Rwanda is small, green and hilly, and most people come for one reason: the mountain gorillas of Volcanoes National Park, on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes in the northwest. Distances are short and Kigali is an easy capital to fly into, so you spend less of a gorilla trip on the road here than almost anywhere else.
The classic trip pairs Volcanoes with one other park. Nyungwe, in the southwest, is a high montane rainforest of about 1,000 square kilometers with 13 primate species, including chimpanzees, and a suspension walkway through the treetops. Akagera, in the east, is savanna, lakes and papyrus swamp, where lions and rhinos have been brought back and you can do proper game drives and boat trips. If you are choosing between Rwanda and its neighbor, our guide to gorilla trekking in Uganda vs Rwanda sets out the differences.
The lodges around Volcanoes are some of the best in Africa, and several have spent years replanting native forest on old farmland at the park edge. Kigali deserves a night too, if only for the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which is the best place to start understanding the country you are traveling through.
Rwanda looks simple on a map, and in many ways it is. The hard part is timing. Gorilla permits are limited each day, the best lodges near the park have very few rooms, and the order of your treks, drives and flights decides how rested you are when you finally sit with the gorillas.
We plan the whole trip around those pieces: permits secured before anything else, lodges matched to how you like to travel, private drivers and guides, and helicopter or domestic flight options where they save you a long day on the road. You get a clear plan and someone to call if anything changes on the ground.
Rwanda's parks have recovered a great deal in the past two decades, and visitor money is a big part of how.
Rwanda has two dry seasons and two rainy seasons, and gorilla treks run all year.
The easiest trekking conditions, with drier trails, and the best game viewing in Akagera. This is also when permits and lodge rooms are hardest to get.
A good second window with some rain and fewer visitors. Lion sightings in Akagera are strong from mid-December to mid-February, with fewer vehicles around.
April is usually the wettest month, and the trails get slippery. The forests are at their greenest and the lodges are quieter, and the October–November rains tend to come as short, heavy showers followed by clear skies.
Nyungwe National Park protects about 1,019 square kilometers of montane rainforest in southwest Rwanda, on the border with Burundi. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.
It is Rwanda's place for chimpanzees, monkeys, birds and forest hiking, and it adds variety to a gorilla trip.
Akagera National Park covers 1,122 square kilometers of savanna, lakes and papyrus swamp in eastern Rwanda, along the border with Tanzania. It is Rwanda's only savanna park.
After losing most of its big animals in the 1990s, it now has all of the Big Five again, and it pairs well with a gorilla trip.
Volcanoes National Park covers the Virunga Mountains in northwestern Rwanda, home to mountain gorillas and golden monkeys, about two and a half to three hours by road from Kigali.
Treks are well organized and tightly regulated, and the nearby lodges are among the best in Africa.
Every itinerary begins with a conversation. Tell us what you're dreaming of, and we'll design a journey tailored entirely to you.
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