sits near the DRC border; the page on current travel advice for Rwanda explains how we plan around it. Lake Kivu comes between the two treks as a pause for tired legs, and from Karongi you take the inland road north rather than the lakeshore route. Akagera closes the trip because its lodges are only about 2–2.5 hours from Kigali airport, which makes for a relaxed last morning.

Itinerary

Day by Day

A suggested flow — every day can be reshaped around you.

  1. Kigali skyline rising over green hills

    Day 1 · Kigali

    Arrive in Kigali

    Drive · Kigali International Airport → Kigali · about 20–30 minutes

    At Kigali International Airport you are met by your guide, who travels with you for the whole loop, and driven about 20–30 minutes to your hotel. Rwanda runs to a tidy rhythm, with cashless national parks, no plastic bags and a national morning of community work on the last Saturday of each month, and your guide will explain what that means for the days ahead. Settle in, eat early and sleep well: tomorrow brings the longest drive of the trip.

    • Airport meet-and-greet
    • Evening route briefing with your guide
    Overnight
    Kigali
    Meals
    Dinner

  2. Day 2 · Huye

    South Through the Old Kingdom to Nyungwe

    Drive · Kigali → Nyungwe National Park · about 5–6 hours, plus stops

    The morning opens at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi, where more than 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi are buried. It deserves unhurried time, and if today feels too full, the visit fits equally well into your final afternoon. The road then runs south to Nyanza, where the King’s Palace Museum includes a reconstruction of a traditional royal residence, and on to Huye and its Ethnographic Museum; choose one of the two for a short stop. Beyond Huye the highway climbs into Nyungwe itself, winding through unbroken forest, and after 5–6 hours on the road you reach your lodge around dusk.

    • Kigali Genocide Memorial
    • Short museum stop in Nyanza or Huye
    • Drive across the Nyungwe forest
    Overnight
    Nyungwe National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner
  3. Forested ridgelines of Nyungwe at dusk

    Day 3 · Nyungwe National Park

    Chimpanzees at First Light

    Chimp tracking starts in the dark. You leave very early to meet the trackers, who followed one of Nyungwe’s semi-habituated communities to where it nested the night before; only eight visitors join each community per day, and the minimum age is 15. Chimpanzees feed high in fruiting trees and travel fast, so the morning can mean steep, muddy trail followed by a scramble when they come down, and encounters are less predictable than with gorillas. By midday you are back at your lodge, and the afternoon is a gentle walk through the tea plantations that wrap the forest edge near Gisakura.

    • Dawn chimpanzee tracking (ages 15 and over)
    • Tea-estate walk near Gisakura
    • Evening at your forest lodge
    Overnight
    Nyungwe National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner

  4. Day 4 · Uwinka (canopy walkway)

    Above the Canopy at Uwinka

    After a later start, you drive to the Uwinka visitor centre on the forest’s central ridge and follow the easy Igishigishigi trail to the Nyungwe canopy walkway, a suspension bridge slung between hillsides high above a forested ravine. Mornings are often misty, which is atmospheric but can veil the view; the treetops, the birdsong and the depth below make it worthwhile in any weather. In the afternoon, track the park’s Rwenzori colobus, whose largest group numbers more than 400 animals, or walk a waterfall trail with a park guide.

    • Canopy walkway from Uwinka
    • Colobus tracking or a waterfall trail
    • Birding with a park guide
    Overnight
    Nyungwe National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner

  5. Day 5 · Karongi (Kibuye)

    North to Lake Kivu

    Drive · Nyungwe National Park → Karongi, Lake Kivu · about 3 hours

    Leaving the forest, the road follows high ground north through the coffee hills of the Kivu belt to Karongi, the lake town once known as Kibuye, about 3 hours away. Lake Kivu is one of Africa’s Great Lakes, some 2,700 km² at roughly 1,460 m above sea level, and from Karongi’s steep hillsides its bays and wooded peninsulas look more like an alpine lake than a tropical one. You arrive for a late lunch on a terrace and an evening with nothing more demanding than watching the fishing boats head out at dusk.

    • Drive through the Kivu coffee belt
    • Lakeside lunch
    • Sunset on the terrace
    Overnight
    Lake Kivu · Karongi
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner
  6. Quiet shoreline of Lake Kivu

    Day 6 · Lake Kivu

    A Day on the Lakeshore

    This is the one day of the trip without an alarm. In the morning, paddle a kayak along the sheltered shore below your lodge with a local guide, staying close to the mainland. Later, drive into the hills to a coffee washing station, where cherries picked by smallholder farmers are pulped, fermented and dried on raised tables during the harvest; out of season you can still walk the drying beds and taste the region’s coffee. The rest of the day is for reading, swimming in your lodge’s pool where there is one, and a long dinner as the light fades over the water.

    • Near-shore kayaking with a local guide
    • Coffee washing-station visit
    • Sunset over Lake Kivu
    Overnight
    Lake Kivu · Karongi
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner

  7. Day 7 · Musanze

    Inland Road to the Volcanoes

    Drive · Karongi → Volcanoes National Park · about 4–5 hours

    You head north on the inland road through the hills rather than the lakeshore route, a drive of about 4–5 hours that climbs through terraced farmland and eucalyptus toward the Virunga chain. Nearing Musanze on a clear afternoon, Karisimbi and Bisoke fill the horizon. At the premium level you stay near the Kinigi park headquarters; at the luxury level your lodge sits on a ridge above the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo, a little farther from the park but with a view across both. A charter helicopter can replace the drive if you prefer.

    • Drive north on the inland road
    • First views of the Virunga volcanoes
    • Evening at your lodge
    Overnight
    Volcanoes National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner
  8. Virunga volcanoes rising over lodge rooftops and farmland

    Day 8 · Volcanoes National Park

    Gorillas in the Virungas

    From the twin-lakes ridge the drive to Kinigi takes 45 minutes to an hour, so the alarm rings earlier than at a park-edge lodge; the 07:00 briefing waits for no one. After a talk on etiquette and the family you are assigned, you drive to the trailhead and walk through fields to the old stone buffalo wall that marks the park boundary. Beyond it the trek might be short or might take hours, and a porter can carry your pack and steady you on slippery ground. After chasing chimps through Nyungwe’s treetops, you may be struck by how calm the gorillas are at close range.

    • 07:00 briefing at Kinigi
    • Gorilla trek across the buffalo wall into the forest
    • One hour with a gorilla family
    Overnight
    Volcanoes National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, picnic lunch & dinner

  9. Day 9 · Volcanoes National Park

    Golden Monkeys or the Fossey Trail

    Two ways to spend the morning, both reporting at Kinigi at 07:00. The golden monkeys are included: a gentler walk into the bamboo to spend an hour with a lively troop of this Virunga speciality. The alternative, for anyone aged 15 and over, is the steep climb to Karisoke, the research camp Dian Fossey founded in 1967 between Karisimbi and Bisoke, where she is buried beside the gorilla she called Digit. In the afternoon, the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund carries the story of her research into the present day.

    • Golden monkey trek (included)
    • Or the Dian Fossey tomb hike (optional)
    • Ellen DeGeneres Campus in the afternoon
    Overnight
    Volcanoes National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner
  10. Giraffe on the golden savanna hills of Akagera National Park

    Day 10 · Akagera National Park

    East to the Savanna

    Drive · Volcanoes National Park → Akagera National Park · about 5 hours — A charter helicopter is recommended on this leg; ask about timing and availability.

    This is the country’s widest crossing, from the volcanoes in the north-west to Akagera on the Tanzanian border: about 5 hours by road via Kigali, or under an hour by charter helicopter, which we recommend on this leg. Either way the scenery changes completely, from cool volcanic slopes and potato terraces to warm, open savanna, papyrus swamps and a chain of lakes. You reach your camp by mid-afternoon, with time for a first game drive or simply a drink overlooking the water as the heat goes out of the day.

    • Drive or fly across Rwanda
    • Late-afternoon game drive
    • Sundowner by the lake
    Overnight
    Akagera National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner

  11. Day 11 · Lake Ihema

    Boat and Plains in Akagera

    Go out at first light, when the park is cool and animals most active, heading for the northern grasslands where rhino, giraffe and lion are most often found. After lunch you board a boat on Lake Ihema, the largest lake entirely within Rwanda, to glide past hippos, big crocodiles and busy waterbird roosts. Take the 15:00 departure if you also want a night drive, which leaves at 17:30 and is open only to guests staying inside the park; otherwise the 16:30 boat catches the sunset.

    • Early game drive toward the northern plains
    • Boat trip on Lake Ihema
    • Optional night drive
    Overnight
    Akagera National Park
    Meals
    Breakfast, lunch & dinner

  12. Day 12 · Kigali International Airport

    Last Light on the Lakes

    Drive · Akagera National Park → Kigali International Airport · about 2–2.5 hours

    One more drive takes you out of the park through the southern woodland, where elephants and buffalo sometimes come down to the lakes, then back to Kigali, about 2–2.5 hours to the airport. If your flight leaves in the evening and you chose to postpone the Kigali Genocide Memorial on day 2, this afternoon is a fitting time to visit before you leave. Otherwise a day room in the city lets you shower and repack after twelve days on the move.

    • Final game drive on the way out
    • Transfer to Kigali
    • Optional day room before your flight
    Meals
    Breakfast & lunch

Lodges

Where You’ll Stay

Choose a comfort level to see the stay style for each part of the journey. We match specific camps to your dates and availability.

Refined camps and lodges — often with plunge pools, fine dining and the very best positions.

  1. 1 night · Kigali

    Luxury

    Kigali · hilltop garden retreat

    Hilltop Garden Retreat · Kigali

    Boutique hotel

    • Suites or villas with private terraces
    • Spa, pool and fitness room
    • Garden-grown produce on the menu at some

  2. 3 nights · Nyungwe National Park

    Forest lodge tucked into the canopy near the gorilla parksLuxury

    Nyungwe · tea estate beside the forest

    Tea Estate Luxury Lodge · Nyungwe

    Forest lodge

    • Suites on a working tea estate beside the forest
    • Heated pool and spa
    • Tea-estate walks and tastings

  3. 2 nights · Lake Kivu · Karongi

    Luxury lodge deck with loungers and umbrellas at golden hourPremium

    Lake Kivu · Karongi hillside

    Hillside Boutique Lodge · Karongi

    Lodge

    • A handful of rooms with lake views
    • Sunset terrace above the bays
    • Path down to the lakeshore

  4. 3 nights · Volcanoes National Park

    Luxury lodge deck with loungers and umbrellas at golden hourLuxury

    Volcanoes · ridge above Lakes Burera & Ruhondo

    Ridge-Top Lodge · Twin Lakes

    Lodge

    • Views over both lakes and the volcano chain
    • About 45–60 minutes from Kinigi
    • Village and lakeshore walks nearby

  5. 2 nights · Akagera National Park

    A canvas safari tent set among trees at a private tented campLuxury

    Akagera · private northern lakeshore

    Private Lakeshore Camp · Northern Akagera

    Tented camp

    • A few tents on a private stretch of lakeshore
    • Boat trips on Lake Rwanyakazinga
    • Night drives from camp

Price

Price

Every private safari is priced for your dates, party and choices — here is what moves the number.

Individually quoted

Custom pricing based on your dates, comfort level, party size and routing.

Get my quoteHow much a luxury safari costs
  • SeasonPeak months sit at the top of the range; green-season and shoulder months are noticeably softer at many camps.
  • Party sizeYour private vehicle and guide are shared across your party — the per-person cost typically falls as your group grows from two to four or six.
  • Comfort levelMoving from Comfort to Ultra-Luxury changes the nightly rate more than any other choice.
  • RoutingFlying the long legs saves hours on the road and adds light-aircraft fares; driving keeps costs lower.

What’s Included

  • Professional guiding throughout: a private vehicle and guide on road-based legs, and the camp’s own guides at fly-in camps (a private vehicle can often be added)
  • Accommodation at your chosen comfort level
  • Meals as listed day by day
  • Park and conservation fees for the itinerary
  • Airport meet-and-greet and road transfers as listed
  • Drinking water on game drives
  • Support from our team before and during your journey
  • Chimpanzee tracking permit in Nyungwe
  • Nyungwe canopy walkway and one further guided forest activity
  • Gorilla trekking permit for one trek per person
  • Golden monkey trekking permit
  • Scheduled boat trip on Lake Ihema
  • Near-shore kayaking and a coffee washing-station visit at Karongi
  • Museum stop in Nyanza or Huye

Not Included

  • International flights
  • Visa and entry fees
  • Travel and medical insurance (strongly recommended)
  • Gratuities for guides and camp staff
  • Premium drinks and personal expenses
  • Charter helicopter transfers (recommended from the volcanoes to Akagera; on request)
  • Dian Fossey tomb hike, Mount Bisoke climb or a second gorilla trek
  • Akagera night drive and Nyungwe’s full-day chimpanzee habituation experience
  • Porters, and gratuities for guides, trackers and porters
  • Rwanda visa, where required

A typical inclusion list — your written proposal itemizes exactly what is and isn’t included.

Activities

Activities & Add-Ons

Included experiences and optional upgrades for this journey.

Included

Primates

Golden Monkey Trekking

Day 9; swap it for the Dian Fossey hike if you prefer.

Mist drifting through the forested hills of gorilla countryOptional

On foot

Dian Fossey Tomb Hike

Replaces the golden monkeys on day 9, for ages 15 and over.

Map

Route Map

Route map: Kigali · Huye · Nyungwe National Park · Karongi (Kibuye) · Volcanoes National Park · Akagera National Park · Kigali International Airport1Kigali International Airport2Kigali3Huye4Nyungwe National Park5Karongi (Kibuye)6Volcanoes National Park7Akagera National Park8Kigali International Airport
By roadBy air

Approximate locations — not for navigation.

How This Journey Changes Through the Year

Mid-June–September
The long dry season suits every leg: firmer forest trails, clear evenings on Lake Kivu and animals drawn to Akagera’s lakes. It is also peak time for permits, so we secure chimp and gorilla dates before anything else.
Mid-December–February
A second dry window, greener than mid-year. Forest paths can still be slippery, since Nyungwe and the Virungas are cooler and wetter than the rest of the country.
March–May & October–November
The rains make chimp tracking heavier going and the long drives slower, though the loop still runs. Kwibuka begins on 7 April and lasts 100 days; visitors are welcome but expected to keep a respectful tone, particularly in the first week.
Umuganda Saturdays
On the last Saturday of each month, roads are restricted from 07:00 to 11:00. A twelve-day trip usually includes one, and we schedule a park day or a late start around it.

Make It Yours

  • Add a fourth night in the volcanoes for a second gorilla trek or the Bisoke climb
  • Replace Lake Kivu with an extra night in Nyungwe or the volcanoes
  • Fly by charter helicopter between the volcanoes and Akagera
  • Book Nyungwe’s full-day chimpanzee habituation experience
  • Finish with a few nights on Zanzibar’s coast
Customize This Journey

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Which is harder, chimpanzee tracking or gorilla trekking?

Chimp tracking usually is. Chimps move quickly and feed high in the trees, so you may walk further on steeper ground and still watch them mostly overhead, while gorillas tend to stay put once found. Both have a minimum age of 15, and both reward a reasonable level of fitness.

Why drive to Nyungwe instead of flying?

The only scheduled flights go to Kamembe, which still leaves a road transfer at the far end, and the airport sits close to the DRC border, so we currently route by road or charter helicopter. The drive from Kigali takes 5–6 hours but passes Nyanza and Huye, which makes it part of the journey rather than dead time.

Is Lake Kivu worth two nights?

On a twelve-day trip, yes: it breaks the drive between Nyungwe and the volcanoes and rests your legs between two treks. Karongi is quiet and scenic rather than lively, and the time goes on kayaking, coffee and doing very little. If you prefer, we replace it with an extra night in the forest or the volcanoes.

Are chimp and gorilla permits booked separately?

Yes. Gorilla permits are issued by the Rwanda Development Board for Volcanoes National Park, while chimp tracking is booked through Nyungwe’s park management. We secure both as soon as you confirm, gorillas first, because they sell out soonest in the dry months.

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Continue exploring

Forested ridgelines of Nyungwe at dusk

Customize This Journey

Tell us your dates, who is traveling and your preferred comfort level. A safari specialist will tailor this route around you — nothing is booked until you approve every detail.

Customize This Journey