Be met by your guide for your transfer to your hotel.

Overnight: Hotel Chez Lando/Lemigo Hotel/Kigali Serna Hotel

Meals: Bed & breakfast

Rwanda’s history is a reminder for all of us of the dangers that we continue to face in today’s world.

Have a leisurely breakfast before leaving for the Ntarama Church, which saw more than 5,000 Rwandans massacred during the 1994 genocide.

Afterward, proceed to the Nyamata Memorial site- a church where around 2,500 people were killed.

In the church at Nyamata, the audio-visual displays focus on the mass rape, brutalization of women, and the use of HIV as a deliberate weapon of genocide.

This is a somber reminder of the brutality of mankind.

Return to the city for lunch (own account), then visit the Uburanga studio.

The studio is a creative space that’s home to artists who are producing some of Rwanda’s finest contemporary art.

Overnight at your hotel in Kigali.

These beautiful lakes are located near the border of Uganda at the base of volcano Muhabura.

Set against the Virunga volcanic mountains, the deep blue waters of the lakes provide you soothing relief from the harshness of the Rwandan sun.

Ruhengeri is the second-largest town in Rwanda with its stunning backdrop of five volcanic mountains.

After breakfast depart for a two-hour drive to Ruhengeri, the second largest town in Rwanda, with its stunning backdrop of five volcanic mountains – The Virungas.

Arrive at the Red Rocks Intercultural Exchange Center for a lunch that you will help prepare.

The cooking lesson here involves mainly Rwandese dishes.

With a range of fresh crops, the ingredients for African cuisine are diverse even though certain foods are common to many regions.

Ground maize or corn is used as the basis for many meals.

Maize flour is cooked with boiling water to form a stiff porridge (called ugali in Swahili or Kaunga in Kinyarwanda).

Sometimes made into dough, this starchy staple is served with sauces or stews as well as different fresh vegetables like cabbage, carrots, spinach, and other traditional greens.

You get to join our staff in the kitchen as you explore the varieties of food grown from the farm behind the main building.

Get your hands dirty; it’s fun!!

Sit down with the locals and enjoy your meal.

Merge into the Rwandan way of telling stories.

Africa loves a good story, and this is a wonderful introduction into its deepest culture.

Later in the afternoon, you will understand how to make beer from banana.

Yes! You read that right!

Try your hand at it!

Enjoy a big glass of the local brew.

The women here also do basket weaving and your visit here goes a long way in supporting the local community.

You will stay in a homestay tonight.

Driving distance:  2 Hours

Activity: Intercultural Exchange

Overnight: Local Homestay

Meal Plan: Half board: Lunch, Bed & Breakfast

Today, you will track the Golden Monkey in the National Park.

Your guide will lead you up to the habituated golden monkeys – these monkeys have become accustomed to human presence.

You can spend up to an hour watching the monkeys as they frolic in the bamboo glades of the Park.

Afterward, also depart to the twin lakes of Bulera and Ruhundo.

Their deep blue waters are the perfect balm to the harsh African sun.

Driving distance:  15 minutes

Activities: 1 Golden Monkey Trek + Twin Lakes Visit

Overnight: Home Inn/ Mountain Gorilla View Lodge / Virunga Lodge

Meal Plan: Full board – Lunch, Dinner, bed & breakfast

This is the moment you have been waiting for.

A lifetime experience of tracking mountain gorillas.

Train your eyes well, because once you spot them, you are allowed to spend an hour watching these wonderful primates.

Tracking these gorillas through the light mountain forest on the slopes of the Virunga is the magical experience that will define this trip for you.

Less than 700 of these primates are still alive today.

Please note that the trek may be fairly strenuous if you are not used to physical activity.

The trek may take up to six hours. However, if you are unsure of trekking that distance, please do tell your guide who could request a shorter group for you.

Please get a good pair of hiking boots, gloves, snacks to replenish yourself, and sufficient water.

This may just be one hour with the gorillas, but it’s an hour we promise you will never forget.

We later visit the Kagano community village for some local life immersion.

Driving distance:  15 minutes

Activities: 1 Gorilla Trek

Overnight: Home Inn/ Mountain Gorilla View Lodge / Virunga Lodge

Meal Plan: Full board – Lunch, Dinner, bed & breakfast

This is your chance to give back to Rwanda.

Understand how the locals lead their lives.

And also, share your own cultural uniqueness.

To many of the children, this is the closest they would come to meeting someone like you.

Later depart for Gisenyi with a stop at the Imbabazi Orphanage.

The founder of the orphanage, Roz, wrote the book “Land of a Thousand Hills.

My Life in Rwanda,” with her niece, Ann Howard Halsey, chronicling her love affair with one of the world’s most beautiful and tormented regions.

Take a walk around the homestead and have a cup of tea/coffee as you watch the local dancers and enjoy the traditional way of local entertainment.

This is Rwandan traditional dancing and guests will enjoy the performance and later be given an opportunity to join in the dance.

Continue to Gisenyi arriving for lunch and check in at your hotel.

If time permits, take an afternoon swim at Lake Kivu one of the African Great Lakes.

It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

Later stay for dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Driving distance:  1 Hour

Activities: Local School visit + Imbabazi orphanage visit

Overnight: Palm Garden Hotel/ Paradise Malahide Hotel/ Kivu Serena Hotel

Meal Plan: Full board – Lunch, Dinner, bed & breakfast  

The lake is one of the deepest lakes in the world, and the surrounding mountains add just the hint of majestic grandeur you need for a swim.

We will leave for a three-hour drive to Kigali.

Driving distance:  3 Hours

Activity: At Leisure

Overnight: Hotel chez Lando/Lemigo Hotel/Kigali Serena hotel

Meal Plan: Bed & breakfast