Travel to Rwanda to experience the Brilliant thousands of hills with Gorilla Expeditions Ltd
It was last year May 2019 when I got a holiday from work, since I was always busy at work giving less time to my family when I got the two-week holiday, I decided to at least think of something that could bring us together as a family. I always dreamt of visiting Africa because of the many good attractions people have about it.
Now on my vacation, I decided to check online for the budget and cheap destination I can visit in Africa for a week. As I was searching I came across a small but gift country (Rwanda) in the eastern part of the continent I continued to search more about Rwanda and I also landed on a tour company called Gorilla Expeditions Ltd offering safaris packages to all tourist destinations in Rwanda.
After getting all the information about this country I decided to visit I had to surprise my wife and the kid with this idea and they both welcomed the idea of going on a wildlife safari in Rwanda. Then I had to contact Gorilla Expeditions Ltd inquiring about the best safari packages we can take as a family for 7 days.
The agent from Gorilla Expeditions Ltd sent us several safari packages to different destinations in the country, but since my kid loves primates more, we decided to choose a package which had a lot of premating watching and our safari was all about trekking the rare and endangered mountain gorillas, and Golden monkeys in Volcanoes National Park, chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park which is home to 13 different species of primates which is almost 25% of Africa’s total.
Kigali City
By the time we arrived in Rwanda, Gorilla Expeditions Ltd had already organized and booked all lodges where we would sleep in all national parks, The Gorilla trekking permit was ready for all of us, and even by the time, we reached Kigali International Airport our tour guide was already waiting for us to welcome us to this clean and beautiful country.
We arrived at Kigali International Airport at around midday, and it was a rainy day since it was our first time in Africa, we were a bit nervous about whether Gorilla Expeditions Ltd would send a person to meet us and how it all would be handled at the airport. To our surprise, however, it was a cold rainy day but our tour guide was waiting for us at the first gate and very quickly helped us to pack our bags in a safari land cruiser since it was raining the briefing about how our safari is going to move was done at our hotel as we were taking lunch.
After lunch, we had to rest for a while, and in the evening we had to take a short Kigali city tour then we transferred to Volcanoes National Park for an overnight stay at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge which we found when they were already waiting for us since Gorilla Expeditions Ltd had already booked it in advance. We had an amazing cold night at this beautiful lodge in Volcanoes National Park.
Gorilla in Volcanoes National Park
The next morning was a D-Day since it was the highlight of our safari to Rwanda, meeting in person with gentle giants the rare and endangered mountain gorillas. Very early in the morning at around 6 AM we were awake and William our tour guide was readily waiting for us, at around 07:30 AM we had to get some packed food and water and we transferred to the national park headquarters of Volcanoes National Park where we had a simple briefing from the ranger guide, and even we were put in a group of 8 people and then was allocated to a gorilla group we had to trek and then we had to drive to the starting point of gorilla tracking in the thick jungle. The gorilla trekking experience was not that easy because it needed us to walk in the jungle for almost 3 hours in search of the mountain gorillas but lucky enough we managed to find them and we were told to turn off the flashlight of our cameras, reduce the voice from which we talking and we spent a full hour with those amazing animals.
Apart from the magnificent mountain gorillas and experience, the whole of our safari to Rwanda was made better with the kind of personal care and attention given by our guide. William went beyond just being a tour guide to help us in everything we wanted like snapping photos, translating for us, and even asking some lady to show us how Rwandan women tie their babies on their backs. Nothing was too big to ask for and every little thing was paid attention to. We had a fantastic experience on our safari to this amazing country especially William! I would recommend him anytime!!
Chimpanzee Climbing Tree in Nyungwe Forest
After experiencing our gorilla trekking, we had to return to the lodge for relaxation and we waited for dinner and overnight. The next day we had to go for golden monkey tracking, and on our way, as we were looking for the golden monkeys we again spotted a gorilla swinging in the branches of the trees and it was extra for us to see the mountain gorillas and the species of birds. Thereafter this experience in the evening after lunch at our lodge we spent the evening visiting the twin Lakes (Burera, and Ruhondo) and from here we managed to spot a variety of birds.
The next day still we had to spent it partly in Volcanoes National Park because we had to first trek in the jungle to visit the Dian Fossey graves and much was experienced about her effort to conserve the mountain gorillas in the mist after returned to our lodge for lunch and after we embark on a 6-hour drive to Nyungwe Forest National Park but we had to retire at the Lake Kivu and we had our overnight at Moriah Hill Resort and staying at this hotel really you feel the shores of Lake Kivu, the hospitality is so fantastic and the friendly Rwandese!
Canopy Walk in Nyungwe Forest National Park – Rwanda
Early in the morning after breakfast, we started our journey to Nyungwe Forest National Park and the whole drive was as amazing as our guide William could keep our chic smiling with the great African storytelling. Upon our arrival at the Nyungwe Forest National Park at the Nyungwe Forest Lodge receptionists welcomed us with a smile and after we checked into our African-designed cottage, served us with a glass of juice. Then in the evening, we took a nature walk to spot a variety of primates and bird species.
The next morning we had to wake up early for breakfast and then go to the national park headquarters for the briefing before we went into the forest in search of chimpanzees and other primates in the park. Our kid was so happy because he loved how chimpanzees were playing in the branches of trees and as a mother nursing the young ones.
In the afternoon we returned to the lodge for lunch and later we had to go for a Canopy walk in the park after the next morning we embarked on a 4-hour drive from Nyungwe Forest to Kigali for last-minute shopping and later William drove us to the airport to meet our departure flight back home.