Breakfast in the Hotel.

Pick up from the hotel at 09:00hours for a City Tour of Kigali including visit to the Gisozi Genocide Memorial sites, the Richard Kandt Museum and local markets.  Return to the hotel for lunch and thereafter drive to Gisenyi arriving late afternoon to scenic African sunset over the lake.

Lake Kivu Serena Hotel – Serenely sited on the white sandy shores of Lake Kivu, the sixth largest lake in Africa, and surrounded by extensive tropical gardens, the tastefully open-plan Lake Kivu Serena Hotel offers the ideal holiday escape destination!

Within three hours’ drive from the Rwandan capital, Kigali and an hour’s drive from the glorious Volcanoes National Park, home of the world famous mountain gorillas, the hotel overlooks its own private beach and offers a variety of accommodation and hotel facilities.

Dinner and overnight at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel

05:00hrs transfer to Kinigi at the foot hills of the Virungas for your Gorilla Tracking expedition! Carry with you our carefully sorted and packed breakfast box complete with sufficient energy giving food to sustain you throughout the tracking trip.

07:00hrs briefing and allocation to a Gorilla Tracking Group. Then drive to the base of the trekking together with other guests allocated in the same gorilla family.  Once you have spotted the gorillas you are allowed only one hour and there after the return to the base, where you drive guide will be waiting. Depending on the time you come back you may opt to have lunch at either Mountain Gorilla View Lodge OR drive back  to your hotel for a hot lunch.

IMPORTANT – Hikers must be prepared to walk for up to 6 hours a day.  • Hikers must bring along their own personal hiking gear.

Volcanoes National Park – The park was first gazetted in 1925, as a small area bounded by Karisimbi, Visoke and Mikeno, intended to protect the gorillas from poachers. It was the very first National Park to be created in Africa.  The park later became the base for the American naturalist Dian Fossey to carry out her research into the gorillas. She arrived in 1967 and set up the Karisoke Research Centre between Karisimbi and Visoke.

Fossey’s life was later portrayed on the big screen in the film “Gorillas in the Mist”, named after her autobiography.  The park is best known for the Mountain Gorilla. Other mammals include: Golden monkey, Black-fronted Duiker, Buffalo, Spotted Hyena and Bushbuck. There are also reported to be some elephants in the park, though these are now very rare.  There are 178 recorded bird species, with at least 13 species and 16 subspecies endemic to the Virunga and Ruwenzori Mountains. All meals and overnight at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel.

Depart the hotel at 09:00 hrs, en-route you will have a stopover at the Iby Iwacu Cultural Center for first hand encounter of Rwandan culture and heritage.

Iby’ Iwacu Cultural Center – Offering an adventurous stay in a traditional rural, Rwandan village that has existed for centuries living with and next to mountain gorillas in Parc National des Volcans.  Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village gives you a rare chance to meet local people, in their environment, with a taste of our culture and traditions. The community you visit will genuinely welcome you as a special guest while they proudly present aspects of their traditions and beliefs. This will truly be an experience of a lifetime as you home stay with the community and become part of their family.

After the visit drive on to Kigali arriving in the afternoon.  Later transfer to the airport for your homebound flight. A Once in a Life Time Experience!