Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 Kigali Arrival & City Stay

Your journey starts with a plane landing at Kigali City, which is a modern and well-organized city compared to other cities in the world. This is a highly surprising feature. You are met with private transfer to your boutique hotel, and welcome drinks while you gaze at beautifully decorated woven art on the walls. We brief overview and a meeting with your guide while enjoying fresh coffee.

While in the range of fresh pineapples, Enjoy a latte of the world at Question Coffee Café which marks the high expectations for the remaining part of your stay. Have another round of coffee while having an understanding of the Rwandan history from which most tourists generally refrain from due to the overwhelming information it offers. Lastly, savor and relax with dinner of Rwandan fried plantains and brochettes.

Overnight

• Budget: Five to Five Hotel Kigali
• Standard: Heaven Boutique Hotel
• Luxury: The Retreat by Heaven

Day 2: Drive to Akagera and Sunset Game Drive

Leaving city hills behind for the savanna in just a few hours. Head east towards Akagera National Park. Witness the land flatten and the golden grasses replace green terraces. Check in at your safari lodge perched over splendid Lake Ihema. Appreciate a light lunch as you listen to the distant grumpy hippos. Leisure time includes a swim or a nap as the heat descends. An evening sunset game drive awaits. Sip tea and watch the warm light give life to giraffe silhouettes on the ridge, single-file elephants crossing dusty tracks, and antelope glancing up before vanishing into the bush. Dinner is under the stars.

Overnight

• Budget: Akagera Rhino Lodge
• Standard: Ruzizi Tented Lodge
• Luxury: Magashi Camp

Day 3: Full-Day Akagera Safari

A day of revelation on the hidden folds of the savanna. Departure before sunrise. Dress warmly, it’s chilly. Wildlife viewing includes lion basking among tall grasses, crocodiles in a riverbank=motionless, buffaloes, zebras, and if fortune smiles, a rhino. Picnic lunch by the lake. Enjoy watching hippos surface while their ears flicker. Afternoon driving continues. Every curve reveals new wonders–a lone jackal, some birds taking off in a big cloud, the list goes on. Lodges are returned to dusty and contented. Dinner is followed by quiet hours to unwind.

Overnight

• Budget: Akagera Rhino Lodge
• Standard: Ruzizi Tented Lodge
• Luxury:Magashi Camp

Day 4 Drive to Volcanoes National Park

Greenery is lush again. Breakfast near the lake overlooking the Virunga volcanoes. Driving through hills teeming with bananas crops and welcoming children. Stopping for lunch in Musanze. Later, check in to the lodge at the foot of Volcanoes National Park. The shrouded peaks are calling. Scheduled rest or stroll around the lodge. Dinner by the fire. Early to sleep for the next day’s activities.

Overnight

• Budget: La Locanda
• Standard: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge
• Luxury: Bisate Lodge

Day 5 Trekking Gorillas In Volcanoes National Park

Words won’t do justice to the trek and surprisingly, this sounds like the most captivating thing you would do. A briefing with the rangers starts the day. Each step requires mindfulness. No flash cameras, quiet trekking. Hut to hut and moderately high steep muddy tracks. Break for a low grunt. Looking up reveals a massive silver-back that’s motionless with adolescent gorillas sprawling on him.

A weight lifting feeling embraces you. For an hour, feeling Zen without any urge to check your phone. Slice tuna casserole in the lodge. Emphasis on feeling the magic of the morning with hot showers and lunch. Conversation by the fire with tea seals the day.

Overnight

• Budget: La Locanda
• Standard: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge
• Luxury: Bisate Lodge

Day 6 Transfer to Lake Kivu

The volcanoes are replaced by the expansive body of water. Drive southwest towards lake Kivu after having breakfast. The road goes along the shore with green hills on one side with water stretching out to the Congo on the other side. Reach Gisenyi and check in to your hotel by the lake.

Spend the afternoon either taking an optional boat ride or relaxing on the terrace watching fishermen cast their nets. Dinner is by the water. Realize you have not checked your emails in days, and you do not care.

Overnight

• Budget: Paradise Malahide
• Standard: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel
• Luxury: Cormoran Lodge

Day 7 Return to Kigali and Departure

Last morning feels unhurried. Breakfast is served lakeside, followed by a relaxed stroll along the shore. Gaze out the window while the rolling hills blur in the distance on your drive back to Kigali and reflect on the week.

In the afternoon, stop at a local craft market where you can buy woven baskets and carved masks which will most likely be your last chance to buy those items. Evening transfer to airport where you board your flight feeling like you spent a week somewhere extraordinary.

Overnight

Not applicable (departure day).