This will depend on your arrival details. If you fly in from Kigali our driver guide will pick you from Kigali International air port and transfer you to your Hotel. After checking in, embark on Kigali City tour to discover Kigali and its surrounding. Visit Kigali genocide Memorial center. The exhibition in the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre tells the history of Rwanda leading up to genocide in 1994 and catalogues the details of the genocide using photographs, video, written accounts and a range of artifacts. It includes personal testimonies and a moving memorial to the children of the Rwandan genocide. There is also a children’s memorial, and an exhibition on the history of genocidal violence around the world. The Education Centre, Memorial Gardens containing ten graves and National Documentation Centre of the Genocide all contribute to a meaningful tribute to those who perished, and form a powerful educational tool for the next generation. Transfer to Kinigi after visiting the Kigali genocide memorial center for dinner and overnight at your lodge.
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If you are in Uganda you will be transferred from Kampala to Rwanda. From Kampala you will drive southwards to reach Rwanda for an overnight at Gorilla Nest Lodge/Kinigi Guest House.
This day we will go gorilla trekking. Following breakfast, make an early morning departure for the mountain gorilla tracking. After the briefing from the authorities of the park, set off for the trekking into the rain tropical forest covering the hills surrounding Virunga Volcanoes. If time allows, visit the crater lakes after your gorilla tracking expedition. Dinner and overnight at your Lodge.
After having breakfast, hike to see where the valiant American primatologist, Dian Fossey, who dedicated her life to ensuring the survival of Mountain Gorillas, is buried, next to her close gorilla friend, Digit. Her life story led to the shooting of the movie “Gorillas in the Mist”, which prompted the world to protect mountain gorillas and their habitat which were on the verge of extinction.
She lived in the jungle with the mountain gorillas she loved, cared and ultimately died for. After the death of her friend Digit, at the hands of poachers, Dian Fossey requested to be buried next to him. The journey to her research station and burial site brings one closer not only to the passion, dedication and love she had for the gorillas but also to a new understanding of one's own need to contribute to the well-being and survival of gorillas. After visiting the tombs, drive to Gisenyi to enjoy a boat trip on Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu with its beach is ideal for swimming, boat rides and sun bathing. Dinner and overnight at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel/ Palm Beach Hotel.
After breakfast, drive to Kibuye where we will see the Genocide church and Bisesero Memorial. Kibuye is a city in Karongi district, and the capital of West Province in Rwanda. The city lies on the eastern shore of Lake Kivu, about halfway down, and between Gisenyi and Cyangugu. It is known as a beach resort and is home to a genocide memorial marking the massacre of the town's Tutsi population in the Rwandan Civil War. The landscape around Kibuye is rather unusual and unexpected because numerous hills planted with pines and eucalyptus offer a pristine, almost Alpine and certainly not tropical atmosphere.
You will visit the genocide church and Biseero memorial. This memorial is composed of nine small buildings which represent the nine communes that formerly made up the province of Kibuye. One should remember that this site, where the memorial has been built, is now called “Hill of Resistance” because of the heroic resistance mounted by the people of Bisesero against their assassins. Dinner and overnight at Kibuye Guest house/Hotel Centre Bethanie/Eden Golf Rock Hotel.
You will leave Kibuye early to go to Nyungwe National Park, where you will go on a nature walk in the forest to see a variety of primates and 275 bird species found here, including some endemic species. Walk on various nature trails in Nyungwe and connect with nature while exploring Nyungwe unique features including waterfalls and orchids in the high altitude swamps. Dinner and overnight at Gisakura Guest House Nyungwe.
Nyungwe National Park is the only destination in the world where you can see more than five primate species in a single location including rare species such as chimpanzee, mountain monkeys and the Angolan black and white colobus monkeys. Nyungwe presents a unique phenomenon in primate tourism due to its huge concentrations of habituated primates whose troops can include 400 to 500 individuals. As an avian hub for birders, Nyungwe is the best place to partake in bird watching.
After tracking chimps, go to Butare (Huye) where we will see the National museum. The National Museum of Rwanda: The prominent tourist attraction is the superb National Museum, which houses the finest ethnographic collection in east Africa. It is certainly the most amazing building in the country. Dinner and overnight at your lodge.
On this day you will drive the long way to Akagera National Park, with a short stop to visit Murambi Memorial. The genocide memorial at Murambi is easily the most graphic memorial in Rwanda. This is where estimated 40,000 Tutsis sought refuge with the encouragement of their community leaders, with the understanding that if they came willingly it would be known that they were not supporting the RPF. There are only two known survivors of this massacre, both of whom now work as guides at the memorial. Dinner and overnight at Akagera Game Lodge.
You will take a full day game drive in Akagera National Park. During the game drive, there are plenty of animals to see including elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, zebras, hippos, crocodiles and many other mammal species. As one of the most scenic savannahs in East Africa, the game drive in Akagera provides you an opportunity to also view gentle hills blending beautifully with lowland swamps and water bodies. Dinner and overnight at Akagera Game lodge.
You will be transferred to Kigali for a tour around the Genocide Memorial Sites and the Markets around. Return to the lodge to freshen up as you wait for dinner and over night at Kigali Serena Hotel/ Hotel Des Mille Collines. Return to the lodge to freshen up as you wait for dinner and over night at Kigali Serena Hotel/ Hotel Des Mille Collines. Be transferred to airport for your next flight back Home.
