Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trails are ideal when exploring Rwanda in up close Discovery Journeys. The small landlocked East African country is hilly with limited but diverse natural attractions. Rwanda is among the fastest-growing wildlife safari destinations as travelers visit the country for adventure discoveries.
The country has a dark past of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi where over a million people lost their lives. This genocide affected Rwanda negatively in all economic, social, and political aspects. Rwanda has however managed to positively recover from that and now competes with countries that have never gone through what it went through.
Rwanda has over the years managed to position itself as a sustainable and luxurious wildlife safari destination. This is thanks to the incredible Rwanda wildlife safari trails and attractions. Rwanda is also among the most eco-friendly tourism destinations with the major safari activities done with a high regard for nature. Below are some of the best Rwanda wildlife safari trails you can be part of on a visit to the land of a thousand hills.
Chimpanzee Trekking Safari Trails
Chimpanzee trekking is done in Nyungwe Forest National Park in southwestern Rwanda. The park covers one of East Africa’s largest natural forests and water catchment areas. Nyungwe forest covers a land area of 1,019 square kilometers of tropical rainforests, bamboo, and wetlands.
The forest is home to 13 primates including Eastern chimpanzees which are the leading primate attractions. Nyungwe has 3 chimpanzee communities that are habituated and open to tourism. Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trails to any of these chimpanzee communities are remarkable. They allow you to hike and meet one of man’s closest primate species in their natural habitats.
Nyungwe Forest currently has provisions for the chimpanzee habituation experience at Kiyovu. In this chimpanzee habituation experience, you follow park rangers on a behind-the-scenes process of habituating chimpanzees. You follow and closely monitor the chimpanzees amidst sightings of other wildlife species. On the habituation experience, you are allowed up to 4 hours in the presence of chimpanzees enabling you to learn and discover more.
Mountain Gorilla Trekking
Mountain gorilla trekking adventures are other amazing Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trails you must be part of. These are done in Volcanoes National Park located in North Western Rwanda. Mountain gorillas are rare primates of the apes family that live in the forested mountains of East Africa. They live in the Virunga mountains also known as the Mufumbiro ranges along the Rwanda, Uganda, and DRC borders.
Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park has 5 of the 8 Virunga mountain ranges and the highest mountain gorilla population in that ecosystem. There are 20 habituated gorilla families in the park 12 of which are open for tourism. On Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trails in Volcanoes National Park, you therefore hike to one of the habituated gorilla families.
An encounter with Rwanda mountain gorillas is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You hike the forested mountains for 1 to 4 hours until you meet the mountain gorillas. You are required to keep a 7-meter distance away but this is close enough for you to observe and learn more about the rare primates. Our 4-day double gorilla trekking tour features two mountain gorilla treks. On this expedition, you visit the gorillas twice on separate days following different gorilla families. This allows more time and opportunity to study two different gorilla family setups.
Mount Karisimbi Hiking trails
Mount Karisimbi is the highest of the 8 Virunga Mountains standing at an elevation of 4,507 meters above sea level. It lies along the Rwanda and DRC border but can be hiked from the Rwandan side. The Mount Karisimbi Hike is among the most recommended Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trails.
It features a journey through the diverse Virunga ecosystems that starts through local farmlands. From there, you hike through the lower slopes of the mountains covered with montane forest. The vegetation transcends into bamboo as you ascend the mountain and then to heath towards the mountain peak.
On this hike, you stand a chance to see the major wildlife species in the park including mountain gorillas and golden monkeys. The mountain Karisimbi Hike is a long one and can be completed in 2 days. You spend a night in the mountain an opportunity that enables you to enjoy the nightlife of an actual jungle and mountain wilderness.
The Mount Karisimbi hike is completed on day 2 before descending to the bottom. Mount Karisimbi hike requires a Level of physical fitness and mountain climbing experience. It can be done alongside other Rwanda safari adventures like mountain gorillas and golden monkey trekking. Our 5-day Rwanda Safari adventure covers this and more!
Golden Monkey trekking safari trails
Golden monkeys are primate species that are endemic to the Virunga Mountains and some Central African forests. They live alongside Mountain gorillas and other mammals in Volcanoes National Park offering yet other Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trail experiences. They are also found in Nyungwe Forest and Kahuzi Biega National Park in Eastern DRC.
Golden monkeys live in bamboo forest zones and can easily be hiked compared to mountain gorillas. They live in communities comprising females, males, and young ones ranging up to 20 individuals. The golden monkey’s diet mainly comprises bamboo shoots and other edible plant vegetation. Golden monkeys have not been given attention like other primates but are remarkable to watch in the wild.
Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trails featuring golden monkeys, chimpanzees, and mountain gorillas are the ultimate primate Discovery Journeys. Our 3-day Rwanda Tour, 5-day Rwanda Tour, and 10-day Rwanda Safari feature all three primates. Book them now and get to meet the rare primates in their habitats.
Nyungwe Nature Walks
Nyungwe forest has several nature walks that form a great part of the Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trails. These start from an hour lasting up to 3 or 4 hours all leading to different destinations in the forest. They include a hike to the waterfalls, swamps, and the heart of Nyungwe forest.
Nyungwe forest nature walks are up close and experiential when compared to other Rwanda safari experiences. On these walks, you closely interact with nature getting to see some of the smallest wildlife species like reptiles, butterflies, and plants. They are also ideal for birding journeys in Nyungwe Forest which is Rwanda’s most important bird area.
These nature walks have fixed departures starting early morning, mid-morning, and in the afternoon. Nature walks are the best way to explore any destination and Nyungwe Forest is perfect being a Natural World Heritage Site.
Congo Nile Trails
The Congo Nile Trail features several tour destinations along the Rwanda-Congo Nile divide. This prominent Rwanda Wildlife Safari Trail follows a path along Lake Kivu giving the best of the Rwanda Kivu experience. It covers a distance of over 227 kilometers depending on your presence and starting point.
The trail is customized to start from Nyungwe Forest, Kibuye, or Musanze. It features several Rwanda tour adventures including tea plantation visits, cycling, fishing, and community visits. It is best enjoyed on cycling adventures as this gives you more opportunity to closely interact with the local people.
The Congo Nile Trail can be covered in 7 to 10 days depending on the activities included. It is the best Rwanda Discovery Journey and Safari Trails you can ever be part of in Rwanda. Contact Us to customize this and many other Rwanda safari tours. These can be combined with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania safari adventures.
English
Afrikaans
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bengali
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Catalan
Cebuano
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Corsican
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Esperanto
Estonian
Filipino
Finnish
French
Frisian
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Khmer
Korean
Kurdish (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz
Lao
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Nepali
Norwegian
Pashto
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Russian
Samoan
Scottish Gaelic
Serbian
Sesotho
Shona
Sindhi
Sinhala
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Sudanese
Swahili
Swedish
Tajik
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Xhosa
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu