Day 1: Meet & Greet at Kigali Airport. Transfer to Kinigi International Airport.

Day 2: Gorilla Tracking in Volcanoes National Park.

Day 3: Hike to Dian Fossey’s Grave.

Day 4: Leave Kinigi for Kigali. You can have a Kigali City Tour before your flight.

Day 1: Arrival in Rwanda & transfer to volcanoes national park
Upon arrival, you will be transferred to Kinigi for an overnight. The journey goes through the beautiful rolling / majestic hills of Rwanda. Dinner and overnight in Gorillas Nest Lodge or Kinigi Guest House

Day 2: Gorilla Tracking
Enjoy an early morning breakfast and drive to the park headquarters with packed lunch and water. Attend to a briefing by a senior park warden on the ‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’t’s’ while with gorillas.

Gorilla Trekking through steep and slippery Virunga slopes is so strenuous and takes 2-8 hours depending on gorillas’ movements. At least an hour is allocated to the visitors in the presence of the gorilla group. If on return to the lodge, you still have free time, Iby’iwachu cultural visit is worth a visit. Dinner and overnight stay Gorillas Nest Lodge or Kinigi Guest House

Day 3: Hike to Diana Fossey’s Grave

Early morning breakfast is followed by a hike to Diana Fossey’s grave situated at the former Karisoke Research Center. This is where Dian spent about 20 years studying the Mountain Gorillas. The trek to the site is quite spectacular, as you pass through thick bamboo forest and afro-montane habitats, with criss-crossed trails of tracks of forest buffalo and elephant! Expect to see all sorts of wildlife on your way up and down to the graves, nestled between the beautiful volcanic peaks of Karismbi and Bisoke. Overnight at Kinigi Guest House or Gorillas Nest Lodge.

Day 4: Departure
After breakfast transfer to Kigali. Depending on your departure flight, you can go for a city tour with visits to Genocide Menorial sites like Gisozi, Nyamata and Ntarama, lunch in Kigali and later transfer to the airport where the tour ends.

End of the tour

Guide price
USD 850 per person based on a group of 6 people traveling, prices are subjected to change.

Why do we use guide prices?
The price for every safari depends on the number of people travelling, their ages, the time of year, whether or not international flights are included, the type of transport and accommodation used and the activities undertaken.

We calculate according to the specific dates of your booking because after we publish our itineraries some things may change. For example, hotels may increase their prices, the government may introduce new taxes or some discounts may become available. Unfortunately, we also have to pass on surcharges imposed on us by, for example, airlines when fuel prices or airport taxes are unexpectedly increased.

We would be happy to prepare a quotation, based on your requirements. We normally include most costs in the price so all you need to bring with you is ‘pocket money’ for items like drinks, tips and personal shopping e.g. souvenirs.

Insurance
AMREF flying doctors provide a medevac service in case of illness or injury during your safari. This costs $25pp for 31 days. We recommend this service and can include it in your package price.

Booking
Once you have selected one of our safari packages you need to send us a booking form. When we receive this we will check availability and inform you if any changes are necessary and issue an invoice for a 50% deposit plus the full cost of any tracking permits (in case of cancellation permit fees are non-refundable). Only once this payment is received can we guarantee availability and issue a booking confirmation. Full payment is required 70 days before travel.

Payments and cancellation
We charge in US dollars. Payment is by bank transfer into our Standard Chartered USD bank account in Uganda. For those booking from within Uganda, cash payments are possible at our office.

When we book your safari, we have to pay non-refundable deposits on your behalf, for example to hotels. Therefore, we charge cancellation fees as follows:

30% of reservation costs if you cancel more than 50 days before your arrival date

100% of reservation costs if you cancel less than 50 days before your arrival date

We strongly recommend that you include cancellation cover in your travel insurance.

Disclaimer: We enter into an agreement with you in good faith but we sometimes encounter unexpected changes in local conditions which can affect your itinerary or price. These changes are beyond our control and we are not liable for them. While we endeavour to protect you against the effects of these changes, we reserve the right to amend the agreed itinerary and price in response to them. Such changes include but are not limited to weather conditions, road conditions, supplier price increases, fuel increases, government tax increases, supplier service changes e.g. cancellation of ferry services for river crossings or national park operations (track maintenance, animal translocations). We assure you that, we will always give you as much notice as possible of changes, suggest alternative plans and keep additional charges to a minimum.

Accommodation

To help us select the right accommodation for your safari (and in the absence of a complete national hotel classification system e.g. 1*–5*) we use four levels: high-end, mid-range, budget and backpackers. These terms can mean different things to different people but are helpful to an extent.

Air-conditioned rooms are not available in all hotels. Where AC is available, there is usually an extra charge.

Some locations have a limited choice of accommodation and so, to stay there, you must accept what is available. Where possible we prefer to work with responsible accommodation providers. This means hotels and lodges which are locally owned, employ local staff, support their community and protect the local environment.

Transport

As standard, we use a spacious 7-seater, 4×4 safari Land Cruiser, with pop-up roof, fridge and phone/camera charging facilities. This is the perfect safari vehicle.

Alternatively, we offer a slightly cheaper 7-seater, 4×4 safari van with a pop-up roof.

5-seater versions of both Land Cruisers and vans are also available.

For large group tours we use small buses called Coasters. These usually seat around 28 people, including 5 jump (fold-down) seats in the aisle. They do not have a boot/trunk so luggage is carried on the back seats which reduces the seating capacity. The overhead luggage shelves are small and can only accommodate small bags. Therefore, we recommend you do not over pack.

All vehicles include a driver/guide and fuel for your itinerary. Additional activities, not included in your itinerary, may incur an additional fuel charge. Our vehicles are comprehensively insured, in good mechanical condition and have seat belts fitted.

Please let us know if you have any special travel requirements. For example, if your group has disabled members we will do our best to accommodate your needs.