An hour with the gorillas. A country arranged around it.
Every permit is booked in your name directly with the Rwanda Development Board, every transfer is private, and every lodge is chosen for your trip rather than recommended by default.
Rwanda is the only country where mountain gorilla trekking, Big Five savannah, ancient rainforest and a genuinely sophisticated capital sit inside one compact, well-connected itinerary.
Smaller than Maryland, with paved roads between its national parks, Rwanda rewards travellers who want range without the internal flights larger safari countries demand. You can land in Kigali in the afternoon and be at the Kinigi briefing shed by seven the following morning.
What that access has attracted is a concentration of architecture — Bisate, Singita Kwitonda, One&Only Gorilla's Nest, Wilderness Sabyinyo — that few gorilla destinations can match at the park boundary itself.
Read the full country guideStarting points, not fixed products
Each is a proven structure we then rebuild around your dates, fitness, occasion and budget. Two travellers can follow the same route and end up with entirely different days.
Gorilla & Kivu Escape
- Days5
- Treks1
- Regions2
One trek paced properly, then two unhurried nights on the lake. For travellers with a tight window who still want the trek done well.
ViewSignature Rwanda
- Days7
- Treks2
- Regions3
Our benchmark: gorillas, Lake Kivu, then Nyungwe's chimpanzees and the canopy walk seventy metres above the forest floor.
ViewGrand Rwanda & Akagera
- Days10
- Parks3
- Big FiveYes
All three national parks without compressing any of them — including Akagera's rebuilt savannah and a boat safari on Lake Ihema.
ViewFour national parks, one afternoon apart
Drive times are from Kigali International Airport, on paved road, in a private vehicle.
Volcanoes National Park
- From Kigali2.5 hrs
- Highest peak4,507 m
- Families12
Mountain gorillas, golden monkeys, five Virunga volcanoes, and Dian Fossey's grave in the saddle between Karisimbi and Bisoke.
ViewAkagera National Park
- From Kigali2.5 hrs
- Area1,085 km²
- Big FiveComplete
Rwanda's only savannah. Lions returned in 2015, rhinos in 2017, and 70 white rhinos arrived in 2025. A rebuilt ecosystem, not a preserved one.
ViewNyungwe Forest
- From Kigali5–6 hrs
- Primates13 species
- Canopy walk70 m
One of Africa's oldest rainforests. Chimpanzee trekking, 300-plus bird species, and a suspension walkway high above the canopy.
ViewSix villas. Eight suites. Twenty-one treehouses.
The properties around Volcanoes National Park are small by design, and that scarcity is the real constraint on peak-season planning — more so than the permits themselves.
- Bisate Lodge6 villas
- Singita Kwitonda8 suites
- Gorilla's Nest21 lodges
We recommend against a default. Bisate suits a design-led honeymoon; Singita Kwitonda suits travellers who want the property's own land doing conservation work; Gorilla's Nest suits families and anyone who wants a spa at the end of the trek. Wilderness Sabyinyo — community-owned through the SACOLA trust — is genuinely the best value at the luxury tier.
Compare every lodgeWhere the permit money actually goes
Rwanda's gorilla permit costs USD 1,500 — nearly double Uganda's. That gap is policy, not opportunism, and it is worth understanding before you weigh the two countries against each other.
Since 2005, ten percent of all national park revenue has gone directly to communities living around protected areas, funding more than a thousand schools, clinics and water projects. The remainder supports anti-poaching patrols and veterinary monitoring.
The Virunga mountain gorilla population now exceeds 600 individuals — one of very few great ape populations moving in the right direction.
Read our conservation guideSpecialists, not a booking desk
Permits in your name
Booked directly with the Rwanda Development Board, never held on a generic allocation or resold through an intermediary.
One specialist throughout
The same person from your first enquiry to your return home — not a handoff to a call centre once you've paid.
Honest about the limits
No operator can guarantee a gorilla family, make a trek fully private, or promise a chimpanzee sighting. We say so before you book, not after.
Tell us the shape of the trip. We'll build the rest.
No cost, no obligation, and a specialist rather than a booking desk. Peak-season permits and the top-tier lodges book six to twelve months ahead.