Rwanda Private Travel Advisory

Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park

Volcanoes National Park sits on the northwestern border of Rwanda, against the Virunga massif shared with Uganda and the DRC. There are roughly twelve habituated mountain gorilla families in the park, and at any one time around eight to ten are open to tourism. Each family takes a maximum of eight visitors per day. Gorilla trekking permits are issued by the Rwanda Development Board and secured by Kelly well in advance.

Permits sell out months ahead for the dry seasons (June to September and December to February). For a peak season trip, Kelly typically secures permits six to twelve months in advance. She also handles the morning briefing logistics at Kinigi headquarters, the family allocation (which matters more than people realise, since some groups are a thirty minute walk and others are four hours up volcanic slopes), and the private transfers from Kigali, which take about two and a half hours by road.

Volcanoes National Park is also the only place to track the golden monkey (Cercopithecus kandti), a striking small primate endemic to the Albertine Rift. Most clients add a golden monkey trek on the day before or after gorillas. The terrain is easier and the experience is genuinely different.

Akagera National Park, Rwanda's Big Five Safari

Akagera covers 1,120 square kilometres along the Tanzanian border in eastern Rwanda. It has been jointly managed by African Parks and the Rwanda Development Board since 2010, and the recovery has been one of the most credible conservation stories on the continent. Lion were reintroduced in 2015, eastern black rhino in 2017, and southern white rhino in 2021. Akagera is now a genuine Big Five park.

Game drives here are quieter than the Kenyan and Tanzanian circuits. The landscape is a mix of savannah, wetland, and the chain of lakes along the Akagera River. Boat safaris on Lake Ihema put you alongside large pods of hippo and Nile crocodile, and the birdlife is dense, with papyrus gonolek, shoebill on occasion, and African fish eagle everywhere. Kelly uses private vehicles and pairs Akagera with one of two lodge options inside the park.

More on private game drive planning: Private game drives in East Africa.

Nyungwe Forest, Chimpanzee Trekking and Bird Watching

Nyungwe National Park in southwest Rwanda is one of the oldest montane rainforests in Africa, with thirteen primate species including chimpanzee, L'Hoest's monkey, Angola colobus (often in troops of three hundred or more), and grey-cheeked mangabey. Chimpanzee trekking starts before dawn from one of two trailheads. The chimps move fast, the forest is steep, and a tracking experience here is more physical than gorilla trekking.

For birders, Nyungwe holds over 300 recorded species including 29 Albertine Rift endemics. Kelly works with specialist guides for serious birding clients. The canopy walkway, suspended at 70 metres above the forest floor, is one of the best in East Africa and is included in most Nyungwe stays.

More on chimp trekking: Chimpanzee trekking in East Africa.

Lake Kivu and Rubavu

Lake Kivu runs 90 kilometres north to south along the Rwandan border with the DRC. It is one of the African Great Lakes and one of the deepest, with large methane reserves beneath the water. Rubavu (also known as Gisenyi) is the main lakefront town in the north and is roughly an hour from Volcanoes National Park. Most clients add two or three nights here after gorilla trekking: boat trips to the inhabited islands, slow afternoons, and quiet lakefront lodges that feel a long way from Kigali.

Further south, Kibuye and Karongi are smaller and more remote. The road that connects Rubavu to Karongi to Cyangugu (the Congo Nile Trail) is one of the most underrated drives in East Africa. Kelly plans private transfers along it for clients with the time.

Planning Your Rwanda Trip with Kelly

A typical first Rwanda trip runs seven to ten days: two nights in Kigali, three nights in Volcanoes National Park (with the gorilla trek on the middle day, golden monkeys on another), two nights on Lake Kivu, and either two nights in Akagera or two in Nyungwe depending on what the client wants. A more thorough trip adds both parks and runs twelve to fourteen days.

Kelly does not work with fixed packages. Every trip is built from the gorilla permit outwards. Once the date is locked, the rest of the itinerary follows. She handles permits, lodges, private guides and drivers, internal flights or road transfers, and the briefing on what to actually expect on the trek day (early start, layered clothing, gardening gloves for stinging nettles, and the genuine possibility of rain at any altitude).

Most clients combine Rwanda with another country: gorilla trekking in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for the contrast, or a quiet beach week in Zanzibar at the end of the trip. Kelly books a small number of trips each year and personally handles everything.