Day-by-day itinerary

What the operator has planned, day by day, across 3 days.

1. Day 1

   Kigali Pick-Up, City Tour and Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

   The trip can begin either with a pick-up from your Kigali hotel or on arrival at the airport, where the operator's representative meets you, gives a short briefing and sets off on a Kigali city tour. The tour takes in the genocide memorial site, where you learn how more than 250,000 Rwandans were killed. After lunch you drive on to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, crossing the border at Gatuna, and the drive takes roughly four to five hours. You arrive in the evening, check into your reserved lodge, have dinner and get ready for the next day's trek. Lodging runs from Rushaga Haven Lodge or Trekker's Tavern at budget level, through Ichumbi Lodge, Rushaga Gorilla Lodge or Bakiga Lodge, up to Four Gorilla Lodge, Kiho Lodge, Mahogany Lodge or Buhoma Lodge, with breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

2. Day 2

   Gorilla Tracking and an Afternoon Cultural Visit

   After breakfast the driver takes you to the park headquarters for the briefing, which covers what to expect, how to behave and the history of Bwindi forest, along with what to pack for your hour with the gorillas; carry your passport and your gorilla permit, as both are checked at this point. The ranger assigns your gorilla family and puts you in a group of eight, and from the starting point you hike into the forest, with primates, butterflies, birds and the surrounding plant life pointed out on the way and a porter alongside to carry your backpack. Once you reach the gorillas you have an hour with them, watching them play, feed, rest and nurse their young; keep your distance, avoid eye contact because they read it as a threat, and do not handle the young animals, though photographs are fine. Afterwards you return to the headquarters and are given certificates of participation, then go back to the lodge to rest. In the afternoon there is a cultural visit to the Batwa, who grew up in the forest and who perform songs, dances and drama, before you return to the lodge for dinner and the night.

3. Day 3

   Optional Lake Bunyonyi and Transfer Back to Kigali

   After breakfast you drive out to Lake Bunyonyi, where you can take a boat ride to see the islands and hear about the lake's history. Lunch follows, then you set off for Kigali and cross the border, with the terraced hills of Kabale and of Rwanda in view along the way. You arrive in the evening and either go on to the airport for a flight or are dropped at your Kigali hotel.