12 Days Rwanda Uganda primates tour
The 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour is an exceptional primate holiday that starts and ends in Kigali Rwanda. The safari will take you to Nyungwe forest national park which is known for harbouring chimpanzees, Volcanoes national park located in the north western part of Rwanda which is famously known for harbouring the endangered mountain gorillas and golden monkeys, Bwindi impenetrable national park which harbours the highest number of mountain gorillas, Queen Elizabeth national park which harbours different wildlife species and Kibale forest national park also known as the primate capital. During the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will be able to engage in an adventurous chimpanzee trekking where you will spend time with the chimpanzees, canopy walk, game drives and boat cruise on Kazinga channel, golden monkey and gorilla trekking activity where you will be able to spend one hour with the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys in their natural habitat.
Highlights of the 12 Days Rwanda Uganda primates tour
Day 1: Pick up and transfer to a hotel in Kigali
Day 2: Transfer to Nyungwe forest national park
Day 3: Chimpanzee trekking and canopy walk
Day 4: Transfer to Volcanoes national park
Day 5: Golden monkey trekking and Ibyi’wacu cultural tour
Day 6: Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable national park
Day 7: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park
Day 8: transfer to Queen Elizabeth national park
Day 9: Morning game drive and afternoon boat cruise
Day 10: Morning game drive and transfer to Kibale forest national park
Day 11: Chimpanzee trekking and Bigodi swamp walk
Day 12: Departure to Kigali/ Kampala
Detailed itinerary
Day 1: Pick up and transfer to the hotel in Kigali
Depending on your arrival time at Kigali international airport on the first day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will be welcomed by a driver guide from Achieve Global Safaris who will brief you about the safari and then transfer to the hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 2: Pick up and transfer to Nyungwe forest national park
After breakfast on the second day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will check out of the hotel and meet up with your driver guide to go for a short city tour in Kigali where you will be able to visit the Kigali Genocide memorial centre, Kimironko market, art centres among others. After the Kigali city tour, you will start the journey to Nyungwe forest national park with en-route lunch on the way and a stopover at the Royal Kings Palace in Nyanza for a short tour and then proceed to Nyungwe forest national park. Upon arrival in Volcanoes national park, you will check into the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 3: Chimpanzee trekking and canopy walk
Chimpanzee trekking
After an early breakfast on the third day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, your driver guide will pick you up from the lodge to transfer to the park headquarters for a briefing about chimpanzee trekking. After the briefing, you will start trekking in the forest which takes about 2 to 6 hours depending on their location because they like to move from one place to another in search of food. During trekking, you will be able to view other primates like red tailed monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, l’hoest monkeys and different bird species. Once the chimpanzees are located, you will be allowed to spend one hour with them which gives you a chance to learn about their habits, lifestyle, watch them feed, play, rest, hunt, breastfeed, take photos and videos. After the encounter with the chimpanzees, you will drive back to the lodge for lunch.
Canopy walk
After lunch, you will transfer to Uwinka Reception Centre for the breath-taking canopy walk where you will enjoy aerial views of the park, primates like chimpanzees, monkeys, view colourful birds, butterflies, tree and plant species among others. After the canopy walk, you will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight as above.
Day 4: Transfer to Volcanoes national park
After breakfast on the fourth day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Volcanoes national park. On the way you will have en-route lunch and enjoy great views of the scenery, Lake Kivu among others. Upon arrival in Volcanoes national park, you will check into the lodge for an evening relaxation, dinner and overnight.
Day 5: Golden monkey trekking and Ibyi’wacu cultural tour
After an early breakfast on the fifth day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will carry your lunch box and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to the park headquarters for a golden monkey trekking briefing. After the briefing, you will be allocated a habituated golden monkey group to trek and an experienced park guide who is conversant with trekking trails in the forest. Trekking of golden monkeys in Volcanoes national park takes about 30 minutes to 5 hours depending on where they are located because they like to move from one place to another in search of food. Once the golden monkeys are located, you will be allowed to spend one hour with them in their environments which gives you an opportunity to learn more about their habits, behaviours, watch them play, feed, jump up in tree branches take photos and record videos.
After golden monkey trekking, you will return to the starting point where you will meet up with your driver guide to go for an exciting Ibyi’wacu cultural tour where you will be able to interact with the local people, learn about their culture, way of living, enjoy their traditional performance among others. After the cultural tour, you will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight as above.
Day 6: Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable national park
After breakfast on the sixth day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Bwindi impenetrable national park via cyanika border in Kisoro or Katuna border in Kabale. Upon arrival in Bwindi impenetrable national park, you will check into the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 7: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park
Gorilla trekking experience,
After an early breakfast on the seventh day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will carry packed lunch and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to the park headquarters for a briefing about the rules, regulations and expectations of gorilla trekking. After the briefing you will start trekking in the jungle with an experienced park guide who is well conversant with gorilla trekking trails. Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park takes about 2 to 7 hours depending on where the gorillas are located because they like to move from one place to another in search of food. During trekking you will be able to view other primate species like l’hoest monkeys, baboons, bird species, mammals, different plant and tree species among others.
Once the gorilla family is located you will be able to spend one hour with the gorillas where you will get an opportunity to watch them carry out their daily activities, learn about their behaviours, habits, take photos and record the breath-taking moments to show people back home. After the one-hour experience, you will trek back to the park headquarters where you will meet up with your driver guide and return back to the lodge for an evening relaxation, dinner and overnight.
Day 8: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth national park
After breakfast on the eighth day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Queen Elizabeth national park via Ishasha sector where you will be able to view the tree climbing lions lazily laying up in tree branches during the game drive if you are lucky. After the game drive, you will have lunch and then continue to Queen Elizabeth national park and upon arrival you will check into the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 9: Morning game drive/ lion tracking experience and afternoon boat cruise
Morning game drive,
After an early breakfast on the ninth day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, your driver guide will pick you up from the lodge to go for a morning game drive or lion tracking experience in Kasenyi plains. During the game drive you will have great views of animals like buffaloes, Uganda kobs, waterbucks, giant forest hog, elephants, bushbucks, lions, leopards, hyenas, views of different bird species among others. After the fascinating game drive you will return to the lodge for lunch.
Afternoon boat cruise,
After lunch you will go for an exciting boat cruise which is carried out on Kazinga channel a 40km long channel that connects Lake Edward and Lake Gorge. The boat ride starts at around 2:00 pm and rewards you will breath-taking views of large concentrations of hippos and crocodiles in water, views of elephants, buffaloes, warthogs, antelopes along the shores, water birds like kingfishers, fish eagles, hornbills, cormorants, bee-eaters among others. After the boat cruise which takes about 2 hours you will drive back to the lodge for an evening relaxation, dinner and overnight.
Day 10: Morning game drive and transfer to Kibale national park
On the tenth day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will have breakfast and your driver guide will pick you up from the lodge to go for another morning game drive in the park where you will be able to view some of the animals that you might have missed the previous day.
After the game drive, you will return to the lodge for lunch where after you will check out and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Kibale national park in western Uganda. On the way you will enjoy stunning views of the beautiful scenery, Rwenzori Mountains, crater lakes, tea plantations among others. Upon arrival in the park you will check into the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 11: Chimpanzee trekking and Bigodi swamp walk
Chimpanzee trekking,
After an early breakfast on the eleventh day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to the park headquarters for a chimpanzee trekking briefing. After the briefing you will be grouped into 6 people, allocated a chimpanzee family to trek and a park guide who will lead you into the forest during trekking. Chimpanzee trekking is an interesting activity that starts at 8:00am and takes about 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on where the chimpanzees are located because they like to move from one place to another in search of food especially during the dry season. During trekking you will be able to see other primates like red tailed monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, grey cheeked mangabey, vervet monkeys, view some bird species, mammals, plants species among others. Once the chimpanzees are found you will be able to spend one hour with them in their natural habitat which gives you an opportunity to learn about their behaviors, habits, watch them feed, play, fight, hunt, mate, take photos and record the moments. After the one hour with the chimpanzees you will trek back to the park headquarters where you will meet up with your driver guide and transfer to the lodge for lunch.
After lunch, you will go for an interesting nature walk in Bigodi swamp where you will be able to view different primates, birds, plant and tree species among others. After the swamp walk, you will drive back to the lodge for an evening relaxation, dinner and overnight.
Day 12: Departure to Kigali/ Kampala
On the last day of the 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour, you will have breakfast at leisure, check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer back to Kigali with en-route lunch on the way. Upon arrival, your driver guide will drop you off at Kigali international Airport for your departure flight/ drop of at your hotel depending on your schedule.
End of 12 days Rwanda Uganda primates tour
Tour includes
- Gorilla trekking permits
- Chimpanzee trekking permit
- Golden monkey trekking permit
- Canopy walk
- Park entrance fees/game drives
- Boat cruise
- Ibyi’wacu cultural tour
- Bigodi swamp walk
- Kigali city tour
- Professional English speaking driver guide
- Full board accommodation
- Ground transfers (in a 4WD vehicle)
- Vehicle and fuel
- Bottled drinking water
Tour excludes
- International air flight tickets
- Visas
- Optional activities not included on the itinerary
- Life insurance
- Personal expenses like buying souvenirs, crafts, drinks, laundry services, hiring a porter, tipping among others.
