2-Day Akagera Safari and Rwanda Gorilla Trek with Musanze Stay

Pick up: 5:00 AM - Our professional driver-guide will pick you up by 5:00 AM after an early breakfast at your hotel for the drive east, which takes approximately 3 hours to reach the park.

Park: This national park is located along the eastern border of Rwanda, where the country's typically hilly countryside gives way to the savannas of the Great Rift Valley.

Landscape/Wildlife: Dominated by lakes, swamps, and marshland, the area boasts an exceptional concentration of nature and wildlife that cannot be found elsewhere in the country.

Park formalities: Your guide will handle the park registration and entry clearances at reception. After the formalities, you will begin your game drive from the southern sector, heading north.

Game drive: Early morning is the prime time to spot predators like lions and leopards returning from their night hunts, as well as elephants, buffalo, giraffes, zebras, and various antelope species grazing in the savanna.

Lunch: Head to the scenic Mihindi Cafe, beautifully situated inside the park overlooking Lake Mihindi. Here, you will take a relaxing break to stretch, enjoy a delicious cooked lunch, and watch hippos and crocodiles lounging by the lakeshores.

Safari: Continue your safari as you head toward the northern exit. The afternoon sun often brings animals down to the watering holes.

Tracking: Your driver-guide will use expert tracking skills to seek out rhinos and hidden prides of lions in the Kilala Plains.

Exit: Wrap up your northern safari loop with a final sweep across the plains before exiting through the northern gate. This allows you to experience a complete traversal of the park's diverse landscapes from south to north without backtracking.

Transfer: After exiting through the north gate, enjoy a scenic drive to Musanze city in the northern part of Rwanda, home to the mountain gorillas. You will reach Musanze in the late evening and check in to your lodge at Isange Paradise Resort, where you will stay for the night, resting and relaxing before the next day's mountain gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park.

Overnight: Stay overnight at Isange Paradise Resort.

Pick up/Transfer: Early in the morning, you will be picked up and driven for about 15 minutes to the Kinigi office for the gorilla trekking briefing, where you will meet your guides for the day.

Park formalities: After completing the park formalities, you will embark on a once-in-a-lifetime experience of trekking mountain gorillas.

Gorilla viewing: Once you spot them, you are allowed to spend one hour watching your closest long-lost cousins.

Experience: This is perhaps one of the most breathtaking wildlife experiences on earth. You get so close to these awesome giant primates, staring at each other in silence, not knowing who will break it first.

Trek: Trekking the gorillas through the light mountain forest on the slopes of the Virunga is a magical experience.

Gorillas: These massive primates are extremely rare, with fewer than 700 living today.

Time with gorillas: You will get within meters of the family and be privileged to spend an hour among them.

Duration/Strenuous: The trekking may be strenuous and can take up to six hours or longer.

What to bring: It is important to bring good hiking boots, long trousers, gloves for protection against stinging nettles, some snacks and sweets (for you, not the gorillas), as well as sufficient water, as the rainforest gets hot and humid during the day.

Return: After the ultimate gorilla trekking experience, you will return to the starting point of the trek, where you will find your driver. You will be driven back to your lodge for lunch, then check out and begin a scenic drive back to Kigali to your hotel of residence.