Enjoy the gorilla tours in Rwanda and Uganda and taking you through the Volcanoes National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Bwindi Forest National Park in Uganda. Gorillas are one of the best creatures not to be missed while on the safari to Rwanda and Uganda.
While in Rwanda, gorilla tour is one of the leading activities you can ever think of. Taking up a gorilla trek in Rwanda will be one of your best moments ever. It starts with a city tour which will take you to Kigali memorial centre, Kimironko market, art gallery and many more.
The number of places to visit will depend on your preference, general interests and budget. You can request to exclude some landmarks or to be taken to points of interest.
The genocide memorial site focuses on general information about the 1994 genocide while another is a memorial of the innocent children who died during the same genocide. The third exhibition covers genocides that occurred in the different parts of the world.
As a visitor, you will learn about the situation before, during and after the genocide through documentaries, videos or personal presentations. The whole experience can be very touching but nevertheless important to educate people about the horrors of genocides so that it never happens anywhere else again.
You will visit the best artisan shops in Kigali where you can buy souvenirs and take back home as a memory of your time in Kigali. The best artisan centres are Inema Art Centre, Ivuka Arts studios and Caplaki. Buying souvenirs in centres like the Caplaki Handcrafts Co-operatives is a good way of supporting the locals especially the women involved in making the art pieces.
Take a visit to Kimironko market to learn about the culture of a new place is in their markets. Kigali has many local markets where residents go to shop for local items and food stuffs. Kimironko is one of the most popular for shopping spices, herbs, vegetables, fruits, salt, meat and fish. You will also find individuals selling different art pieces and more.
visit one of the top city restaurants to taste local Rwandan food during lunch. If you want the more international cuisines, you are free to choose them over the local food. Dining at a local restaurant offers opportunities to meet the local people.
You will transfer to volcanoes national park and head direct to your preferred lodge for dinner and overnight. Early morning after breakfast, you will head to the park headquarters for briefing. Put in groups of 8 to go and trek one gorilla group.
The search takes 30mins to 7hours and once you are in contact with them, you will take one hour with them learning their behaviours. You will descend to pick your trekking certificate then go for lunch at your lodge as well as relaxation.
The next day you will cross to Uganda via Katuna boarder to go for yet another interesting gorilla experience in Bwindi national park. It starts with a briefing at the park headquarters at around 7:30am. Visitors should sleep early before the day of tracking and wake up by 5am to take breakfast before starting the journey to the park office.
After the briefing at the park office, trekkers are separated into smaller groups of 8. Each group of eight track a particular gorilla family. Some gorilla families live near the park offices while others are found further away.
It can take only 30 minutes to locate some groups while others can take hours. A team of trackers normally go ahead of the group to identify the location of the gorilla family. They then inform the lead Guide by radio call of the exact location of the gorilla family. Once you locate them, you will be allowed only one hour with them. Descend back for your trekking certificate and then lunch.
In the afternoon, you can Visit the Batwa pygmies to see the original people who lived in Bwindi Forest for thousands of years. Its a great opportunity to learn about their culture and get involved in some of their cultural activities.
Expect to see traditional dance performances while listening to stories about how they used to hunt and gather fruits in the forest. You will wind up with a relaxation at lake Bunyonyi then cross back to Rwanda for your flight back home.
