6 Days Rwanda Gorillas and Cultural Tour

After breakfast, we travel to Nyanza and visit the King’s Palace, seat of the former feudal monarchy. The palace has been reconstructed to its 19th century state using local traditional materials and is one of the most magnificent traditional structures in Africa today. The resident cultural guide will take us through the cultural, political and social organization of society before the advent of Christianity and other recent religions in this area. Later we travel to Gisenyi passing through a beautiful rural countryside with village life.

Visit the shores of Lake Kivu and later travel to Imbabazi orphanage founded by Mrs. Rosamond Halsey Carr in late 1994 at Mugongo where the genocide orphans reside. Rosamond Halsey was a young American fashion illustrator when she married an adventurous hunter-explorer, Kenneth Carr. Together they journeyed to the then Belgie Congo D.R.C in 1949 but divorced later on. Kenneth left but Rosamond stayed in Congo until 1955. From there, she moved northwest of Rwanda where she stayed for the next 50 years. There, she witnessed a big part of Rwanda's historical events including the 1994 civil war. She is the author of Land Of A Thousand Hills: My Life In Rwanda.The resident guide will give us a story about the life and times of this lady, her relationship with the local people and Dian Fossey, the famous gorilla conservationist. For those who have watched the movie, Gorillas in The Mist, note that some of the scenes were shot in this property.

After visiting the orphanage, we continue to Musanze on the foothills of Volcanoes national park.

Today’s activity may be the most exciting and challenging of our entire expedition.The mountain gorillas in the volcanoes national park are part of a worldwide population of just about 800 species.The gorillas we are allowed to track belong to one of the 8 habituated family groups that live in this mountain park. For up to five years each,these groups have undergone an extremely delicate process that has gradually brought them to tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period every day and allowed a few privileged visitors to interact with them in the wild.

The gorillas are by no means tame, and are completely wild animals. However, experienced guides will accompany us on our tracking where most of them have been involved in the habituation process themselves.The guides and trackers will use their knowledge of the gorillas habits and information from the previous day to locate the groups' whereabouts.

Because of this, the time it takes to track the gorillas vary from as little as half an hour to as much as 8 hours before one returns to our hotel. Once the gorillas are located, our group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them.This is one of the world's truly memorable experiences- one look at them reminds us of the fact that they are on the edge of extinction,and that our presence here contributes to ensuring their continued survival.

We have various options: we can track the golden monkeys, visit Mt. Visoke or Karisoke research center. In the afternoon,we continue exploring the cultural delights of this area and visit Iby iwachu cultural center for cultural dancing and an informative experience about traditional local medicine. This cultural group was formed by pygmies and ex poachers and we shall listen to their side of the story after abandoning the illegal practice.

After breakfast at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, take a relaxed morning at the lodge before the drive back to Kigali. The road passes through the hills and towns of northern Rwanda, a quiet stretch after the activities of the past few days.

On arrival in Kigali, if your flight time allows, there is a chance to stop for some shopping in the city before you continue to the airport for your departure. Lunch is included along the way. This brings your six days in Rwanda to a close, after the genocide memorial at Gisozi, the shores of Lake Kivu, the cultural encounters near Musanze and the forests of Volcanoes National Park.