Every primate Rwanda has to offer, in one trip: mountain gorillas and golden monkeys at Volcanoes National Park, then chimpanzees, a canopy walkway and colobus monkeys in Nyungwe Forest's genuinely different lowland rainforest. This is our most complete single-country Rwanda itinerary — two national parks, four distinct primate and forest experiences, seven days.
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Enquire About This SafariVolcanoes National Park and Nyungwe Forest National Park are genuinely different environments — volcanic highland forest versus ancient lowland rainforest — and this itinerary is the only one of our published Rwanda packages that visits both. The first three nights follow the same gorilla-and-golden-monkey structure as our 5-Day Gorilla & Golden Monkey itinerary; the remaining three nights add a scenic transfer south to Nyungwe for chimpanzee trekking, the canopy walkway and colobus monkey tracking. If two parks is more than you need, see our shorter Volcanoes-only itineraries instead.
Landing at Kigali International Airport, your driver-guide meets you for the scenic roughly 2.5-hour drive north to Musanze. Check-in at your lodge is early afternoon, with the rest of the day free to rest ahead of tomorrow's gorilla trek.
An early breakfast precedes your briefing at Kinigi park headquarters, where you're assigned a specific habituated gorilla family. The trek runs anywhere from thirty minutes to several hours each way, followed by one full hour observing the family once found. You return to the lodge by early-to-mid afternoon with a personal trekking certificate.
A genuinely different pace from yesterday: golden monkeys move quickly through Volcanoes' bamboo forest in large, energetic troops, making for a livelier trek than the calmer gorilla encounter. The afternoon is free to relax before tomorrow's longer transfer.
A scenic 4–5 hour drive south through Rwanda's western highlands, with tea plantations and terraced hillsides giving way to the dense, ancient canopy of Nyungwe Forest — one of Africa's oldest rainforests. You arrive at your lodge in the afternoon with time to settle in ahead of tomorrow's early chimpanzee trekking start.
Chimpanzee trekking starts earlier than gorilla trekking, since chimps move on from their overnight nesting site at first light. Tracking a habituated troop through Nyungwe's dense rainforest is a genuinely different physical experience from Volcanoes' volcanic terrain — flatter underfoot in places, but the canopy itself is denser and the chimps considerably faster-moving than gorillas. The rest of the day is free to relax at your lodge.
A more relaxed day by comparison: Nyungwe's suspended canopy walkway offers a genuinely different vantage point over the rainforest, followed by tracking one of Africa's largest troops of Angola colobus monkeys through the forest understory. Both activities run at a gentler pace than the trekking days earlier in the trip.
A relaxed final morning at your Nyungwe lodge before the transfer back toward Kigali for your onward or international flight. Given Nyungwe's distance from Kigali, confirm your flight timing with your specialist when booking — an early departure may require adjusting this final day.
Three nights near Volcanoes National Park, then three nights near Nyungwe Forest. Depending on your chosen tier, your specialist will confirm real, currently available properties from the list below:
Nyungwe currently has no dedicated Premium-tier property in our collection, so our Premium-tier version of this trip pairs Volcanoes' Virunga Lodge with Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel, our best available Nyungwe option, rather than forcing an artificial Premium label onto a lodge that isn't one. See our full lodge collection for details on all of our destinations.
This itinerary includes Mountain Gorilla Trekking, golden monkey tracking, chimpanzee trekking, the Nyungwe canopy walkway and colobus monkey tracking. Browse our full experiences collection for everything that can be added.
| Tier | Per Person Sharing, Low Season | Per Person Sharing, Peak Season |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Comfort (both parks) | $4,692 | $5,210 |
| Premium (Virunga + best-available Nyungwe) | $7,728 | $8,246 |
| Ultra-Luxury (Bisate + Nyungwe Tea Forest) | $16,657 | $17,174 |
Low season runs November–May, peak season June–October. The roughly $450 seasonal difference reflects Rwanda's genuinely seasonal gorilla permit pricing, not a change in what's included. A single-supplement adjustment applies for solo travelers.
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Chimpanzee trekking starts earlier, since chimps move on from their nesting site at first light, and the chimps themselves move considerably faster than a gorilla family once located. Nyungwe's rainforest terrain also differs from Volcanoes' volcanic slopes — flatter in places but with a denser canopy overhead.
Yes, it's a genuine 4–5 hour scenic drive through Rwanda's western highlands. We treat it as a travel day rather than pairing it with an activity, so you arrive at Nyungwe rested ahead of the next morning's early chimpanzee trek.
Yes, each is a separate, modestly priced Nyungwe park activity ($40 each), distinct from the chimpanzee trekking permit. All are included in this itinerary's price.
Our current Nyungwe collection has an Ultra-Luxury property (Nyungwe Tea Forest Resort) and a Classic Comfort property (Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel), but no dedicated Premium-tier lodge yet. Rather than mislabel a property, our Premium-tier version of this trip pairs Volcanoes' genuine Premium lodge with Nyungwe's best available option. Ask your specialist if a true Premium-tier Nyungwe property becomes available.
Yes — see our 5-Day Gorilla & Golden Monkey itinerary for the Volcanoes-only version of the first half of this trip, or our 3-Day Gorilla Express for the shortest possible gorilla-only trip.
Before you book, our Complete East Africa Safari Packing List and How Far in Advance Should You Book a Safari? guides are worth five minutes each.
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