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Rwanda Safaris with Primate Safari Experiences

We offer the best gorilla trekking safaris & wildlife tours in Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills. Plan your Rwanda safari with Primate Safari Experiences,  the leading Eco-safari company in Africa. We offer guided small group tours in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Explore Rwanda with the Leading Eco-Safari Company

The Republic of Rwanda is known as the land of thousand hills, which is known for primate watching tours in two national parks of Volcanoes National Park and Nyungwe National Park that hosts the primates.

Let us plan for you a unique gorilla trekking safari into the Volcanoes National Park in northern Rwanda. We offer discounted gorilla trekking tours with stays in 3 to 5 star safari lodges. Would you like to go on a wildlife safari in Rwanda. Our safaris take you into Akagera National Park , Rwanda’s savanna game park as well as Nyungwe Forest National Park, one of Africa’s best places to see chimpanzees.

A safari to the volcano mountains of Rwanda is one of Africa best-kept travel secrets. Contact Us today and get started with planning your Rwanda Safari with a local Safari Company that has proven reviews and experience. Lots of experiences await you within the land of thousand hills .

Best Rwanda Safaris-Discover the Land of a Thousand Hills

Safaris in Rwanda are unique compared to gorilla trekking in Uganda and Democratic republic of Congo since they are easily accessible compared to the other two. Rwanda is more to green and hilly Rwanda than meets the eye: Gorilla Trekking tours start with the purchase of the gorilla watching permit that is valid for a specified date of your visit .

We do run purely exclusive gorilla trekking tours to Rwanda for private travelers that never wish for massive group trekking in Volcanoes national Park with local experienced park ranger during their visit to the gorillas.

The Volcanoes National park landscapes, colors, and Critters are ever changing like a story from Jurassic park and can be explored on Last Minute gorilla Safaris .

Bespoken Rwanda Gorilla Safaris  2024- 2025: Gorilla Tours

Come face to face with the mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park under the watch of the experienced rangers and porters. We do offer tailor made gorilla trekking tours with overnight stay in the wilderness of Volcano’s luxury lodges booked with Rwanda Safaris.

A Rwanda Safari is never complete without the visit to the Mountain gorillas in the wilderness of Rwanda.Looking for multi Safari activity visit while on a Rwanda Safari? We do offer the extensions to enjoy chimpanzee watching in Nyungwe forest national park and wildlife watching in Akagera National Park which is always coupled with relaxation at Lake Kivu found on the border of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo for boat cruise and Kayaking, Water Sports.

1 Day Rwanda Gorilla Trek

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

Explore the beauty of Volcanoes National Park on 1 day gorilla Safari Rwanda starting from Kigali at 4:30am  for ultimate experience of the gorilla Trekking with experienced ranger guides , safari guides of Rwanda Safaris at promotional Prices.

2 Days Gorilla Trek Rwanda

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

Book 2 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trek to enjoy gorilla trekking in  Volcanoes National park with an overnight stay in Five volcanoes Lodge lower luxury lodge with Rwanda Safari company based in Rwanda at affordable prices

3 Days Rwanda Gorilla Safari

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

Book 3 Days gorilla trek Rwanda for classic adventure to Volcanoes National Park with combined special activities like golden monkey , Ellen De Generes Campus Visit and  Gorilla guardian village at special offer rates for 2024.

Rwanda Safari tour

4 Days Rwanda Safari

Select and book 4 days Rwanda safari offers gorilla, golden monkey trekking & visit to lake Kivu – Rwanda the home for the primates to enjoy gorilla trekking , Golden monkey & lake Kivu at affordable rates from Rwanda Safaris.

Chimpanzee Tracking in Rwanda

6 Days Rwanda Safari

6 Days Rwanda safari offers a luxury gorilla trek & wildlife in Rwanda? Book this 6 days gorilla trekking & wildlife Safari to explore the best Rwanda attractions like the mountain gorilla, Big five animals.

8 days Rwanda luxury safari

7 Day Rwanda Luxury Safari

Secure a slot on 7 Days Rwanda Luxury Safari encompassing Gorilla trekking, Golden Monkey , Chimpanzee and Balloon Safari in Akagera National park with Experiences Experts from Rwanda Safaris.

1 Day Bwindi  Gorilla Trek

Rwanda Gorilla Trekking

Book 1 Day Gorilla Trek Bwindi to enjoy the cheaper way of gorilla trekking in Uganda’s top Mountain gorilla destination with Experienced safari guide of Rwanda Safaris on Last Minute.

2 Days Gorilla Trek Uganda

Rwanda Gorilla Trek

Visit the Mountain Gorillas in Mgahinga National Park in Uganda on 2 Days Mgahinga Gorilla Safari tour in similar vegetation cover like that of Volcanoes National Park  with Rwanda Safaris

BWINDI GORILLA TREKKING UGANDA

Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda

Rwanda Safaris offers 3 days Uganda gorilla safari to bwindi impenetrable national park with unique explore to the kigezi land in south western Uganda starting from Kigali.

Rwanda Safari Discounted Offers

Book with us now and enjoy our special offers on Gorilla Trekking tours for East African Citizen and foreign Resident , Conference travelers in Rwanda on discounted gorilla permit of $500USD and 1250% respectively Book a Group Gorilla Safari to Rwanda, Uganda & Congo that  come with a discount of 2% per person with a minimum of 5 pax

Both offers are available to clients who book with us in advance of 1-2 months. Offers are valid while they last 2023-2024!!

Best Rwanda Safaris 2023/24; Limitless gorilla watching opportunities

Rwanda safaris tailors unique wildlife watching tour and gorilla trekking on combined Rwanda safari tours offered by experts in adventures ! visit Akagera for Balloon Safaris & Boat cruise , par des volcanoes for Mountain Gorillas.

Masai Mara Game reserve

Rwanda Wildlife Tour

Explore the Big five animals in Akagera National park with Rwanda Safaris on 3 Days Rwanda wildlife Safari tour that encompasses the visit the wildlife and boat cruise on the magical Lake Ihema found in Akagera National park with experienced wildlife guide in Rwanda.

Mountain Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park

Rwanda Gorilla & Wildlife Tour

Rwanda Safaris has tailored the unique 6 days Rwanda Gorilla & Wildlife watching tour to go gorilla trekking in Volcanoes , golden monkey tracking,   Big five watching in Akagera National Park with the experienced local guide from Rwanda.

Burundi Safari Tour

Rwanda Gorilla & Burundi Safari

Book 9 Days Rwanda Gorilla & Burundi Safari to visit Gitega Cultural Centre , Kibira National park for Chimpanzees, Birding & Kigali City , Mountain Gorillas, Golden Monkey in Volcanoes Rwanda with the experienced Safari guide of Rwanda Safaris.

Wildlife watching in Tanzania

Luxury Tanzania & Rwanda Safari

Dont miss to feel the Tanzania wildlife &  Ngorongoro crater with add on to the visit to the Mountain Gorillas in the wilderness of Volcanoes National Park , Staying in Luxury lodges with Experts of Rwanda Safaris . Go Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park and history about Rwanda.

4 days Rwanda safari

Luxury Rwanda Safari

Luxury Rwanda Safari tour 7 days encompasses the visit to 3 national parks of Rwanda with Experienced safari guide of Rwanda Safaris to enjoy gorilla trekking, chimpanzee watching & Big five watching with experts.

Zanzibar Island

Gorilla Trek & Zanzibar Tour

Book Unique 14 Days Rwanda Zanzibar Adventure to enjoy gorilla trekking along side other primates in the wilderness of Rwanda, DR Congo & Relaxation on the beaches of Zanzibar in Tanzania with Rwanda Safaris to enjoy discounted prices

Uganda Gorilla Trekking

7 Days Congo Gorilla Safari

Rwanda Safaris tailors 7 days Congo gorilla Safari to compare the Mountain Gorillas and Eastern Lowland gorillas right from the habituation process to the open gorilla trekking with Rwanda Safaris.

Nyiragongo Volcano

3 Days Nyiragongo Hike

Book 3 Days Nyiragongo hike with Rwanda Safaris to trek the world's top volcanic mountain in Congo with overnight stay in the Cabins of Virunga national park . Get the best price offers for mountaineering tours.

Eastern Lowland Gorillas

3 Days Lowland Gorilla Trekking

Book 3 Days Eastern Lowland gorilla trekking tour to Congo with Rwanda Safaris to explore kahuzi Biega National park for the primate feel of DR Congo Starting from Kigali .

Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda, Uganda & Congo

Africa is the home to the Mountain Gorillas and these primates are found in Rwanda, Uganda, & Congo are the only destination where Mountain Gorillas are found and gorilla trekking is only done in 4 destinations that is par de Virunga , par des Volcano, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park & Mgahinga National park . 3/4 of the destinations are found within the Virunga Massif and Uganda hosts half of the world’s mountain gorillas.

Rwanda Safaris tailor Multi country gorilla trekking tours in Rwanda, Uganda & Congo to enjoy gorilla watching in Unique and stay in Luxury Lodges recommended by experts of Rwanda Safaris.

Best Rwanda Safari Lodges- Luxury Lodges & Hotels ; Rwanda Safaris

When you think of traveling to Rwanda  for your Gorilla safari, chances are you think of visiting Rwanda. This country is full of some incredible safari lodges, and indeed has the highest concentration of luxury safari lodges on the continent. So, where are the best safari lodges in Rwanda.

Amakoro Songa

Amakoro Songa    

Book Your night at Amakoro Songa while on Rwanda Gorilla trekking tour in Volcanoes National Park with the leading Eco Safari company called Rwanda Safaris.

Bisate Lodge

Bisate Lodge     

Book your Stay in Bisate Lodge in Volcanoes National Park to enjoy luxury relaxation in 5 star hotel with experts in tailoring gorilla Safaris in Rwanda the Rwanda Safaris. Contact us now

Bishops House

Bishop’s House   

Explore the Volcanoes National park on Gorilla Safari tour with Rwanda Safaris in an overnight stay at Bishops house in Musanze district at the most affordable prices!

Davinci Lodge

Da Vinci Gorilla lodge  

Book an overnight stay with Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge the experts in hospitality while on gorilla trekking tour in Rwanda is unique with Rwanda Safaris in the Volcanoes National Park.

How Can We Help You Plan your Trip?

Rwanda Safaris offers Unique pure primate Safaris to go gorilla trekking in Rwanda, Uganda, Congo. When it comes to Wildlife watching tours, we run big five watching in Kenya & Tanzania. These Combined Gorilla Safaris are customized based on your needs and interests for Small groups , Family travels with knowledgeable English speaking Guides.

We love helping people plan adventures to Rwanda, Gorillas, Chimps and Big five watching  in Rwanda with 10 years of experience, we can help you decide when to travel, where to go and what to add on.

Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda

Planning your Gorilla safari can be an enjoyable experience in Africa, but there are some important considerations to guide your gorilla tour preparations. These include choosing the best season, deciding what type of gorilla safari you’d like to undertake and where, and selecting accommodations.

The opportunity to track mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park is such an amazing wildlife experience regarded by most travelers as the highlight of any safari to Africa. To inspire you, we have crafted customizable itineraries to help you plan a gorilla safari , spend some time with these endangered gentle giants in the wild. Mountain Gorillas

With about 1050 mountain gorillas left in the world, Uganda and Rwanda harbor the largest population of these species however the gorilla groups in Virungas are easier to access than those living in Uganda’s impenetrable rain forest of Bwindi. Embark on a 3 hour drive from Kigali to the volcanoes , check in your lodge for dinner and overnight stay. Tracking the gorillas begins the next day, it takes a lot of effort as the bushes are thick with stinging nettles and steep slippery slopes and that’s why its always advisable to carry 4 bottles of water , a rain coat and rubber boots. You will enjoy a full hour in the midst of the gorillas taking pictures (no flash) and observing their way of living, feeding and resting.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

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Rwanda Gorilla Safaris

African Gorilla Trekking Safaris in Rwanda, Uganda & DR Congo With The  Best Safari Company.

Gorilla Trekking Reviews

Welcome to Rwanda Gorilla Safaris , a locally based tour operator offering discounted gorilla safaris and wildlife tours to the remote areas in East Africa.  We offer un-rivalled trips to see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo at affordable prices. We are known for offering memorable private safaris! We can tailor-make your gorilla safari with several other adventures that include chimpanzee tracking , wildlife safaris, golden monkey tracking, cultural tours, mountain climbing, and other special interest holidays.

Top Gorilla safaris and Wildlife Adventures in Uganda and Rwanda

Below are some of the popular gorilla safaris and wildlife tours in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

1 Day Gorilla Tour in Rwanda

https://www.rwandagorillasafaris.com/tourists-touched-by-baby-gorilla-in-rwanda

2 Day Rwanda Gorilla Safari

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3 Day Rwanda Gorilla Tour

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4 Day Gorilla Trek, Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu Beach - Gorilla Trek

5 Day Adventure (3 Treks)

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6 Day Biking, Gorilla Tour

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8 Day Rwanda Gorilla Tour

Lake Kivu Beach - Gorilla Trek

5 Day Uganda Rwanda Gorillas

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12Day Gorilla Expedition

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Uganda Safaris: Gorilla Trekking & Wildlife Tour Packages

Below are some of the popular gorilla safaris and wildlife tour packages in Uganda.

3 Day Uganda Gorilla Trek

Go gorilla trekking on the 3 days Uganda gorilla safari starting in Kampala or Kigali Rwanda to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest or Mgahinga National Park , the best gorilla safari destinations in the World. Itinerary  

5 Day Uganda Primates Safari

The 5 days Uganda Primates safari features a chimpanzee tracking or habituation experience in Kibale jungle and, and Gorilla trekking Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable forest. ITINERARY

10 Days Uganda at Its Purest

The 10 days Uganda safari allows you explore the country’s hidden treasures such as un-tamed wildlife, bird life, unique cultures and many more. Gorilla trekking in Bwindi National Park is the highlight of the safari. ITINERARY

African Jungle Adventures is one of the top tour operators organizing gorilla safaris to Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic. Based in both Kampala and Kigali, we offer amazing trips to the mountain gorillas in Africa. Since 2001, we have been conducting excellent trips to see the mountain gorillas in Africa at the best prices on the market! Our trips cater for all travelers including business travelers, holiday makers, honeymooners, photographers, researchers, families, groups and students among others.

Our team of tour consultants and tour guides is extremely knowledgeable and experienced. They can help you tailor make/plan your safari to best suite your travel time, budget and interests. We have a proven record of creating memorable gorilla trekking safaris in Africa given our excellent reviews on both TripAdvisor.com and SafariBookings.com. Check out our top safari offers for Rwanda and Uganda , see our specials, or customize your own gorilla safari – and reserve it all with a trusted established tour company!

Why Travel With Us?

We live and breathe our trips so that authenticity and attention to detail is second-to-none, just like your travel experiences should be.

Every booking made with us here at African Jungle Adventures is with a real person. We are available 7 days a week to customize your trip.

Huge Savings: Book one of our unique tour packages online with us and save today!

Our Safari Offers

Click here for more Safaris in Rwanda See our selection of best tours in Uganda Click here for Uganda Rwanda Combined tours

Where to Stay

Check out the different lodge options including luxury safari lodges

Places to Go

Discover the different national parks Chimpanzee Habituation

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What vehicles will we be traveling in? A: We use Toyota Land Cruisers such as Prado TX, Land Cruiser V8, GX and Hardtop Extended version for luxury and group safaris in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

Q: What type of accommodation will we be staying in? A: On every safari, you will experience a range of different accommodation types. These include quality hotels and motels, luxurious resorts, as well as peaceful and secluded wilderness safari camps and lodges. We categorize hotels and safari lodges as Budget, Mid Range and Luxury Options. While answering emails, we list these options to choose from basing on your budget.

Q: Do safari prices include all meals? A: Yes, the guided tour price is inclusive of all meals during the trip.

Q: Can we customize our itinerary? A: Yes! At African Jungle Adventures, we want you to have the experience of a lifetime and this means getting exactly what you want out of each adventure.

Q: What should I bring? We list out the different things to bring on your trip. Check out our recommended packing list .

Primate Safaris Rwanda

  • Gorilla Trekking
  • 2 Days Gorilla Safari Rwanda
  • 3 Days Volcanoes Gorilla Trekking
  • 4 Days Gorilla Tour & Lake Kivu
  • 4 Days Gorilla & Chimpanzee trekking
  • 5 Days Gorilla & Hiking Tour
  • 5 Days Gorilla & Wildlife Tour
  • 10 Days Rwanda Safari Adventure
  • 3 Day Uganda Gorilla tour
  • 3 Days Queen Elizabeth Safari
  • 3 Days Murchison Safari
  • 7 Days Uganda Gorilla Safari
  • 13 Days Uganda Wildlife Safari
  • 20 Days Gorilla trekking & Wildlife Safari
  • Kenya Safaris
  • 2 Day Virunga gorilla tour
  • 3 Days Gorilla & Nyiragongo Hike
  • 3 Days Lowland Gorilla Tour
  • 3 Days Nyiragongo Hike
  • 4 Days Mount Biega & Kahuzi Hiking adventure
  • 5 Days Lowland Gorilla Trek & Mount Hiking
  • 6 Days Congo Gorilla Trekking
  • Adventure Holidays
  • Gorilla Trek & Serengeti Safari
  • 3 Days Group Wildlife Tour
  • 4 Days Wildebeest migration & Craters
  • 7 Days Wildlife Safari Tanzania
  • Other Countries
  • 2 Days Double Gorilla Trekking
  • 4 Days Gorilla & Golden Monkey Habituation Tour
  • 4 Days Chimpanzee & Lowland gorilla Tour
  • 6 Days Rwanda & congo gorilla Tour
  • 6 Days Kenya , Tanzania & Rwanda Safari
  • 7 Days classic gorilla Tour
  • 10 Days Uganda & Okapi Wildlife tour
  • 14 Days Rwanda Gorilla & Tanzania Safari
  • Safari Guides
  • Payment Terms
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Get In Touch

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Primate Safaris Rwanda: Gorilla Trekking & Wildlife Tours in Rwanda & Uganda

Primate Safaris Rwanda is your guide to everything that makes Rwanda Safaris truly special. Visit a country known for its untamed Mountain Gorillas in Volcanoes, breathtaking  waters of Lake Kivu, and magnificent wildlife in Akagera National Park. We specializes in Gorilla Trekking Safaris, Chimpanzee watching & Golden monkey tours !

Visiting Africa’s primates is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding adventures that can be enjoyed while on a Rwanda Safari holiday to the  the world’s largest living primate ( Mountain Gorillas), which is an unforgettable event on gorilla safari Tour. Other lesser primates such as chimpanzees, lemurs, monkeys and baboons are all fascinating and immensely rewarding animals to visit while on Primate watching . Their interactions, communications, mobility and intelligence are all readily visible, and proof of our kinship with this amazing family of beautiful animals all possible to visit.

Enjoy Special offer for African Passport Holder Special Rates to Walk with the gorillas.

Source Credit: Visit Rwanda.

Why Go on a Safari in Rwanda?

Rwanda astounds with a diverse cultural life, various landscapes and an impressive wildlife including primates like the Mountain Gorillas , Chimpanzees and Golden Monkey. The vast of the savanna, the flicker of the Virunga Massif , stunning natural spectacles, a breathtaking starry sky in Akagera National park offering fascinating Big five Watching  and the warmth of its people leave no one unimpressed.

Ask the Experts for help to plan , book and travel with an Eco friendly, Conservation Safaris with flexible booking policies from Primate Safari Experiences. We accept payments via Credit Cards.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

GROUP ULTIMATE GORILLA TREKKING EXPERIENCE ?

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

MULTI COUNTRY ADVENTURES ?

Gorilla trekking in rwanda.

Interested in booking gorilla Safari in Rwanda? Awesome idea! We’ve been and we can tell you that it’s absolutely  worth as we guarantee 99% gorilla watching when booked your Gorilla Safari with us!  When you select to go gorilla trekking in Rwanda , its our expertise to tailor unique group and private gorilla trekking tours to Volcanoes national park   as we are known for Luxury Safaris in Rwanda with certified Safari Guides  that are registered with Rwanda Safari Guides Association and Uganda Tourism Guides Forum , Uganda Uganda Safari Guide’s Association.

99% Guaranteed Gorilla Watching!

During the 10 years experience in Business, Primate Safari Experiences Ltd, we have never registered any failure to see the gorillas in the wilderness of Rwanda, Uganda & Congo.

4 Days Rwanda Gorilla & Chimpanzee Trek

Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tours & Safaris 2023/2024

1  days rwanda gorilla safari.

Mountain Gorilla Tour in Rwanda

2 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trek

2 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trek

3 Days Gorilla Tour Rwanda

Ellen De Generes Campus

10 Days Rwanda Gorilla Safari

Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda

5 Days Gorilla & Big five watching

Rwanda Gorilla Trek

20 Days Rwanda Uganda Safari

Mountain Gorilla Trekking in Ugand

3 DAYS VOLCANOES GORILLA TREKKING

Explore Primates in Volcanoes National Park on 3 Days Rwanda Safari with Primate Safari Experiences to go gorilla trekking , Golden monkey Watching and Cultural visits Staying in Mid Range / Luxury Lodges with Certified Safari Guides of Primate Safari Experiences.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

12 DAYS CONGO GORILLA SAFARI

Plan and Book bespoken multi country adventure to compare the Mountain Gorillas & Eastern Lowland Gorillas on 12 Days Congo Gorilla Safari to Virunga National Park, Kahuzi Biega Starting from Kigali Rwanda. Find an Inclusive Africa Gorilla Trekking & Habituation Safari.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

5 DAYS LOWLAND GORILLAS & MOUNT HIKING

Find Unique Congo Safari Experience on 5 Days Congo gorilla trekking tour to visit the Eastern Lowland Gorillas in Kahuzi Biega National Park and Chimpanzee orphanage Center visit in Lwiro for Chimpanzee Watching , water falls visit with boat cruise on Lake Kivu.

Discover & Explore East Africa with Primate Safari Experiences

The great East Africa community where primate safari experiences operates include  Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi & DR Congo the last to join the block. All these destinations are ranked as the best tourism destination to visited on honeymoon, group adventures or family safari vacation without missing the gorilla trekking of the Mountain & eastern lowland Gorillas, Big five wildlife watching.  We would be happy to speak with you to create a tour that best fits your desires, budget and time frame, Call Us : +256392159498 . Email us: [email protected]

REPUBLIC OF RWANDA

What to do in rwanda.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking Chimps and other primates Lake Kivu – boating and island tours Rwandan Cultural Village Tours Kigali capital tour, Genocide Memorial Museum Congo Nile Trail

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Democratic republic of congo.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking Eastern Lowland Gorilla Nyiragongo Volcano Hike Mount Kahuzi & Biega Hike Chimpanzee Tracking & Feeding Wildlife Viewing in Okapi Reserve

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

What to do in uganda.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking Chimpanzee Tracking Chimpanzee Habituation Wildlife watching like tree climbing lions Mount Rwenzori & Elgon Hike Nature walks & Community visit Karamoja Cultural Experience

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

What to do in tanzania.

Wilde-beest Migration Chimpanzee Tracking Lion Tracking Wildlife watching like tree climbing lions Mountain Kilimanjaro Hike Nature walks & Cultural tours. White water Rafting

Multi Country Scheduled Safaris To DR Congo, Tanzania & Uganda

When it comes to Multi Country Primate Safaris covering DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda! We pride ourselves on the quality of our itinerary planning and our personal touch for Congo Primate Safaris . All the Congo Safaris are tailored depending on the Safety conditions of the Region and we only recommend Visitation to only Safe Places & national Parks for your Africa Adventure!

Your Congo gorilla Safari  needs to be a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience and absolutely perfect!  With our in-depth knowledge and many years of travel planning experience, we can ensure that it will be.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

20 Days Gorilla trekking & Wildlife Safari

Explore DR Congo on 3 Days Gorilla trekking & Hiking Nyiragongo Volcano in Virunga national Park with experienced park ranger of Virunga Foundations for unique view of the Active Volcano at affordable prices from Experts.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

7 DAYS WILDLIFE SAFARI TANZANIA

Plan and book  a combined 7 Days Rwanda gorilla trekking & Wildebeest migration in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania with Experienced Tanzania Safari Operator leading Luxury Safaris in Africa staying in luxury African Hotels &  lodges.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

7 DAYS RWANDA UGANDA GORILLA TOUR

Visit the Primates of Rwanda and Uganda on a multi country adventure tour of 7 Days Rwanda Uganda Gorilla Safari Tour to enjoy gorilla trekking and wildlife viewing of big five animals with the DMC in Primate Safaris the experts in Cross border Safaris.

rwanda gorilla trekking safari

8 DAYS GORILLAS AND TANZANIA WILDLIFE

Bespoken Small group Tanzania & Rwanda Gorilla Trekking safari tour to enjoy watching the big five and mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park staying in 5 star hotels with Certified Safari guides with the region traveling in Safari landcruiser!

Tour Operator and DMC since 2000. Book your primate adventure and African safari today. P rimate Safari Experiences LTD, a  local Safari Company specializing in organizing primate watching safaris in East and Central Africa. We offer gorilla safaris, chimpanzee safaris, golden monkey tracking, and other primates tours combined with wildlife, mountaineering trips and cultural aspects of each destination to maximize your enjoyment of your holiday!

Our team has expertise in planning and arranging primate safaris to East & Central Africa and you can use our professional expertise and knowledge at fingertips to plan a perfect holiday.

Primate Safari Experiences donates a percentage of each safari sold towards the conservation of endangered primates in Africa. We embrace ecotourism to ensure that these wonderful creatures can be protected for not only the present generation but also the future generation.

We are licensed by Uganda Tourism Board (UTB/RTT/TO/2020/00692) . We are a member of AUTO ( Association of Uganda Tour Operators) Registration Number 4052.

Please contact us and we would be happy to help and share our expertise with you.

Why Select to Travel with Us

Africa – A continent unique in its beauty, culture, terrain, and people and untouched in its teeming wildlife, spectacular wilderness and pristine, sandy beaches. Why Plan with us:

  • Our Knowledge
  • Professional Guides
  • Experienced Staff
  • Passionate about Africa
  • Value for Money

Find Us on Trip Advisor 

Primate Safaris Rwanda

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Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda

No other wildlife encounter matches the experience of spending time face-to-face with silverback gorillas. With 45 gorilla trekking adventures in Rwanda, you're sure to fall in love with these fascinating human-like creatures. Click here to see all gorilla treks .

Best Rwanda gorilla tours based on 35 reviews

5 Days Discover Rwanda & Gorilla Trekking Adventure Tour

  • Gorilla Trekking
  • Christmas & New Year

5 Days Discover Rwanda & Gorilla Trekking Adventure

Coming from trekking Gorillas in Rwanda. The trip was amazing from reservation offices to JP my guide ,everyone was nice and friendly . Liked most on customizing my trip with my preferences . Highly recommended.

9 Days Rwanda Gorilla Experience & Safari Tour

9 Days Rwanda Gorilla Experience & Safari

Where to even begin with this overwhelmingly amazing life-changing experience? Firstly, just DO it. Book it. It was worth it. This 9 day tour really opened our eyes to both the beauty and the historic tragedies of Rwanda. We were taken to literally every corner of Rwanda's gorgeous countryside after a tour through Kigali on Day 1. Admittedly, traveling during COVID-19 protocols with face masks made it a little miserable at times, and it's VERY strict right now in Rwanda, so if wearing masks is an issue for you, wait until that mandate is lifted. I personally have skin sensitivity issues and definitely a bit of claustrophobia when it comes to wearing a mask over my face and nose. I never really had to do it in our country consistently during the lockdown because I worked from home...so I didn't know how much this would bother me. Especially on the airplane going and leaving...but this is not part of our review of the tour itself. It is, however, a consideration for you travelers who may not have worn a surgical mask a whole lot. You will indeed have to do it the ENTIRE trip, even in a car...even outdoors. In terms of COVID tests- even the PCR, is very rapid in Rwanda, and you'll have your results very soon after you arrive. The tour company and our guide went out of their way to reorganize the trip around our final PCR test to see gorillas so that we could also use that one to leave on the international flight. But...the stress we felt entering a country full of unknowns, with a really big risk of testing positive (even falsely) for COVID, almost tipped the scale too far into the stress zone, and too far away from the fun zone. Still, we were committed to traveling and enjoying a vacation across the world after a year of lockdown. We were very excited to see something totally new and different. And that's what we got!  Pre-trip:  The tour company New Horizons is wonderful at communication through the TourRadar website. We really had no issues with them at all, and their responses to my questions were quick and thorough. They adjusted things a bit for the explosion of Nyiragongo, but we got to choose our level of activity and even got a private tour when it could have been a much larger group. I honestly think it turned out better in this way, because of the COVID thing...less travelers. We would have had a hard time if we got stuck on a tour with out of shape, or worse- obnoxious or rude people. In the grand scheme, we could never have done this trip without their expertise and guidance. The tour: I will begin my detailed and honest review of the tour itself by saying that we LOVED our driver Emmanuel. He is highly educated, articulate, and very proud of his country's heritage. He puts a great, smiling face to the tour company (when we rarely got a glimpse of it, because he was following mask protocol VERY strictly). He's soft spoken and was flexible when we wanted to modify a few things here and there. I have some critiques in my review below that will help you, the potential traveler, and also help him and the tour operator to do a bit better next time though. So beginning with Day 1: Emmanuel, as always, was right on time and congenial. He loves to help you learn a few words in Kinyarwanda like "good morning" and "thank you"...I loved learning about the history and the monuments, and really everything he said was riveting.  The biggest letdown of the tour though: the car that we had to ride in all week. It was a really elderly, poorly aligned Toyota Land Cruiser that squealed around right turns when taken above about 20mph. I was never completely confident about its braking either. I know now that this is what they are using for a two-person tour, but it has issues. We were expecting something like one of the newer Toyota Prados with nice leather seats, at least a decent cup holder or two, and maybe AC!  We were quite afraid we were going to be stranded on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere with a really big unknown of how to get help out there when the engine quit or the belt slipped off. There is also some sort of exhaust leak in the engine, because I felt sick quite often from the stinky fumes throughout the tour unless we were moving at a pretty high speed and the air from outside could come in. Despite the car's obvious alignment and fume issues, the interior seats were relatively comfy. I sat in the front as I am prone to motion sickness in cars, and I was glad I did with the windy roads. My husband sat in the back where the seats didn't recline at all, and there wasn't a great amount of leg room. It would have driven me crazy if I had to sit in this car in the back seat for the whole 9 days- there is a LOT of driving on this tour. Luckily, my husband didn't mind. This vehicle had that feel of a very, very old car to me. The seatbelts continually tighten on your lap to the point of discomfort because the shoulder reels are worn out after years of ground in dust and dirt and use. So yeah...the low point of the tour was being given this vehicle, after reading the only prior review that said it was going to be a "very nice Jeep". We were quite envious of the many other people we saw on tour who got to ride in amazing looking Land Rovers with actual air conditioning and windows that rolled up all the way. That would have seriously made our tour much better. That said, the weather was nice pretty much every day if not a little chilly except for that day in Kigali. That first day, driving around that city with the disgusting black soot coming out of every car and motorcycle, and diesel smoke just choking us, we really wished to have a car where the windows rolled up and AC would have worked.  I totally understand those tours where you ride in nicer cars were likely way more expensive, but we did spend over $9,000 for a two person tour, and subtracting the $1500 for gorilla permits, this was about $667 per day. The meals in Rwanda are relatively cheap, as are hotels (I looked up prices on Expedia). I realize that tour companies must make money and we respect our driver's need for a paycheck too. I don't think this tour was overpriced at all, for what it was. Especially considering that we'd have had zero clue what to do on our own. I just think that you really need to let people know ahead of time what the vehicle is like to set expectations. I would have gladly paid extra for a better vehicle, in which we could have been safer and felt more comfortable. In terms of the daily plan, and the communication with Emmanuel, at times it could have been better; we were clueless a lot of the time about meals, specifically- I ended up paying out of pocket for a few dinners on the tour, which I thought were supposed to all be included. Nothing huge, and no big deal though as we always worked it out in the end. There were reasons for one of those times- we just could not stomach the food at the Ken Barham guest house and I wanted wine, so he took us to a hotel to eat down the street. I felt very bad that night when I realized he'd had to stay with us much longer than he planned because of our need to eat elsewhere, and honestly the food wasn't any better there. But I did get some amazing wine! And I really appreciate that extra effort he put in that evening without any complaint. I suspect Ken Barham's food and drinks are why we suffered terrible gastrointestinal issues for almost the entire trip after that. But more on that place in a moment...I can't confirm it but that's where we started feeling VERY ill for several days. So that's it with the negative part of our review. It seems like it would be an easy fix with the car issue. Just ask the tour company prior to booking which vehicle you'll be traveling in and perhaps consider requesting some sort of upgrade if these types of things bother you too. If you must stay at the Ken Barham guest house, do NOT drink the tea. Only bottled water there. The overwhelming positives of the tour far outweighed the issues with the vehicle and that one lodge. Day 1, as I said, was the Kigali tour. It was hot and the city just chokes you with exhaust. This was especially exhausting after a VERY long flight from the western U.S. over the two days prior. Our first two days, we stayed in the Heaven Boutique hotel as a transit hotel (required per COVID protocol). They totally ripped us off by refusing to include meals after our test results came in, even after charging us almost $200 for the room service as part of the transit hotel deal, when Expedia was literally half that much for the same thing. But that wasn't part of the tour, so I guess that's just a word of caution if you use them. We REALLY liked the resort and the food was top notch, so it wasn't worth arguing over. We just let it go. New Horizons was nice enough to refund us the first night of their lodging costs so we could stay at the Heaven Boutique hotel and not have to repack for two days. Starting the tour, we were still jet lagged, and began that first tour day very tired. The first stop was at the monument to the Belgian peacekeeping soldiers, which was interesting. Ironic though, in my mind. The Belgians were the cause of the mass murders with this Hutu/Tutsi creation! But we do get the fact that they were trying to keep the peace, and these men died because of their service with the U.N. The next stop was the Genocide Memorial. A sad and awful part of the tour, but we saw it as necessary for context. The Belgian designation of the Hutu and Tutsi tribes was all an ill-fated product of failed imperialism. I think you should go see it, because it really highlights the amazing progress this country has made in the past two decades. After we did that tour, we went to a local restaurant for lunch and it was our first, confusing meal event on the tour. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to pay or what, and it was awkward at the checkout, but Emmanuel did pay eventually. I don't know if it's just an American thing, but I really like to be directed clearly, especially if it's the first day and we are all new to each other. It would've helped us a few times if Emmanuel just said something clear and direct like, "I have the bill for lunch at each stop, so after you get your food, just go on up and eat". Dinners are usually included, but not if you change the plans and want to eat elsewhere. This is not so much the tour's fault, or Emmanuel's, but really just the way I personally understand things best. Directive. I was in the U.S. military and that style seems to suit me...we had to guess what was going on about 30% of the time. The final stop for us that day was a strange, eclectic little art museum perched high on a hillside in the city. This stop would have been pleasant had it not been for the very high pressure of the artists themselves lurking in every room, sweating us like crazy to buy the ridiculously high priced work! I mean...$8,500 on an abstract painting may be someone else's cup of tea, but not mine! To make matters worse, we were probably literally the only visitors to that place in a long while, and you could just feel the desperation as they followed us around asking us what we liked about the art. Dan and I are very uncomfortable in these situations. I would have enjoyed strolling through the art and looking at the works...maybe asking an artist a question or two if I were actually interested, knowing the prices included shipping to the U.S. if I wanted anything...but that is not the way they do business. I say if you take visitors to that place again, talk to the owner about less pressure to buy. One comment from the owner at the door about shipping and prices would have sufficed, as there was absolutely no way we were going to buy anything in there. I was so worried I'd say something insulting in front of the artists!  I really do appreciate all sorts of artistry, but this wasn't a museum, this was like an ambush. We could not have gotten out of there fast enough. Honestly, I felt the same way about the market we visited in the morning, before the art place. Quite the cultural experience though!!! I never need to go into another African market. I felt overstimulated and borderline threatened by all the people pressuring me to buy everything and the unnecessary porters trying to charge tips for carrying your stuff. It was impossible to say "no" to them. Maybe my own issue...I can't stand big city markets and being the only white people getting stared at and followed around made it much worse. At that point, we just called it a day because we were totally exhausted from the air in the city and the very emotionally taxing memorials, and the high pressure at the market and art store. We went back to the Heaven resort and relaxed, had a massage, and ate dinner on our dime, since we bailed out of the tour early that day. Day 2 was mostly travel across the country to the rainforest. We were floored that it was going to be a straight 6+ hour drive, but it went really fast! There were so many interesting and colorful things to look at on the roads. The farms and the people are beautiful in Rwanda. We heard the story of the Kamegeri Rock, and it was interesting...but a little weird! A good introduction to the storytelling of Rwandan culture. We stopped and had an EXCELLENT tour at the King's Palace and the Kandt House. I think we did that the 2nd day...it's all sort of running together with the museums. We really enjoyed it all though. Eventually, we arrived at the canopy walk in the rain, just as they were closing and again a mis-communication. Emmanual mentioned something about "10 minutes," and we thought we were literally going to go out to an overlook and come back. I think what he meant was that there were 10 minutes left until the final departure on the tour. So we got out of the car kind of unprepared to walk for the better part of 2 hours in the cold rain in the forest! Still, because we took all of our gear (except my husband was wearing shorts and he would have changed), it turned out great. It was really cold! We thoroughly enjoyed the walk to the canopy though, after the long day in the car. When we got done, we tipped our two guides and headed out to the Ken Barham guest house. What a BEAUTIFUL spot in a tea plantation! And such nice, smiling faces. Such a friendly, awesome staff. Language was a big barrier, but we could communicate at least. They brought us a modem after much confusion over the internet, which was nice of them. We really wanted to like this guest house. However, there are some complaints. The food. Terrible...and we don't have high standards. Just food we can eat. The service at the restaurant was exceedingly weird. They didn't ask if you wanted anything to drink, and when we asked, they made it clear they had nothing to drink... so we walked back to the room to get a bottle of water...it took at least an hour to get anything to eat, and even if we pre-ordered for a certain time, the service was just weirdly slow. We got used to this in Rwanda. You cannot be in a huge hurry to eat. There didn't appear to be too many places (at least hotels) where food was quick. All well and good. We learned to exercise patience, which is not a common virtue in America. The beds were nice and comfy, but we struggled staying warm. It was freaking FREEZING that night, and there was barely one naked light bulb in that room. Nothing on the walls, and it was just a weird, weird place. Let's just be nice here and call that room "rustic". It was a bit like camping outdoors, but with a decent bed. There was obviously no heat or AC...all fine usually, but we were wet and muddy and tired. The shower took about 20 minutes to get hot, but at least it got hot. It was very, very rustic! The toilet didn't flush twice in a row unless you waited about 20 minutes, so our gastro problems were a real nightmare there. We became much closer as a couple...LOL. Anyhow, that place was where we stayed two nights in a row, and we really did enjoy the ambiance, but we were wicked sick the entire time. They also had zero cleaning service for the room. So our really dirty towels never got changed, and we had to ask for new ones, which they took hours to bring...and by that time, we had just reused the wet dirty ones.  Day 3 was a BRUTAL one. We LOVED it! If only we hadn't been so ill, it would have been much better...we would have felt much stronger. Truthfully, it could have been caused at Heaven, where they were refilling water bottles with "reverse osmosis" water that tasted a little off. That could have been where it started. Or the African coffee we drank with way too much ginger at the King's Palace. So we did two separate hikes this day- we started with chimps, and got so lucky! It was magical. A quick 20 minute trek and we were surrounded by chimps everywhere! A family group of about 25 joined us, and they were joined by many other amazing species of animals and plants. We were totally blasted tired from being ill, and being cold and rained on made it a lot harder, but this is why we came! To truly experience the RAIN forest. We certainly got what we came for! We had just enough time for a really, really slow lunch at the Ken Barham guest house. We went to the room to freshen up and rest a bit, and they took our hiking shoes! That was weird to do without asking us. I half thought someone had stolen them, and began to freak out! I think they were trying to solicit tips, and that's fine- I am totally OK with that, but the shoes were gone FOREVER and ever. It takes about 2 minutes to scrub mud off shoes, not an hour. We had to tiptoe around the building barefoot finally and find someone to get them back to go to lunch. They were our only shoes. This also happened at the last place we stayed! I think we were meant to walk in their rubber flip flops provided, but it was absolutely freezing and raining and we had to get lunch and meet Emmanuel for the second hike of the day.  This second hike was to the Isumo Waterfalls, and it was BRUTAL but AMAZING. This time we were joined on the tour by one very rich guest from One & Only, which is the exclusive resort near the hike. He was fun to hang with though. Some sort of Belgian aristocrat. We all had a really brisk hike...the guides were very broken with their English and really just dragged it out too long. We ran out of water, and we were really REALLY tired from jet lag, being sick, and the super early morning departure (0450), so we were kind of anxious to return from the falls quickly. So when he wanted to stop every 10 yards to give us a rundown on every plant and animal in extremely broken English, we were too polite to say "can we just walk please?" but our Belgian friend politely told them to hurry it up, because he had a COVID test to take. We were grateful. Back to Ken Barham and this was the night I cried Uncle on that food and had Emmanuel take us to a hotel. I mentioned this before. Poor Dan nearly fell asleep on the table, we waited so long for food. And there were only two other guests there in the huge restaurant! But the wine was great! Silver linings... Day 4 was our favorite day of the tour I think. This is hard to say, because chimp and gorillas and the helicopter tour at the end (which we added) were all super amazing too. But this was the day we got to Lake Kivu, took a cool tour through the Environmental Museum (very nice!) where we learned about the world's first industrial sized methane plant on Lake Kivu. Then, we took a quick bike ride with our adorable guide Bona, and then lunch at a very spectacular resort followed by a boat ride with the same awesome guide. We really enjoyed Bona, and hiking on Napoleon's island. It's full of bats!! We were SO amazed at those creatures, and the monkey island stop was fun, too. We really had quite the magical experience, and to top it all off, the Moriah Hill Resort was AMAZING. Dinner there was a welcome relief. We were basically back at a full 4 star resort, and the people were also fun to talk to. The room was great...all the more appreciated after the very rustic Ken Barham guest house. A hot shower and a flushing toilet were awesome, but the views! The views!!!   Day 5 was our least favorite day of the tour. I really can't describe how weird it was to be walked through the slums, constantly followed and stared at. Why did we do this?? The hike across town through a market wasn't as high pressure as the Kigali city market, but it was just weird to be stared at like that. The workers building a trench had dug up the path we were supposed to use, so we had to balance very carefully on a big pile of loose dirt over a 10' precipice on one side full of workers digging. They stared at us too. The whole thing was a little bizarre. We walked through fields of bamboo and heard the church choir singing...that was kind of cool! We also could see over the entire town of Ribavu from the top, and the DRC town of Goma in the distance. I sincerely wish that was as close as we got to it...but the guide (a very nice kid!) took us directly through the beat up, washed out, volcano-earthquake-gutted downtown. This is where it got so weird, it was scary. We were very grateful to have our guide, but sweating this very much. My stomach was doing flip flops. So we went traipsing through the slums, and I truly felt unsafe for the first time on the tour. This part seemed to drag on for hours. We were VERY anxious to say the least, to see Emmanuel and the car. When we finally got through that city and he was there, I sighed with relief, but it wasn't over! He drove us to the middle of another weird place right at the border, so we could view the "last house in Rwanda". There were really menacing looking armed guards everywhere, the streets were just running with mud and dirty children and lots of people staring at us and following us and demanding money. This is all during an outbreak of COVID at the border, so we really did not understand why we were there, doing any of this on foot. Not only gutted by the earthquakes from the recent volcanic eruptions, it was also the poorest and most depressing place we saw while in Rwanda. After we finally got back in the car, we went to lunch at a sketchy little place, and we were a little more comfortable there, but then the guide took us back through the absolute WORST neighborhood imaginable after lunch, where hungry kids were wallowing in the mud. We gave out the leftovers from our lunch and that was a light moment among the darkness. The kids who received the food smiled and devoured it with their friends and family, and it was truly heartbreaking because we can't feed or save all of them. The houses on one strip of town near this poverty-stricken village were super exotic mansions and the juxtaposition of the muddy slums right next door was a chilling reality check for us as we walked through on FOOT. This is the place where the "haves" versus the "have-nots" is very much a sickening reality. Rubavu and especially Goma was a terrible, awful sight with a smoking, active volcano looming just above the cities. The whole border town had an unfriendly vibe to us white Westerners...kind of an other-worldly, poverty stricken, post apocalyptic, dystopian feel. Our tummies by this point were revolting completely because we were very ill, so the quick tour of the methane plant and the hot springs was even quicker, as we asked to go to the hotel. We had no interest in going to sit in a hot spring when we had just seen the sludge pouring into the lake from the very nearby Heineken factory. There weren't even fish around the area where we stayed, presumably because of this sludge! The Paradis Malahide resort was super fun, and very cute...but the fact that we saw the sludge and the lack of fish there kind of gave it a bitter aftertaste. Still, we had a great time. We had to switch rooms for bad plumbing, but the little huts were pretty, and right on the lake. The dinner was great and the service was even better there. We had so much fun hanging with some crazy Slovakians after dinner...that may have been the highlight of the trip. We loved breakfast in the morning too. All in all, a VERY stressful day ended well. We started feeling better after that night. Maybe the food and drink was just higher quality there, and for the rest of the tour. Day 6 was the transfer to Musanze, which was our driver's hometown. Definitely by far the nicest city we visited. The stopover at the pottery place was so cool! They danced and sang for us, and we got to watch them make pots out of clay from the earth. We didn't know until after that tour that these people were newly integrated indigenous people. That made it all the more intriguing to meet them and interact with them. We really fell in love with the restaurant we ate at for lunch, and had a good night of sleep in the Gorillas Volcanoes hotel. It was really weirdly empty for such a big place because of COVID, which was kind of depressing though. Part of the reason we travel internationally is to meet other guests from other countries and interact with people from everywhere. Anyhow, I can't seem to place this in the right day or the right part of the day when we traveled to Musanze, but the sorghum beer making experience was also super fun! How crazy, the way they do it by hand!! I couldn't taste it though- my tummy was completely in knots and I was afraid of getting even more ill, or worse- contracting a new strain of COVID by sharing a cup with strangers. But Emmanuel was nice enough to drive us to a store where I could buy a can of it made in a factory. Also, the huge hike to the overlook of the twin lakes during this day was really spectacular, and we had a lot of fun! We thought this for sure would be the hardest hike of the tour, but we were WAY wrong. It was a VERY busy and strenuous day...like all the others on our tour. We were certainly never ever bored! Day 7 was a very, very long and strenuous hike, which we totally loved. We really had the whole Rwandan farmer culture put into a startling context as we carried nothing but a light day pack to the top of this beautiful mountain, and we could barely make it. And I mean it...the climb was grueling, and my knees are not getting any younger, so the hike down was even harder. Even at age 50 and 42, we still consider ourselves great athletes by Western standards!! We do yoga and strenuous exercise daily, and spend the whole winter on skis, with mountain bike racing in the spring. I am an Ironman triathlete who's competed many times, including a full long-course tri! My husband has spent his whole life riding a bike every day. And this blew us away...this hike. I won't bore you with all the details, but we had fun with the kids along the way, and at the top it was very very cold, so if you go on this event, pack an extra jacket. We had a very slow meal there, but the ambiance was amazing, despite the teeth-chattering cold. They also tried to feed us like we were teenage boys. It was like a four course meal! I didn't know this going in, and ate extra soup which was warm and delicious. But that was only the appetizer. I thought that was going to be lunch. I felt rude but I could barely eat any of the beef and veggies and rice and certainly couldn't stuff in all the fruit salad for dessert. I couldn't believe people packed all of that stuff up to the top of that peak! It was truly awesome. Walking down hurt, and we were sore and tired after that. It was like an 8 hour day of hiking almost continuously, except for the aforementioned lunch. Needless to say, we slept well that night at the hotel! Day 8 was the biggest event of the trip: the gorilla trekking. Our guide for the day was amazing! I loved Edward. I also thought the whole thing was just a surreal, and amazing adventure. We left the starting point and the hike to the gorillas was so picturesque! I thought it couldn't get prettier in this country but it did! We actually encountered a big herd of wild buffalo in our path, so we were grateful to have not only guide and trackers, but four armed military men with us. They got the herd to move and we went on our way. The gorilla family we met was just...stunning. Too much joy to even express that hour of our lives, but we will never forget it. Just do it! The expense is a lot for most of us, but it really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it goes towards conservation projects for the gorillas. In the afternoon, we transferred to the Rusiga Highland Resort where we enjoyed the views through the haze and mist. The dinner was slow but good.  Day 9 was our departure from the Rusiga Highland Resort, to the airport. This was our final day and we decided to splurge and book a helicopter tour around the Akagera game reserve. So we were kind of anxious when our guide appeared to no-show on us. Later, we realized it had just been another communication breakdown. We had quite the language/culture barrier with the people who worked at the resort. Our guide told us to meet him at 11 a.m. but didn't mention anything about meals. He apparently ended up coordinating with the hotel staff to feed us lunch there before our departure...but nothing was ever said to us. We assumed we were eating somewhere enroute to Kigali. So in the morning, we got up and ate breakfast, got packed, and stood for an entire hour with our bags from 11-12 getting more and more worried about Emmanuel while the hotel staff just sat around looking at us. It was so weird! No one mentioned lunch or anything. Emmanuel showed up and asked us why we hadn't eaten, and we were like...ummm huh? But all was corrected swiftly. The restaurant he took us to was actually delicious and quick, and best of all, had great coffee! We had a power outage at the resort, and the coffee turned into sludge at breakfast. We are coffee people, so this stop was greatly appreciated. It was sad to say goodbye to Emmanuel after all the adventures we had together, but he got us to the helicopter ride on time, and we had a fabulous ride with Akagera Aviation, flying low over the beautiful wildlife in the reserve. I couldn't imagine a better way to tie up our trip.  So I hope this review helps both the tour company and potential visitors!

7 Days Rwanda Gorillas & Chimps  Trekking Tour Tour

7 Days Rwanda Gorillas & Chimps Trekking Tour

Great tour. A lot was packed into tour and was able to do all the things I wanted to.
  • 10% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

8 Days Rwanda Gorillas, Chimps, Dian Fossey Tour Tour

  • Hiking & Trekking

8 Days Rwanda Gorillas, Chimps, Dian Fossey Tour

Nicholas my guide was fantastic, he gave me all the information I needed to set me up for the day the evening prior. The experience was fantastic, accomodation was perfect, I had a fantastic 8 days in Rwanda.

5 Days/4 Nights  Rwanda Gorilla & Lake Kivu Tour Tour

5 Days/4 Nights Rwanda Gorilla & Lake Kivu Tour

5-Day / 4 Nights Remarkable Rwanda Tour Tour

5-Day / 4 Nights Remarkable Rwanda Tour

Tailor-Made Private Rwanda Gorilla Trip with Daily Departure Tour

Tailor-Made Private Rwanda Gorilla Trip with Daily Departure

  • Book With Flexibility This operator allows you to rebook your dates or tours with them for free, waiving change fees.

The Volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains, Gorillas and along Lake Kivu Tour

  • Wildlife Trekking

The Volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains, Gorillas and along Lake Kivu

3 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari. Tour

3 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari.

Gorilla Express - 4 days Tour

Gorilla Express - 4 days

3 days Rwanda gorillas and golden monkeys tracking tour. Tour

3 days Rwanda gorillas and golden monkeys tracking tour.

Remarkable Rwanda Tour

  • Jungle Trekking

Remarkable Rwanda

4 Days Budget Mountain Gorilla tour Tour

4 Days Budget Mountain Gorilla tour

3 Days Rwanda Gorilla Tour Tour

3 Days Rwanda Gorilla Tour

The Gorilla Stop Tour

  • Overland Truck

The Gorilla Stop

Incredible experience with wonderful guide and driver :)

What people love about Gorilla Trekking Tours in Rwanda

Where to even begin with this overwhelmingly amazing life-changing experience? Firstly, just DO it. Book it. It was worth it. This 9 day tour really opened our eyes to both the beauty and the historic tragedies of Rwanda. We were taken to literally every corner of Rwanda's gorgeous countryside after a tour through Kigali on Day 1. Admittedly, traveling during COVID-19 protocols with face masks made it a little miserable at times, and it's VERY strict right now in Rwanda, so if wearing masks is an issue for you, wait until that mandate is lifted. I personally have skin sensitivity issues and definitely a bit of claustrophobia when it comes to wearing a mask over my face and nose. I never really had to do it in our country consistently during the lockdown because I worked from home...so I didn't know how much this would bother me. Especially on the airplane going and leaving...but this is not part of our review of the tour itself. It is, however, a consideration for you travelers who may not have worn a surgical mask a whole lot. You will indeed have to do it the ENTIRE trip, even in a car...even outdoors. In terms of COVID tests- even the PCR, is very rapid in Rwanda, and you'll have your results very soon after you arrive. The tour company and our guide went out of their way to reorganize the trip around our final PCR test to see gorillas so that we could also use that one to leave on the international flight. But...the stress we felt entering a country full of unknowns, with a really big risk of testing positive (even falsely) for COVID, almost tipped the scale too far into the stress zone, and too far away from the fun zone. Still, we were committed to traveling and enjoying a vacation across the world after a year of lockdown. We were very excited to see something totally new and different. And that's what we got!  Pre-trip:  The tour company New Horizons is wonderful at communication through the TourRadar website. We really had no issues with them at all, and their responses to my questions were quick and thorough. They adjusted things a bit for the explosion of Nyiragongo, but we got to choose our level of activity and even got a private tour when it could have been a much larger group. I honestly think it turned out better in this way, because of the COVID thing...less travelers. We would have had a hard time if we got stuck on a tour with out of shape, or worse- obnoxious or rude people. In the grand scheme, we could never have done this trip without their expertise and guidance. The tour: I will begin my detailed and honest review of the tour itself by saying that we LOVED our driver Emmanuel. He is highly educated, articulate, and very proud of his country's heritage. He puts a great, smiling face to the tour company (when we rarely got a glimpse of it, because he was following mask protocol VERY strictly). He's soft spoken and was flexible when we wanted to modify a few things here and there. I have some critiques in my review below that will help you, the potential traveler, and also help him and the tour operator to do a bit better next time though. So beginning with Day 1: Emmanuel, as always, was right on time and congenial. He loves to help you learn a few words in Kinyarwanda like "good morning" and "thank you"...I loved learning about the history and the monuments, and really everything he said was riveting.  The biggest letdown of the tour though: the car that we had to ride in all week. It was a really elderly, poorly aligned Toyota Land Cruiser that squealed around right turns when taken above about 20mph. I was never completely confident about its braking either. I know now that this is what they are using for a two-person tour, but it has issues. We were expecting something like one of the newer Toyota Prados with nice leather seats, at least a decent cup holder or two, and maybe AC!  We were quite afraid we were going to be stranded on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere with a really big unknown of how to get help out there when the engine quit or the belt slipped off. There is also some sort of exhaust leak in the engine, because I felt sick quite often from the stinky fumes throughout the tour unless we were moving at a pretty high speed and the air from outside could come in. Despite the car's obvious alignment and fume issues, the interior seats were relatively comfy. I sat in the front as I am prone to motion sickness in cars, and I was glad I did with the windy roads. My husband sat in the back where the seats didn't recline at all, and there wasn't a great amount of leg room. It would have driven me crazy if I had to sit in this car in the back seat for the whole 9 days- there is a LOT of driving on this tour. Luckily, my husband didn't mind. This vehicle had that feel of a very, very old car to me. The seatbelts continually tighten on your lap to the point of discomfort because the shoulder reels are worn out after years of ground in dust and dirt and use. So yeah...the low point of the tour was being given this vehicle, after reading the only prior review that said it was going to be a "very nice Jeep". We were quite envious of the many other people we saw on tour who got to ride in amazing looking Land Rovers with actual air conditioning and windows that rolled up all the way. That would have seriously made our tour much better. That said, the weather was nice pretty much every day if not a little chilly except for that day in Kigali. That first day, driving around that city with the disgusting black soot coming out of every car and motorcycle, and diesel smoke just choking us, we really wished to have a car where the windows rolled up and AC would have worked.  I totally understand those tours where you ride in nicer cars were likely way more expensive, but we did spend over $9,000 for a two person tour, and subtracting the $1500 for gorilla permits, this was about $667 per day. The meals in Rwanda are relatively cheap, as are hotels (I looked up prices on Expedia). I realize that tour companies must make money and we respect our driver's need for a paycheck too. I don't think this tour was overpriced at all, for what it was. Especially considering that we'd have had zero clue what to do on our own. I just think that you really need to let people know ahead of time what the vehicle is like to set expectations. I would have gladly paid extra for a better vehicle, in which we could have been safer and felt more comfortable. In terms of the daily plan, and the communication with Emmanuel, at times it could have been better; we were clueless a lot of the time about meals, specifically- I ended up paying out of pocket for a few dinners on the tour, which I thought were supposed to all be included. Nothing huge, and no big deal though as we always worked it out in the end. There were reasons for one of those times- we just could not stomach the food at the Ken Barham guest house and I wanted wine, so he took us to a hotel to eat down the street. I felt very bad that night when I realized he'd had to stay with us much longer than he planned because of our need to eat elsewhere, and honestly the food wasn't any better there. But I did get some amazing wine! And I really appreciate that extra effort he put in that evening without any complaint. I suspect Ken Barham's food and drinks are why we suffered terrible gastrointestinal issues for almost the entire trip after that. But more on that place in a moment...I can't confirm it but that's where we started feeling VERY ill for several days. So that's it with the negative part of our review. It seems like it would be an easy fix with the car issue. Just ask the tour company prior to booking which vehicle you'll be traveling in and perhaps consider requesting some sort of upgrade if these types of things bother you too. If you must stay at the Ken Barham guest house, do NOT drink the tea. Only bottled water there. The overwhelming positives of the tour far outweighed the issues with the vehicle and that one lodge. Day 1, as I said, was the Kigali tour. It was hot and the city just chokes you with exhaust. This was especially exhausting after a VERY long flight from the western U.S. over the two days prior. Our first two days, we stayed in the Heaven Boutique hotel as a transit hotel (required per COVID protocol). They totally ripped us off by refusing to include meals after our test results came in, even after charging us almost $200 for the room service as part of the transit hotel deal, when Expedia was literally half that much for the same thing. But that wasn't part of the tour, so I guess that's just a word of caution if you use them. We REALLY liked the resort and the food was top notch, so it wasn't worth arguing over. We just let it go. New Horizons was nice enough to refund us the first night of their lodging costs so we could stay at the Heaven Boutique hotel and not have to repack for two days. Starting the tour, we were still jet lagged, and began that first tour day very tired. The first stop was at the monument to the Belgian peacekeeping soldiers, which was interesting. Ironic though, in my mind. The Belgians were the cause of the mass murders with this Hutu/Tutsi creation! But we do get the fact that they were trying to keep the peace, and these men died because of their service with the U.N. The next stop was the Genocide Memorial. A sad and awful part of the tour, but we saw it as necessary for context. The Belgian designation of the Hutu and Tutsi tribes was all an ill-fated product of failed imperialism. I think you should go see it, because it really highlights the amazing progress this country has made in the past two decades. After we did that tour, we went to a local restaurant for lunch and it was our first, confusing meal event on the tour. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to pay or what, and it was awkward at the checkout, but Emmanuel did pay eventually. I don't know if it's just an American thing, but I really like to be directed clearly, especially if it's the first day and we are all new to each other. It would've helped us a few times if Emmanuel just said something clear and direct like, "I have the bill for lunch at each stop, so after you get your food, just go on up and eat". Dinners are usually included, but not if you change the plans and want to eat elsewhere. This is not so much the tour's fault, or Emmanuel's, but really just the way I personally understand things best. Directive. I was in the U.S. military and that style seems to suit me...we had to guess what was going on about 30% of the time. The final stop for us that day was a strange, eclectic little art museum perched high on a hillside in the city. This stop would have been pleasant had it not been for the very high pressure of the artists themselves lurking in every room, sweating us like crazy to buy the ridiculously high priced work! I mean...$8,500 on an abstract painting may be someone else's cup of tea, but not mine! To make matters worse, we were probably literally the only visitors to that place in a long while, and you could just feel the desperation as they followed us around asking us what we liked about the art. Dan and I are very uncomfortable in these situations. I would have enjoyed strolling through the art and looking at the works...maybe asking an artist a question or two if I were actually interested, knowing the prices included shipping to the U.S. if I wanted anything...but that is not the way they do business. I say if you take visitors to that place again, talk to the owner about less pressure to buy. One comment from the owner at the door about shipping and prices would have sufficed, as there was absolutely no way we were going to buy anything in there. I was so worried I'd say something insulting in front of the artists!  I really do appreciate all sorts of artistry, but this wasn't a museum, this was like an ambush. We could not have gotten out of there fast enough. Honestly, I felt the same way about the market we visited in the morning, before the art place. Quite the cultural experience though!!! I never need to go into another African market. I felt overstimulated and borderline threatened by all the people pressuring me to buy everything and the unnecessary porters trying to charge tips for carrying your stuff. It was impossible to say "no" to them. Maybe my own issue...I can't stand big city markets and being the only white people getting stared at and followed around made it much worse. At that point, we just called it a day because we were totally exhausted from the air in the city and the very emotionally taxing memorials, and the high pressure at the market and art store. We went back to the Heaven resort and relaxed, had a massage, and ate dinner on our dime, since we bailed out of the tour early that day. Day 2 was mostly travel across the country to the rainforest. We were floored that it was going to be a straight 6+ hour drive, but it went really fast! There were so many interesting and colorful things to look at on the roads. The farms and the people are beautiful in Rwanda. We heard the story of the Kamegeri Rock, and it was interesting...but a little weird! A good introduction to the storytelling of Rwandan culture. We stopped and had an EXCELLENT tour at the King's Palace and the Kandt House. I think we did that the 2nd day...it's all sort of running together with the museums. We really enjoyed it all though. Eventually, we arrived at the canopy walk in the rain, just as they were closing and again a mis-communication. Emmanual mentioned something about "10 minutes," and we thought we were literally going to go out to an overlook and come back. I think what he meant was that there were 10 minutes left until the final departure on the tour. So we got out of the car kind of unprepared to walk for the better part of 2 hours in the cold rain in the forest! Still, because we took all of our gear (except my husband was wearing shorts and he would have changed), it turned out great. It was really cold! We thoroughly enjoyed the walk to the canopy though, after the long day in the car. When we got done, we tipped our two guides and headed out to the Ken Barham guest house. What a BEAUTIFUL spot in a tea plantation! And such nice, smiling faces. Such a friendly, awesome staff. Language was a big barrier, but we could communicate at least. They brought us a modem after much confusion over the internet, which was nice of them. We really wanted to like this guest house. However, there are some complaints. The food. Terrible...and we don't have high standards. Just food we can eat. The service at the restaurant was exceedingly weird. They didn't ask if you wanted anything to drink, and when we asked, they made it clear they had nothing to drink... so we walked back to the room to get a bottle of water...it took at least an hour to get anything to eat, and even if we pre-ordered for a certain time, the service was just weirdly slow. We got used to this in Rwanda. You cannot be in a huge hurry to eat. There didn't appear to be too many places (at least hotels) where food was quick. All well and good. We learned to exercise patience, which is not a common virtue in America. The beds were nice and comfy, but we struggled staying warm. It was freaking FREEZING that night, and there was barely one naked light bulb in that room. Nothing on the walls, and it was just a weird, weird place. Let's just be nice here and call that room "rustic". It was a bit like camping outdoors, but with a decent bed. There was obviously no heat or AC...all fine usually, but we were wet and muddy and tired. The shower took about 20 minutes to get hot, but at least it got hot. It was very, very rustic! The toilet didn't flush twice in a row unless you waited about 20 minutes, so our gastro problems were a real nightmare there. We became much closer as a couple...LOL. Anyhow, that place was where we stayed two nights in a row, and we really did enjoy the ambiance, but we were wicked sick the entire time. They also had zero cleaning service for the room. So our really dirty towels never got changed, and we had to ask for new ones, which they took hours to bring...and by that time, we had just reused the wet dirty ones.  Day 3 was a BRUTAL one. We LOVED it! If only we hadn't been so ill, it would have been much better...we would have felt much stronger. Truthfully, it could have been caused at Heaven, where they were refilling water bottles with "reverse osmosis" water that tasted a little off. That could have been where it started. Or the African coffee we drank with way too much ginger at the King's Palace. So we did two separate hikes this day- we started with chimps, and got so lucky! It was magical. A quick 20 minute trek and we were surrounded by chimps everywhere! A family group of about 25 joined us, and they were joined by many other amazing species of animals and plants. We were totally blasted tired from being ill, and being cold and rained on made it a lot harder, but this is why we came! To truly experience the RAIN forest. We certainly got what we came for! We had just enough time for a really, really slow lunch at the Ken Barham guest house. We went to the room to freshen up and rest a bit, and they took our hiking shoes! That was weird to do without asking us. I half thought someone had stolen them, and began to freak out! I think they were trying to solicit tips, and that's fine- I am totally OK with that, but the shoes were gone FOREVER and ever. It takes about 2 minutes to scrub mud off shoes, not an hour. We had to tiptoe around the building barefoot finally and find someone to get them back to go to lunch. They were our only shoes. This also happened at the last place we stayed! I think we were meant to walk in their rubber flip flops provided, but it was absolutely freezing and raining and we had to get lunch and meet Emmanuel for the second hike of the day.  This second hike was to the Isumo Waterfalls, and it was BRUTAL but AMAZING. This time we were joined on the tour by one very rich guest from One & Only, which is the exclusive resort near the hike. He was fun to hang with though. Some sort of Belgian aristocrat. We all had a really brisk hike...the guides were very broken with their English and really just dragged it out too long. We ran out of water, and we were really REALLY tired from jet lag, being sick, and the super early morning departure (0450), so we were kind of anxious to return from the falls quickly. So when he wanted to stop every 10 yards to give us a rundown on every plant and animal in extremely broken English, we were too polite to say "can we just walk please?" but our Belgian friend politely told them to hurry it up, because he had a COVID test to take. We were grateful. Back to Ken Barham and this was the night I cried Uncle on that food and had Emmanuel take us to a hotel. I mentioned this before. Poor Dan nearly fell asleep on the table, we waited so long for food. And there were only two other guests there in the huge restaurant! But the wine was great! Silver linings... Day 4 was our favorite day of the tour I think. This is hard to say, because chimp and gorillas and the helicopter tour at the end (which we added) were all super amazing too. But this was the day we got to Lake Kivu, took a cool tour through the Environmental Museum (very nice!) where we learned about the world's first industrial sized methane plant on Lake Kivu. Then, we took a quick bike ride with our adorable guide Bona, and then lunch at a very spectacular resort followed by a boat ride with the same awesome guide. We really enjoyed Bona, and hiking on Napoleon's island. It's full of bats!! We were SO amazed at those creatures, and the monkey island stop was fun, too. We really had quite the magical experience, and to top it all off, the Moriah Hill Resort was AMAZING. Dinner there was a welcome relief. We were basically back at a full 4 star resort, and the people were also fun to talk to. The room was great...all the more appreciated after the very rustic Ken Barham guest house. A hot shower and a flushing toilet were awesome, but the views! The views!!!   Day 5 was our least favorite day of the tour. I really can't describe how weird it was to be walked through the slums, constantly followed and stared at. Why did we do this?? The hike across town through a market wasn't as high pressure as the Kigali city market, but it was just weird to be stared at like that. The workers building a trench had dug up the path we were supposed to use, so we had to balance very carefully on a big pile of loose dirt over a 10' precipice on one side full of workers digging. They stared at us too. The whole thing was a little bizarre. We walked through fields of bamboo and heard the church choir singing...that was kind of cool! We also could see over the entire town of Ribavu from the top, and the DRC town of Goma in the distance. I sincerely wish that was as close as we got to it...but the guide (a very nice kid!) took us directly through the beat up, washed out, volcano-earthquake-gutted downtown. This is where it got so weird, it was scary. We were very grateful to have our guide, but sweating this very much. My stomach was doing flip flops. So we went traipsing through the slums, and I truly felt unsafe for the first time on the tour. This part seemed to drag on for hours. We were VERY anxious to say the least, to see Emmanuel and the car. When we finally got through that city and he was there, I sighed with relief, but it wasn't over! He drove us to the middle of another weird place right at the border, so we could view the "last house in Rwanda". There were really menacing looking armed guards everywhere, the streets were just running with mud and dirty children and lots of people staring at us and following us and demanding money. This is all during an outbreak of COVID at the border, so we really did not understand why we were there, doing any of this on foot. Not only gutted by the earthquakes from the recent volcanic eruptions, it was also the poorest and most depressing place we saw while in Rwanda. After we finally got back in the car, we went to lunch at a sketchy little place, and we were a little more comfortable there, but then the guide took us back through the absolute WORST neighborhood imaginable after lunch, where hungry kids were wallowing in the mud. We gave out the leftovers from our lunch and that was a light moment among the darkness. The kids who received the food smiled and devoured it with their friends and family, and it was truly heartbreaking because we can't feed or save all of them. The houses on one strip of town near this poverty-stricken village were super exotic mansions and the juxtaposition of the muddy slums right next door was a chilling reality check for us as we walked through on FOOT. This is the place where the "haves" versus the "have-nots" is very much a sickening reality. Rubavu and especially Goma was a terrible, awful sight with a smoking, active volcano looming just above the cities. The whole border town had an unfriendly vibe to us white Westerners...kind of an other-worldly, poverty stricken, post apocalyptic, dystopian feel. Our tummies by this point were revolting completely because we were very ill, so the quick tour of the methane plant and the hot springs was even quicker, as we asked to go to the hotel. We had no interest in going to sit in a hot spring when we had just seen the sludge pouring into the lake from the very nearby Heineken factory. There weren't even fish around the area where we stayed, presumably because of this sludge! The Paradis Malahide resort was super fun, and very cute...but the fact that we saw the sludge and the lack of fish there kind of gave it a bitter aftertaste. Still, we had a great time. We had to switch rooms for bad plumbing, but the little huts were pretty, and right on the lake. The dinner was great and the service was even better there. We had so much fun hanging with some crazy Slovakians after dinner...that may have been the highlight of the trip. We loved breakfast in the morning too. All in all, a VERY stressful day ended well. We started feeling better after that night. Maybe the food and drink was just higher quality there, and for the rest of the tour. Day 6 was the transfer to Musanze, which was our driver's hometown. Definitely by far the nicest city we visited. The stopover at the pottery place was so cool! They danced and sang for us, and we got to watch them make pots out of clay from the earth. We didn't know until after that tour that these people were newly integrated indigenous people. That made it all the more intriguing to meet them and interact with them. We really fell in love with the restaurant we ate at for lunch, and had a good night of sleep in the Gorillas Volcanoes hotel. It was really weirdly empty for such a big place because of COVID, which was kind of depressing though. Part of the reason we travel internationally is to meet other guests from other countries and interact with people from everywhere. Anyhow, I can't seem to place this in the right day or the right part of the day when we traveled to Musanze, but the sorghum beer making experience was also super fun! How crazy, the way they do it by hand!! I couldn't taste it though- my tummy was completely in knots and I was afraid of getting even more ill, or worse- contracting a new strain of COVID by sharing a cup with strangers. But Emmanuel was nice enough to drive us to a store where I could buy a can of it made in a factory. Also, the huge hike to the overlook of the twin lakes during this day was really spectacular, and we had a lot of fun! We thought this for sure would be the hardest hike of the tour, but we were WAY wrong. It was a VERY busy and strenuous day...like all the others on our tour. We were certainly never ever bored! Day 7 was a very, very long and strenuous hike, which we totally loved. We really had the whole Rwandan farmer culture put into a startling context as we carried nothing but a light day pack to the top of this beautiful mountain, and we could barely make it. And I mean it...the climb was grueling, and my knees are not getting any younger, so the hike down was even harder. Even at age 50 and 42, we still consider ourselves great athletes by Western standards!! We do yoga and strenuous exercise daily, and spend the whole winter on skis, with mountain bike racing in the spring. I am an Ironman triathlete who's competed many times, including a full long-course tri! My husband has spent his whole life riding a bike every day. And this blew us away...this hike. I won't bore you with all the details, but we had fun with the kids along the way, and at the top it was very very cold, so if you go on this event, pack an extra jacket. We had a very slow meal there, but the ambiance was amazing, despite the teeth-chattering cold. They also tried to feed us like we were teenage boys. It was like a four course meal! I didn't know this going in, and ate extra soup which was warm and delicious. But that was only the appetizer. I thought that was going to be lunch. I felt rude but I could barely eat any of the beef and veggies and rice and certainly couldn't stuff in all the fruit salad for dessert. I couldn't believe people packed all of that stuff up to the top of that peak! It was truly awesome. Walking down hurt, and we were sore and tired after that. It was like an 8 hour day of hiking almost continuously, except for the aforementioned lunch. Needless to say, we slept well that night at the hotel! Day 8 was the biggest event of the trip: the gorilla trekking. Our guide for the day was amazing! I loved Edward. I also thought the whole thing was just a surreal, and amazing adventure. We left the starting point and the hike to the gorillas was so picturesque! I thought it couldn't get prettier in this country but it did! We actually encountered a big herd of wild buffalo in our path, so we were grateful to have not only guide and trackers, but four armed military men with us. They got the herd to move and we went on our way. The gorilla family we met was just...stunning. Too much joy to even express that hour of our lives, but we will never forget it. Just do it! The expense is a lot for most of us, but it really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it goes towards conservation projects for the gorillas. In the afternoon, we transferred to the Rusiga Highland Resort where we enjoyed the views through the haze and mist. The dinner was slow but good.  Day 9 was our departure from the Rusiga Highland Resort, to the airport. This was our final day and we decided to splurge and book a helicopter tour around the Akagera game reserve. So we were kind of anxious when our guide appeared to no-show on us. Later, we realized it had just been another communication breakdown. We had quite the language/culture barrier with the people who worked at the resort. Our guide told us to meet him at 11 a.m. but didn't mention anything about meals. He apparently ended up coordinating with the hotel staff to feed us lunch there before our departure...but nothing was ever said to us. We assumed we were eating somewhere enroute to Kigali. So in the morning, we got up and ate breakfast, got packed, and stood for an entire hour with our bags from 11-12 getting more and more worried about Emmanuel while the hotel staff just sat around looking at us. It was so weird! No one mentioned lunch or anything. Emmanuel showed up and asked us why we hadn't eaten, and we were like...ummm huh? But all was corrected swiftly. The restaurant he took us to was actually delicious and quick, and best of all, had great coffee! We had a power outage at the resort, and the coffee turned into sludge at breakfast. We are coffee people, so this stop was greatly appreciated. It was sad to say goodbye to Emmanuel after all the adventures we had together, but he got us to the helicopter ride on time, and we had a fabulous ride with Akagera Aviation, flying low over the beautiful wildlife in the reserve. I couldn't imagine a better way to tie up our trip.  So I hope this review helps both the tour company and potential visitors!
I deliberately chose an inexpensive tour because my intention was to see animals rather than utilize luxury accommodations. I was not disappointed. The tour promised a number of items and never failed to deliver.

Travel Styles

  • Where To See Gorillas in the Wild (With Africa Map)
  • 10 Best Gorilla Trekking Companies (with reviews)

International Versions

  • Deutsch: Ruanda Gorilla Trekking
  • Français: Rwanda : Circuits randonnée avec des gorilles 2024/2025
  • Español: Senderismo con Gorilas Circuitos en Ruanda
  • Nederlands: Gorilla-trekking Rondreizen in Rwanda

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A Guide To Gorilla Trekking In Rwanda (Updated 2024)

Book customized remarkable Rwanda Gorilla tours or Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda for exceptional Gorilla tours with Kabira Gorilla Safaris . Gorilla trekking is one of the Best Rwanda Safari activities popularly termed a unique wildlife experience.

Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda If there is any kind of safari that brings you closer to wildlife on foot, then it is a Rwanda Gorilla trekking tour. Living within a bamboo forest with Mountain Gorillas several times your weight and wild animals is such an experience that shouldn’t miss on a traveler’s bucket list.

Volcanoes National Park is the only place for Rwanda Gorilla tracking Tours Safaris just about 2 hours drive from Kigali International Airport. It’s the only Gorilla trekking park from its International Airport. There are 10 habituated mountain Gorillas in Volcanoes National Park open for trekking by tourists. Each family receives 8 tourists on gorilla holidays per day for the trek. Rwanda Gorilla Safaris. Fortunately the Gorilla population of Rwanda is the easiest to trek. This is because they move for shorter distances and as well live in a bamboo forest which offers easy hiking experiences. 

It was in Rwanda where the popular American primatologist Dian Fossey did her extensive conservation on the Mountain Gorillas. She wrote a book titled Gorillas in the Mist 2 years before her death and it was later adapted into a film in 1988 with the same title. Today her legacy lives on at her Resting place in the Karisoke Research Centre . 

Rwanda Safaris/ Rwanda Tours – To see the Rwanda Mountain Gorillas here you must take Rwanda Gorilla Safaris tours /Rwanda Gorilla trekking whether on a short or long trip. The tour requires each trekker to go hiking/walking/trekking in the tropical dense forest.

Best-selling Gorilla Trekking Styles in Rwanda

Rwanda is such a beautiful country that accommodates all kinds of travelers including Luxury and budget travelers. Depending on the amount of time one has in Rwanda, one can take either a Short or Long Gorilla tracking tour . Here are the different itineraries to suit both Short and Long Rwanda Gorilla tours;

Stunning Short Gorilla Trekking Tours in Rwanda

Short Gorilla Trek tours in Rwanda itineraries range from 1 Day Gorilla Trek Rwanda to 3 Days Rwanda Gorilla Safari . Luckily, Rwanda is the only country where one can travel from Kigali to Volcanoes National Park for Gorilla Trekking and return in just 1 day. 

Here are well-planned itineraries ready for bookings for travelers looking for short trips;

3 Days Gorilla trekking Rwanda Tours

1 Day Gorilla trekking in Rwanda is the shortest Gorilla trek tour in Rwanda lasting just one day starting and ending in Kigali city. This One Day Rwanda Gorilla tour

Rwanda Gorilla trekking Tours

2 Days Gorilla tour Rwanda for a Gorilla trek experience in a 2 Days 1-night tour. This 2 Day Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda is a short Gorilla Safari in Rwanda

Gorilla Trekking Tours in Rwanda

3 Days Gorilla Safari Rwanda is one perfect short  Gorilla trek Safari in Rwanda  for 3 Days and 2 nights at  Volcanoes National Park specifically meant for Gorilla trekking.

Extraordinary Long Rwanda Gorilla Tours Holidays

These well-tailor-made Long Rwanda Gorilla tours include Gorilla trekking in Rwanda and as well as visiting other destinations. These tours are customized to offer the best Gorilla tours in Rwanda and as well offer the best safari activities. 

In these Long Rwanda safaris, you visit other destinations like Nyungwe Forest National Park and Akagera National Park . For Rwanda wildlife tours, canopy walks, birding, and several other activities. These long trips run from 5 Days to 10 Days Rwanda safaris.

4 Days Rwanda Gorilla safari tours

6 Days Rwanda safari offers a  Gorilla trekking tour  to Volcanoes National Park as well as Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe Forest National Park.

Luxury Gorilla Tours in Rwanda

4 Days Gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Golden monkey trekking tour is such a memorable one that goes beyond just seeing the  Mountain Gorillas .

Gorilla Trekking Safari Itinerary to Uganda from Kigali Rwanda

3 Days Rwanda Gorilla Safari customized with a hike to Dian Fossey’s grave for a memorial visit. It is a 3 days 2 nights  Rwanda Gorilla trekking tour.

Frequently Asked Questions

To help you make your Rwanda Gorilla Tours Trekking package a memorable experience, we offer you all of the most important Gorilla trekking information . There are several frequently asked questions about Gorilla trekking in Rwanda and here is everything you need to know.

What is Kwita Izina?

The ceremony of giving a name to a newborn baby commonly known as ”Kwita Izina” has been part of the Rwandan tradition for centuries. This ceremony has also been used for the past 3 decades now to give names to newborn gorillas. Learn More

How much does it cost to see the Gorilla in Rwanda?

ORDINARY PERMIT: USD $1500 per person for all trekking visitors to Rwanda. The behind the scenes gorilla Tour for 3 days costs US$ 30,000 for 3 persons.

Is gorilla trekking worth the money?

Yes, Gorilla trekking is absolutely worth the money, effort & time spent. Travelers that have experienced gorilla trekking will definitely agree with me that the experience of coming face-to-face with these gentle giants is very worth every effort, money, and time put into planning the gorilla trekking holiday.

Is Uganda or Rwanda better for gorilla trekking?

Baas acknowledged that both Uganda and Rwanda offer great opportunities for gorilla trekking. However, she said that she personally favors Rwanda, as most of the terrain during the gorilla trekking is a little bit more open and therefore it is easier to get a good view.

When should I go to Rwanda?

The best time to visit Rwanda is during the drier period from June to September, when you have the best chance at spotting the country’s undoubted highlight: the mountain gorilla. The rainy seasons, from March to May and in November, are the optimum times for tracking chimpanzees. It’s also quieter then.

Can you see the Gorillas in Rwanda?

Tracking gorillas in Rwanda is safe and relatively accessible. At the latest count, there are approximately 1,000 mountain gorillas in the wild, with 604 in the Virunga Massif. The population is slowly increasing, thanks to concerted efforts between our governments, communities, and NGOs.

Where should I stay for Gorilla trekking in Rwanda?

  • Volcanoes Virunga Lodge. You would never guess that  gorilla trekking  could be glamourous – yet Virunga Lodge makes the experience exactly that. …
  • Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge. …
  • Singita Kwitonda Lodge. …
  • Singita Kataza House. …
  • One & Only  Gorilla’s  Nest. …
  • Bisate Lodge.

Is it safe to go gorilla trekking in Rwanda?

Is it safe to Trek Gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park at present? The answer is a resounding yes. Rwanda remains one of the safest countries to visit in Africa. The security breaches in 2019 have been dealt with, and Rwanda has further increased security measures for tourists.

How many gorillas are left in Rwanda?

According to Dec 16, 2019 – The results show that the population there has increased to 459 individuals, from 400 at the last census. Including the mountain gorillas living in the Virunga mountain range of Rwanda and Congo, the overall total of mountain gorillas is now 1,063.

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