6 Days Rwanda Gorilla, Chimpanzee & Akagera Safari

6 Day Rwanda Gorilla, Chimpanzee & Akagera Safari

Some safaris feel like stories you’ve heard before. This one does not. Because this one begins where lions walk in golden silence, moves through canopies where chimpanzees rattle the trees with laughter, and ends high in the clouds—where gorillas sit in the mist and look straight into you.

This 6-day safari through Akagera, Nyungwe, and Volcanoes National Park is a journey of contrast—of open plains and deep forest. Of sound and stillness. Of pulse and presence. With Friendly Gorillas Safaris, it’s not just a trip. It’s a slow unfolding. And every place has something to give you.

Itinerary Overview

Day 1 – Kigali to Akagera National Park + afternoon game drive
Day 2 – Full day Big Five safari + Lake Ihema boat safari
Day 3 – Transfer to Nyungwe Forest National Park
Day 4 – Chimpanzee trekking + optional canopy walk or tea visit
Day 5 – Scenic transfer to Volcanoes National Park
Day 6 – Gorilla trekking & return to Kigali

Day 1: Into the Savannah – Kigali to Akagera National Park

Your guide from Friendly Gorillas Safaris picks you up early from your Kigali hotel. The city is still stretching awake, but you’re already heading east—toward open space. The land flattens, the colors change, and the gate of Akagera opens wide like a held breath.

By mid-morning, you’re already spotting wildlife—impalas blinking through the bush, baboons scurrying across the track. After checking into your lodge, you set out for a late afternoon game drive. The light grows softer, golden.

You may catch sight of buffalo grazing near the lakeshore, or giraffes silhouetted against the fading sun. The park is quiet—not in emptiness, but in intention. Tonight, you fall asleep to the sound of distant grunts and wind in the reeds.

Accommodation:

• Budget: Akagera Rhino Lodge
• Standard: Ruzizi Tented Lodge
• Luxury: Magashi Camp
  Meals: Lunch & Dinner

Day 2: The Big Five & the Water That Remembers

Today is your full day in the wild. You rise early and begin a morning game drive, searching for the Big Five—lions in the open plains, elephants moving slowly through woodlands, and rhinos near the bushline. Your guide knows every footprint and calls each bird by name.

In the afternoon, you swap land for water on a boat safari on Lake Ihema. The lake is alive—hippos rise like breathing stones, crocodiles glide by, and African fish eagles trace the sky. You return to your lodge as the golden light fades and the savannah prepares for night.

Accommodation:

• Budget: Akagera Rhino Lodge
• Standard: Ruzizi Tented Lodge
• Luxury: Magashi Camp

Day 3: From Grass to Canopy – Akagera to Nyungwe Forest

Today is a transition—from savannah to forest, from wide open to richly layered. After breakfast, you journey southwest across Rwanda’s green belly. The road curves around hills, tea plantations, villages where life flows in slow rhythms.

By late afternoon, you arrive near Nyungwe Forest National Park, home to 13 primate species and Africa’s highest canopy walkway. The forest breathes. It doesn’t just stand. It exhales. You’ll settle into your lodge tucked along the forest edge, where colobus monkeys chatter in the trees and mist wraps the treetops before dusk.

Accommodation in Nyungwe:

• Budget: EAR Guesthouse
• Standard: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel
• Luxury: One&Only Nyungwe House
  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 4: Chimpanzee Trekking in Nyungwe – Echoes & Eye Contact

You rise early, long before the first birdcalls, and follow your guide deep into the forest. The path may be muddy. The air is rich with scent and sound. Then, from above—a shriek. A rustle. The branches explode with motion.

Chimpanzees are fast, social, loud. You follow, moving quickly, sometimes breathlessly, until they pause—and so do you. A male chimp thumps the trunk. A mother carries her baby across a limb. For one suspended moment, a pair of dark eyes meets yours, and you’re not watching animals. You’re meeting kin.

Later, after trekking back out, the rest of your day is gentle. You may choose to visit a tea plantation or walk the forest canopy bridge—suspended 70 meters above the forest floor. Either way, Nyungwe leaves you quieter than you entered.

Accommodation:

• Budget: EAR Guesthouse
• Standard: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel
• Luxury: One&Only Nyungwe House
  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 5: From Forest to Volcano – Transfer to Volcanoes National Park

After breakfast, your guide drives you north again, tracing Rwanda’s western corridor past Lake Kivu. The lake stretches wide, calm and mirror-like. Fishermen row wooden canoes with slow grace. Children wave from the shore.

By afternoon, the Virunga Mountains rise into view—those volcanoes wrapped in cloud, ancient and alive. You arrive in Musanze, the mountain town just below Volcanoes National Park. The air is cooler here. The mist settles early.

And something about the place invites reflection. You check into your lodge, and tomorrow’s meeting with the gorillas begins to feel real.

Day 6: Gorilla Trekking – The Moment the World Stops

Today is the reason you came. You wake early, eat quietly, and drive to the park headquarters for briefing. Then you begin the climb—up muddy trails, through tangled bamboo, guided by rangers who know where the families were yesterday and where they might be today.

And then—you stop. There’s movement. A sound. And just like that, they’re there. A silverback rests on his knuckles, his gaze calm and unreadable. Young ones play. A mother shifts her baby beneath a leaf. Upon locating them, you spend one hour in their presence as you watch them play, feed and relate.

After the encounter, you return to the starting point to collect your trekking certificate before later driving to Kigali. The road back is quiet. But your heart is full.