Murakaza neza! Welcome to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city. You’ll be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel, where you’ll have a welcome meeting at 6 pm. If you arrive in Kigali early, maybe start exploring at your own pace. Head to Nyamirambo, the Muslim quarter, to try some giant grilled tilapia, or stop by a local cafe and discover why Rwandan coffee is considered some of the world’s best. Tonight, you’ll join your leader for dinner at an East African restaurant popular with the locals. Enjoy live music, cocktails, great views and an authentic shared dining experience full of regional flavour. It’s very important that you attend the welcome meeting as we will be collecting insurance and emergency contact details at this time. If you are going to be late, please let your travel agent or hotel reception know. Ask reception or look for a note in the lobby for more information on where the meeting will take place. You will be travelling in a 4WD landcruiser throughout your trip. Each landcruiser has a maximum capacity of six passengers per vehicle, ensuring that everyone has a window seat and access to the pop-up roof. For groups of seven or more, we provide a second vehicle.

This morning, take a tour of the city and Kimironko market with your trip leader, where you can try traditional Rwandan and Ugandan dishes for lunch. Then, head out of the city for a sobering visit to Ntarama Church. Your local guide will explain how this memorial marks the site of a significant event during the genocide and provides an important reminder of lives lost. Continue to the Nyamata Genocide Memorial Centre, where you’ll learn how the Tutsis sought refuge in churches during harrowing times. Then, visit the Genocide Museum – a powerful yet confronting experience and important in understanding the tragedy and the resilience of the Rwandan people. The evening is then free for you to explore at your own pace.

After breakfast, depart Kigali and head across the border to Bwindi National Park in Uganda. Break up the journey with a guided, gentle 4 km (2.4 mi) walk along the shore of Lake Ruhondo, with great birdlife and scenic views. Then, take a calm boat ride before moving on to Bwindi. Arrive at the Gorilla Heights Lodge – your Feature Stay accommodation for the next three nights. Sitting high on the Nteko Ridge, the lodge offers excellent views of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, which is home to half of the world’s 800 mountain gorillas. Gaze out from your solar-powered cottage balcony across the jagged Virunga Mountains that straddle Uganda’s border with Congo and Rwanda. This evening, during a Premium Experience, a field veterinarian from the Gorilla Doctors will join you at the lodge for a behind-the-scenes look at their work. This organisation is dedicated to saving the mountain and eastern lowland (Grauer’s) gorilla species through medical interventions that protect the animals from human-induced or life-threatening trauma or disease. Your travel time today will be approximately 4 hours.

Rise early and head to the park headquarters where the Uganda Wildlife Authorities will brief you on today’s gorilla trek. The hike can be strenuous, wet and uncomfortable at times, but the incredible biodiversity of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the chance to see rare mountain gorillas make it worthwhile. It’s recommended that you invest in the help of local porters who can carry your pack and provide expert, local, one-on-one assistance along the way. Not only does it make for a more comfortable trek, but it also provides valuable employment opportunities to locals. Gorilla trekking is highly controlled. When you encounter a group of gorillas, you’ll be able to stay with them for one hour – watch them swing from trees, groom each other and play, all under the watchful eye of a giant silverback. Have a picnic lunch in the wilderness of the rainforest, then return to your accommodation. Today’s trek can be strenuous and may reach altitudes of almost 2000 m above sea level. Depending on weather conditions, some of the paths can be slippery and can change depending on the location of the gorillas. Therefore, it’s very hard to predict how long you’ll need to walk for, but a good level of fitness is recommended. Rangers may allocate you to different trekking groups based on your fitness levels and the group may be split. You’ll be provided with a walking stick and the option to hire a porter who can carry your day pack and assist you on the trek. It costs 20 USD to hire a porter, plus an optional tip, which must be paid for in cash. Some porters are ex-poachers who now recognize the value of gorilla conservation practices.

After breakfast today, you’ll experience the Buniga Batwa Cultural Trail. The indigenous Batwa tribes, once forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers, were displaced in 1991 when the forests were designated as protected national parks, leaving them conservation refugees. The trail offers a glimpse into their traditional way of life. Walk through the forest with your local guide and translator, as they teach you how they used to forage for food, trap animals with snares made from branches and make tools and medicines from nature. Watch as they demonstrate their traditional hunting and fire-making techniques and learn how they built their huts and ‘nests’ in trees to protect children from dangerous animals. This afternoon, take another memorable walk, this time to the ‘Top of the World’ viewpoint in the Nkuringo Sector. From here, you can look out over the dense canopy of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to the Virunga Mountains, the distant Rwenzori Mountains and even small towns across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Enjoy a sundowner and light snacks as the sun sets over the forest. Speak to your booking agent about purchasing an additional permit if you plan to do another gorilla trek today. The permit needs to be pre-booked and is subject to availability. Please note that when purchasing the permit, you’ll only be paying for the permit itself. There are other associated costs that you’ll need to pay locally. The expense varies depending on how many people have pre-booked the second trek to share the transport (i.e. 250 USD for a maximum of six people sharing one jeep). All optional activities must be paid for in cash using either USD or Ugandan shilling, though USD is preferred.

After breakfast today, depart the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and begin the journey back over the border into Kigali. After arriving at the capital, your adventure will come to an end at around 1 pm. Your travel time today will be approximately 4 hours. Make sure to not book any international flights departing before 6 pm this evening, to allow for any unexpected delays. If you would like to extend your stay in Kigali, just speak to your booking agent ahead of time to organise additional accommodation.