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Day 1:
On arrival in Nairobi, connect with the Kenya Airways flight to
Kigali, where your guide will meet you and take you to your hotel.
If you arrive in the morning, there is a guided city tour of Kigali.
Briefing and overnight at Hotel Chez Lando.
Built on a hillside, Kigali is a small capital city, without many
landmark buildings, The city tour includes the old town (Nyamirambo)
and Muslim quarter, the new handicraft village and other shops, the
Batwa pottery and dance centre and the Gisozi Genocide Memorial. The
memorial is very moving – the tour takes a couple of hours – but I
suggest that you do this later in your visit.
Day 2:
After breakfast depart by road for Nyungwe Forest to stay 3 nights
at the simple Gisakura government guesthouse (meals included), on
the edge of the forest. On the way, we stop in Butare (2½ hours from
Kigali) to see the National Museum, housing probably the finest
ethnographic collection in East Africa, and to watch a performance
by the famous Intore dancers. After lunch, we proceed to Nyungwe
(approx 2½ hours), stopping en route to see the Murambi Genocide
Memorial.
Extending nearly one thousand kilometers square over the mountains
of southwest Rwanda, Nyungwe Forest National Park protects the
largest single tract of montagne forest remaining in Africa. It is a
remarkably rich centre of biodiversity, with 86 mammal species, 280
birds, and about 100 varieties of orchid. It is the most important
birding site in Rwanda.
The main attraction in Nyungwe is the large troop of over 300
Ruwenzori colobus monkeys. In addition, there is chimp tracking -
guides lead you through the forest in search of these elusive
creatures. I saw three high in the canopy during a three-hour walk –
but it was worth it to be in the forest, and sightings can be a lot
better. We also had good sightings of grey-cheeked mangabey monkeys
and l’Hoest’s. There is a special trail for bird watchers. Trails
are steep, but manageable by anyone in good (normal) physical
condition.
The National Park has just been gazetted – and not a moment too soon
- to save this forest from the depredations of agriculture. Maize,
beans and bananas are intensively cultivated right up to the
forest's edge.
Day 3 -4:
Days to search for primates and birds on guided walks in Nyungwe
Forest.
Day 5:
A very scenic drive today (about 4 hours) on unmade roads to Kibuye
on the shores of Lake Kivu, where you stay overnight at Kibuye Guest
House.
This longish drive, on un-made roads, may not appeal to everyone but
it does offer the opportunity to see life as it has been for
centuries, virtually unchanged. You have the opportunity to see the
people at work – intensively cultivating bananas, cassava, sorghum,
beans, rice, potatoes, even coffee in their steep and tiny fields.
In addition there are several massive tea plantations, villages,
innumerable tiny brickworks, and surprises around every corner.
Lake Kivu forms the border between Rwanda and the Congo. It’s a
beautiful and mysterious lake, always alive with traders and
fishermen in their dugout canoes.
Day 6:
Today is one highlight of the tour- we travel north across Lake Kivu
by boat to Gisenyi, arriving for lunch.
Gisenyi is an attractive, though somewhat faded lakeside resort
which is also a border crossing point into the Congo. The shore is
lined with crumbling colonial villas. When the border is open, we
can make a trip into the Congo to see Goma (optional extra), the
largest local town, which was devastated by the eruption of the
Nyamulagira volcano in 2002.
In the late afternoon, we continue by tarred road on the two-hour
drive to Kinigi at the Parc National des Volcans where we stay 2
nights at the Kinigi guest house.
Day 7:
At 07h00, we are met by staff from ORTPN Park Headquarters, in Parc
National des Volcans, who brief us on conduct during gorilla
tracking. Then trackers lead us into the forested slopes to seek one
of the groups of Mountain Gorillas. Reaching the gorillas can be
quick, or it can take a few hours. Return for lunch at the Mountain
Gorillas Nest Lodge where we overnight. In the afternoon, we visit
the panoramic twin volcanic lakes of Burera and Ruhondo, with their
pelicans and herons, and glorious views of the volcanoes.
Day 8:
There are some optional extras today. If you wish, you can have a
second Gorilla tracking. Alternatively, you may like to trek to find
one of the well-habituated golden monkey groups, hike to the Dian
Fossey Grave and Karisoke Research Centre, or climb on Bisoke, one
of the volcanic peaks. In the afternoon, we drive to Kigali (2½
hours) to stay overnight at Hotel Chez Lando.
Day 9:
Depending on your flight schedule, you could visit to the Genocide
Memorial Museum before the transfer to the airport to check in for
your onward flight back home.
END OF THE TOUR
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