Top Attractions in Rwanda

Volcanoes National Park: Volcanoes National Park also known as Parc National des Volcans is located in northwest Rwanda and is famously known as the home to the endangered Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda. The diverse national park covers an area of 160 square kilometres and borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. The park also protects part of the Virunga ranges that are shared by three countries and on a clear day you can see the mountain peaks from the Kinigi park headquarters.
Volcanoes National Park has a rich and diverse ecosystem and is the best place to do the Mountain Gorilla Trek in Rwanda. Gorilla Trekking is arguably the most popular tourist activity at the park however the park has several hikes and activities like the golden monkey trekking adventure that brings one closer to the active golden monkeys, an Albertine Rift endemic primate specie. The most sought after wildlife species in Volcanoes National Park are the mountain gorillas and the golden monkeys.

Visitors to the park usually combine gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking while on their Rwanda Safari. Other wildlife that is resident to the park include forest elephants, buffalo, spotted hyena, giant forest hog, bush buck, bush pig, black-fronted duiker and other small predators. The other wildlife species are rare sightings and often not observed while in the park. A 3 Days Gorilla Trekking Safari is one of our top tours to this rich and diverse national park.

Akagera National Park: Located in north-eastern Rwanda, Akagera National Park is Rwanda’s finest savanna park well known for its incredible wildlife sightings and stunning landscape consisting of open grassland and undulating hills. Akagera National Park is very accessible as it is just a 2 hours’ drive from Kigali city making it a perfect destination for a one day tour or two-day wildlife safari. The park is the only savanna park in Rwanda and this makes it the best place for game safaris and wildlife encounters in the acacia savanna area. Akagera Park covers an area of 1,122 square kilometres that encompasses open savanna grasslands, acacia trees, swamp habitats, muddy terrain, herbaceous climbers, dense thickets, small and large lakes and undulating plains. The national park is one of the most scenic parks in Africa and is well known for its rich biodiversity.

Akagera National Park is home to the Big Five which can be best seen while on a game drive in the park. The Big Five animals include Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Buffalo and Rhino. The presence of the Big Five animals is one of the reasons why Akagera National Park is a unique safari destination as it offers you an opportunity to see the Big Five all in one place while on safari in Rwanda. Other animals in the park include zebras which are commonly seen in the open grassland areas, Topi, Eland, Roan antelope, Sitatunga, Warthogs, Maasai Giraffes, Impala, Klipspringer, Common Duiker,Oribi, Bohor reedbuck, Defassa waterbuck and Bushbuck. Primate species in the park include baboons, vervet monkeys and bush babies. Akagera National Park is also home to hippos and large crocodiles that are often seen while on a boat safari on Lake Ihema. Akagera boasts of the largest concentration of hippos in Africa. Our most popular safaris to the park include the 2-Day Akagera Safari and 3-Day Akagera Wildlife Safari.

Nyungwe Forest National Park: Nyungwe Forest National Park is located in southwestern Rwanda and is one of Rwanda’s most popular national parks with a high level of biodiversity. The Chimpanzee trekking adventure and The Nyungwe Forest Canopy Walk are the two most popular activities in the park. Nyungwe Forest is the oldest rain forest in Africa and the park is bordered by Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo and is easily accessed by road from Kigali city on a smooth paved road.
Nyungwe Forest National Park is home to 13 primate species and Nyungwe primates are the major attraction for visitors to the park. Primates in Nyungwe are spread out across the rain forest which is their main habitat and they move occasionally within the forest in search of food and their next nesting areas. Of course, the chimpanzees are the most popular primate species of Nyungwe and a chimpanzee trek in Nyungwe forest brings one closer to the chimpanzees also known as our closest relatives as they share 97% of man’s DNA. The population of the chimpanzees in the park are about 500 individuals. The other primate species resident to the park include L’Hoest’s monkey, Golden monkeys, Red-tailed monkey, Vervet monkey, Silver monkey, Ruwenzori colobus, Hamlyn’s monkey, Grey-cheeked mangabey, Olive baboon, Bush babies, Potto and Dent’s mona monkey.

Top Things to Do while in Rwanda (Activities)

Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda
Gorilla Trekking is a worthwhile wildlife adventure that takes you to the heart of the jungle and allows one to spend time with the endangered mountain gorillas while on your Rwanda Safari. Volcanoes National Park has 12 habituated gorilla families available for visitors to trek and visit. The national park issues 96 gorilla permits per day and the groups visiting the gorilla families have 8 people per group. The other gorilla families are mainly for research and not fully habituated as yet. The gorilla trekking activity starts with transfer from your lodge in the morning to Kinigi park headquarters which is the official starting point for gorilla trekking in Rwanda. The starting time for the session is 7:00am so it is best to be at Kinigi earlier than 7 am, the park headquarters is a well-organized area that features a café where you can even grab a cup of coffee before embarking on your gorilla trek. You will also be treated to stunning views of the Virunga Mountains which can be seen clearly on a good day and views of the beautiful landscape of Rwanda. The gorilla trekking adventure in Rwanda can take from anywhere between 2 hours – 8 hours depending on how far the gorilla family is situated and the fitness levels of the group members. Once you locate the gorillas you are allowed to spend a maximum of 1 hour with them during which you can watch them as they move, feed and even have an opportunity to capture some great photos.

Canopy Walk in Nyungwe Forest National Park
The canopy walk starts at Uwinka Visitor’s centre that also is the national park’s headquarters, the centre features the park offices, washrooms, brochures and boards with relevant park information about hiking trails, chimpanzees and the nature of Nyungwe Forest. The visitor’s centre also features a coffee shop so one can grab a cup of coffee just before they start their activities.

Canopy Walk in Nyungwe Forest National Park

Before embarking on the canopy walk you meet your site guide at Uwinka who takes you through a briefing to prepare you for the experience. The site guides at Nyungwe Forest National Park are knowledgeable and have experience with the forest trails. The briefing can take about 10 – 15 minutes where the guide gives you an overview briefing about the park and what to expect and the rest of the information is given as you hike to the canopy walkway. Wooden walking sticks are available and given at the visitor’s centre because being a rainforest, Nyungwe forest pathways are slippery and sometimes muddy so a walking stick helps with balance. The canopy walk takes about 1.5 to 2 hours long depending on the speed and stopovers along the trail.

Chimpanzee Trekking
The Chimpanzee trekking activity in Nyungwe National Park takes about 2-3 hours. The park has habituated chimpanzee communities that are open to visitors to see and once the chimpanzees have been located visitors are allowed to spend 1 hour with the primates. Three communities have been habituated in Nyungwe forest and these include the Cyamudongo group which lives in Cyamudongo forest and has about 30 chimpanzees, the Uwinka group which is situated closer to Uwinka park headquarters and has about 60 chimpanzees and the Gisovu group also found in northern part of Nyungwe forest and is a relatively new habituated group. The chimpanzee trek starts at the Gisakura park station and while here the park managers will make sure to allocate you to a group that offers a higher chance of seeing the chimpanzees based on the information they have about the current state and nesting of the chimpanzees.

Game and wildlife safari
Game viewing is best done in Akagera National Park across the vast savanna plains while on game drives in the park. Akagera National Park has a diversity of wildlife and is home to the African Big Five animals that include Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Elephant and Rhino. The presence of the Big Five offers an opportunity to look out for incredible wildlife sightings while on your Rwanda safari. In June 2015 lions (2 males and 5 females) were re-introduced in Akagera national park and rhinos were also recently re-introduced in to the park, the rhino population was greatly affected by poaching in the previous years but conservation efforts are ongoing and rhinos are now heavily protected by the park officials. While on the game drive, there are several other animals to look out for and these include the elusive leopard, elephants that can be seen feeding in the park, buffaloes which are usually seen as the park is home to about 2000 individuals, Burchell’s zebras often seen grazing in open low-lying areas of the park, impalas, hippos that are best seen around Lake Ihema the park is known to be one of the top places in East Africa to see large numbers of hippos. Other animals to look out for include warthogs, the majestic giraffes, sitatunga but this is a rarely seen antelope species, water bucks, bohor reedbuck, roan antelope, elands, topis, mammal species like the olive baboons, vervet monkeys and the nocturnal bush baby. Crocodiles are also present in the park and are best seen on a boat safari on Lake Ihema.

Golden Monkey Trekking
The golden monkey trek happens once a day at the park and the starting point is at Kinigi park headquarters. Once at the headquarters one is assigned a ranger guide and assigned to a group available that day. At Kinigi headquarters the briefing from the ranger guide is done and basically, the session involves information about golden monkeys, park guidelines and what one should expect while trekking. Golden monkeys are a beautiful sight to behold and the experience of watching them in their natural habitat is one for the books. Being active primates the session of seeing them is also rather active and busy and calls for wonderful photo moments. Golden monkeys eat about 21 plant species so their diet mainly involves plants primarily leaves, bamboo shoots, fruits and small insects. While on the trek you can have an opportunity to watch them munch on bamboo shoots which seem to be their favorite food and capture some good photos or videos. According to the park guidelines you are allowed to spend one hour with the golden monkeys after which you return to the starting point as you end the trek. The trek also offers an opportunity to look out for wildlife and birds resident to Volcanoes national park Rwanda.

Bird watching in Rwanda
Bird watching in Rwanda is what one would consider as the ultimate birding hot spot in Africa, home to over 700 species of birds and situated in the Albertine Rift Region – Rwanda offers incredible bird sightings across different locations. Rwanda is known as “the land of a thousand hills” dotted with rolling hills, stunning landscapes, rivers, swamps, savanna game parks and rain forests, all this provides a safe habitat for birds in Rwanda. One might wonder what they would expect to see while on a birding trip in Rwanda, well expect to see a lot of savanna specials, woodland species, water birds, raptors, Intra-African migrants, Palearctic migrants and forest specials. Rwanda is a bird watcher’s paradise with the most sought after birds being 44 Albertine Rift endemic species of which 27 of these are found in Nyungwe Forest alone.

Birding in Rwanda

Rwanda has an array of habitats making bird watching here worthwhile especially for specialist birders and ornithologists. Birding in Rwanda starts right from your hotel in Kigali city you then continue birding in the city which has rich birding hot spots after which you head out to the national parks for more incredible bird watching opportunities. Birding trips in Rwanda can be short or long depending on one’s interest but of course, the more time spent, the better the chances of seeing key species. More on Birding in Rwanda.

Volcano Hiking in Volcanoes National Park
Volcanoes national park protects the Rwandan part of the Virunga Mountains which it shares with Mgahinga Gorilla national park in Uganda and Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The park has 5 of the Virunga volcanoes which are Bisoke, Gahinga, Karisimbi, Muhavura and Sabyinyo. This makes Volcanoes National Park a prime destination for Volcano Hiking in Rwanda for travelers looking for hiking and adventure activities in Rwanda. Travelers can choose among 4 main peaks out of the 5 Virunga mountain ranges to hike.
The most popular is the Mount Bisoke volcano hike which takes one day. Mount Bisoke covers Rwanda and a part of the Democratic Republic of Congo however the summit is found in Rwanda. The hike starts with a briefing at the Kinigi headquarters of Volcanoes National Park from your ranger guides. After the briefing you start the journey to the head trail which is the starting point for the hike, here you will find more park ranges who you will be present with you throughout the hike. The Mount Bisoke hike takes 6 hours to get to the summit and the hike is through steep and rocky ground. The hike can be walkable however one has to be physically fit. Once you get to the summit you will have spectacular views of the Crater Lake at the top which lies at 3,700 meters and equatorial rain forest. You will take great photos at the top and you will have a picnic lunch at the top depending on the weather. You then descend back and this can take about 2 hours.