DETAILED ITINERARY
Day 1: Pickup from Kigali – City Tour Transfer to Akagera national park – Boat trip at Lake Ihema
A Guide from Noworks tours and will pick you up in the morning from the airport or your hotel in Kigali. After briefing you about the tour, you will have a tour of the Kigali city where you will visit the city markets, Kigali genocide museum, the former presidential palace, a few art shops and other landmarks. After completing the city tour, you will leave for Akagera national park. The journey to Akagera National Park takes between 2 to 3 hours.
Before reaching the park, you will have a brief stop at the Nyakarambi village to learn about the cow dung paintings by the Kakira women cooperative. Their unique style of decorating house using cow dung has intrigued many a visitor since it was started by Prince Kakira. The cow dung is first dried and then mixed with different colors from natural material (including plants). The end product is a mixture of red and white paintings that are very eye-catching.
Once you arrive at the park, you will make all necessary clearances at the gate and then proceed to the center for visitors. From the center, you will then proceed to your hotel. After checking in at the hotel, you will prepare to be taken for a boat cruise at the Lake Ihema. The boat trip provides opportunities to spot crocodiles, hippos and other **animals coming to bath or drink from the lake. Look out for the elusive Sitatunga Zamp antelope) and waterbucks.
Dinner and overnight at Ruzizi Tented Camp (Luxury) or Akagera Game Lodge (Mid-range)
Day 2: Game drive in Akagera national park – Picnic Lunch – Night Game drive
Wake up early and take your breakfast as you wait for the Guide/Driver to pick you up. This day is all about game drives. Our Guide will pick up an experienced park Guide to move with you and take you to the best places for game drives. You will go to different parts of the park while exploring the parks landscape including woodland forest, savannah plains, riverine forests and wetlands. During the morning game drive, watch out for hippos, Impala, warthogs, Topi, Zebras, spotted hyenas, giraffes, buffaloes, crocodiles, elephants and birds. The park Guide will play an important role in helping locate the lions, Rhinos and other elusive creatures.
Lunch will be a picnic in the open Savannah plains to allow you experience the unique feeling of dinning out in the African wild. After lunch, the driver will take you back to your hotel where you can relax and take a swim in the hotel swimming pool. You can choose to go for another afternoon game drive before the night game drive if you wish or go out specifically to spot the birds. Akagera is one of the top birding destinations in Rwanda with over 500 species recorded including the Papyrus Gonolek and Shoebill storks. The best place to spot the birds is at the vast wetlands found in the park.
The night game drive is designed to allow you spot the nocturnal animals like leopards, hyenas and mongooses, owls and primates
Dinner and overnight at Ruzizi Tented Camp (Luxury) or Akagera Game Lodge (Mid-range)
Day 3: Morning Game drive – Return to Kigali
Wake up at your r leisure, take breakfast and prepare for one last game drive in the park just in case you didn’t see any of the animals. Our Guide/Driver will meet with the park guide and take you to another section of the park for yet more wildlife encounters. After you are done with this game drive, it’s time to start the journey back to Kigali. Lunch is taken while on the way back to Kigali. In case you missed the Kigali city tour or the cow dung paintings at the Nyakarambi village for some reason on the first day, this is the time to do it. Please note that a safari in Rwanda and the Akagera national park in particular can be combined with chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe forest, hiking volcanoes, golden monkey trekking, biking along the Congo Nile Trail and gorilla trekking in the volcanoes national park.
