12 Days Rwanda Premier Expedition

Kigali always comes as a surprise to many guests that visit for the first time. Broad boulevards are lined by elegant trees, architecture reveals a stylistic grace, and the cleanliness is always remarked upon by first-time visitors. Touch down in the capital city, and you will first transfer to a five-star hotel in the city, one with idyllic views over the hills. During the afternoon, you explore the city on a guided tour, stopping first at a vibrant local market, then listening to the stories in the National Genocide Memorial. Kigali is the perfect introduction to Rwanda, telling a tale of where the country has come from while celebrating the enthusiasm of the present.

You will stay at the Kigali Serena Hotel. The elegant Kigali Serena Hotel is perfectly situated within one of the city’s most vibrant boulevards. Here, guests are welcomed into a gleaming granite atrium, adorned with fantastic Rwandan artworks, where they are then ushered to contemporary rooms that feature air conditioning, Wi-Fi connectivity, a satellite television, and a lovely ensuite bathroom. The hotel offers a wonderful selection of dining options; from the Milima Restaurant that overlooks the sparkling swimming pool to the Sokoni Restaurant that has become a popular meeting place for both locals and travellers alike. In the evenings retreat to the hotel’s convivial lounge where two bar areas await.

Spend a day with the genocide victims - Genocide Memoirs: An Intimate Day With Survivors: You will hear it through the mouths of the survivors as they recount haunting tales and stories of destruction, the brutality and the propaganda and the silence of the world. You will feel it at the memorials as you take in the bones stacked in churches, rags hanging from rafters, blood stains on the walls, and battered skulls that show the method of murder. It is often too much to take in as the memorials are even more overwhelming when the survivors guide you around. At the National Genocide Memorial, there is a sense of perspective, how a century of unwanted foreign influence laid the foundations before Rwanda became invisible in 1994. But through the tears and terror of genocide comes hope, and you can feel it intensely. Looking around, you will be in awe of what the country has become, 20-odd years on from devastating heartbreak as simply forward-thinking would be an understatement.

The history of Rwanda is older than 1994 and much older than when Rwanda became a German colony, and years before any European had even set foot in the nation. Before all of that, Rwanda was the land of the Nyanza kings, a land of rolling hills that rolled to a tribal beat. Butare, halfway to Nyungwe Forest, is the old-world Rwandan capital, where the Rwanda Ethnographic Museum is your first insight into this incredible past. Move next to the old palace of the kings and explore the traditions that the country has been based upon. Africa is a continent with more than a thousand tribes who now coexist in countries that were demarcated by Western powers. Rwanda was, and is, one of the few where there has only been one tribe, and it is a tribe with a fabulous past (the notion of Hutus and Tutsis as differing ethnicities was a Belgium creation to help them maintain power). After an afternoon in Butare, you can continue to the rainforest, where your experience with monkeys and mangabeys begins as soon as you arrive at Nyungwe Forest lodge.

Opened in March 2010, and situated on a working tea plantation, on the edge of Nyungwe National Park, East Africa’s largest tract of protected high altitude rain forest, Nyungwe Forest Lodge is recognized by, among others, the International Hotel Awards as being one of Rwanda’s finest luxury lodges.

Praised for the quality of its design, the use of ecologically sound materials, Nyungwe Forest Lodge shared areas include a restaurant, bistro, tea lounge, bar, gym, conference centre and shop, whilst outside there a heated swimming pool with views across the reserve. Characterised by open spaces, wood panelling, stone flooring and well-chosen pieces of local art, the look throughout is very eco-chic. Please note that the main lodge has full wheelchair access with all the relevant facilities.

Nyungwe forest national park is part of Nyungwe forest, which is one of the most biologically diverse rainforests on the African Continent. Visitors visiting the national park can take part in activities such as; chimpanzee trekking, guided nature walks, birding, hiking trips, Nyungwe Canopy Walk and visit tea plantations in Gisakura.

Nyungwe Forest is home to a quarter of Africa’s primates, including many rare and endangered species. Today is fully flexible, and the guide will outline potential trekking options, from leisurely trails to serious hikes into the tangled undergrowth. L’Hoest’s monkeys are scattered around the trails, different mangabeys have faces full of emotion, and when you encounter the Rwenzori colobus monkeys, it is impossible to know which way to look. They gather in 600 – 700-strong troops, bathing whole sections of forest in noise and intrigue.

Today, you head out to the world famous Volcanoes NationalPark - home to last of the mountain gorilla. You will arrive and check in at the luxurious Singita Kwitonda Lodge - Set right on the edge of Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, where more than a third of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas find refuge, Singita Kwitonda Lodge’s unrivalled position puts lifechanging gorilla trekking experiences within easy reach. Each of the eight luxurious suites features a private heated plunge pool, wellness treatment area, in- and outdoor fireplaces and large timber-framed windows that welcome breathtaking scenery and volcano views inside. Kwitonda Lodge, which was named after a legendary silverback gorilla, is located on 178 acres and shares a 1.2km border with Volcanoes National Park – the only lodge within such close proximity of the park.

At the Volcanoes National Park, you immediately think of Dian Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist. Swirling mist occupies the folds in the mountains, floating strangely amongst the forest. It is a spectacular journey to get here, weaving higher into the hills, then twisting beneath the rainforest canopy. After lunch at the lodge, the afternoon is at your leisure, a chance to fully relax before two days of gorilla trekking. Should you wish to start exploring, there are various forest trails that take you in and out of the canopy. Dinner at the lodge is a gourmet affair, a log fire crackling as the mist swirls ever onwards.

You will begin your gorilla treks, stepping farther into the wild and toward the gorillas. Mud squishes underfoot, branches are sliced clear by machetes, the trail disappears, and you are following paths left by the gorillas. Meeting a troop requires you to journey deep into the mountainous forest, into a landscape that feels evocatively foreign. Vehicles have never penetrated this place, and the sense of seclusion is exquisite. Groups of up to eight visitors are assigned to a particular, habituated gorilla troop, with troops assigned based upon the fitness levels of the visitors. Some troops may be a four-hour trek away; others might be found within 30 minutes. Regardless of how long it takes, this trek through equatorial rainforest is a major part of the experience.

In the distance you see the gorillas, moving on all fours. You follow, excitement building until the first magical close-up of the troop. Two blackback males appear first, ebullient faces and frenzied arms providing an intense first impression. Creep closer, stepping around a mother gnawing feverishly at tree bark. In a small clearing, you see two infants, playful and mischievous as they jump around the branches. Eventually, you count 14 gorillas, including the iconic silverback, who pounds around on his knuckles, almost causing the ground to echo. Spend a full hour with these gorillas, admiring all their behavior and communication, coming to love the most impish of the individuals. Then a resounding beat on the chest indicates that visitor time is over, the silverback providing a remarkable final memory of this remote and endangered troop.

On each gorilla trek, you spend an hour with the troop. These are habituated gorillas who are used to this daily encounter with humans. However, they are very wild, and it is impossible to predict their behavior. Sometimes you find tension and imposing displays of power; other times you find playfulness and a delectable charm. Going twice not only increases the range of behavior you can witness; it also provides an insight into two distinctive family troops. Most importantly, it gives you double time to enjoy the experience, meaning you can put down the camera and really soak up the intimacy, the gorillas jumping about in all directions.

You have had a journey by land; now you will savor the sights of Rwanda from the air. The light aircraft swoops across the west of the country, rising over a thick, impenetrable swathe of forest, then soaring over the volcanic remains around Lake Kivu. Then you veer eastward, traversing the iconic, hilly scenery of central Rwanda. The hills flatten, and a savannah extends beneath the wingtips, an insight into the next three days. Touch down, and the landscape feels indelibly East African. Open grasslands are dotted with antelope, trees rise above the swamps in the distance, and lone trees act like safari sentinels.

You will check in at the Ruzizi Tented Lodge - Located in Akagera National Park and managed by African Parks, Ruzizi Tented Lodge offers an authentic safari camping and small lodge experience. Since African Parks assumed the responsibility of Akagera National Park, wildlife has flourished seeing the reintroduction of 18 Eastern black rhinos as well as lions to the area.

The Akagera landscape looks like the classic image of East Africa as zebra and wildebeest are grazing on the plains, dotting the grass with a patchwork of antics. Elephants and buffalo are constants on the horizon, giants that are so easy to find on a safari. Rocky hills provide a backdrop and there is a profusion of color around the water. But this is not Kenya, nor Tanzania. It is Rwanda, and there are not many other visitors exploring the national park, and there are many different ways to explore. Take a walk and you will soon be surrounded by duiker and oribi, perhaps also bushbuck and impala. Explore on a nighttime game drive, and you can spot bushbabies, perhaps also a leopard and some of the small predators like side-striped jackals.

On daytime game drives, you can focus on the giants. Eland and roan antelope impress with their bulk and horns, elephants are swinging trunks just a few meters away, hyenas give you an intent stare, and then you will find the lions of the grasslands basking in the morning sun. Like all great safaris, there are specialists to search for, like dainty klipspringer jumping across the rocks. And whenever you look up the birdlife impresses, especially on the boat safari. Another activity takes you behind the scenes with an afternoon at conservation headquarters to show you how the park is managed and enhanced. Over these two days, you will have a private guide and create your own program of activities, with two or three each day.

Morning breakfast and today you will bid farewell to the land of 1000 undulating hills. You will hit the road in a two-hour drive back to Kigali and the country’s main international airport. You arrive in plenty of time before the departure, after a winding journey through Rwanda’s legendary green hills.