Kigali to Volcanoes National Park

Your private Sankofa guide meets you at Kigali International Airport. The drive north runs through terraced hillsides, banana groves and red earth roads, until the dark outline of the Virunga volcanoes fills the skyline.

Your luxury lodge sits at the edge of Volcanoes National Park, in the mountain forest, where mist drifts through the treetops in the late afternoon. The evening is free. You can sit by the fire, or take a short dusk walk along the forest boundary with the lodge naturalist. Dinner is at the lodge.

• Airport meeting in Kigali
• Scenic drive to Volcanoes National Park
• Optional dusk walk with the lodge naturalist

Mountain Gorilla Trekking

After an early breakfast you drive to the park headquarters for a briefing from the lead guide. The rules are simple: keep at least seven metres from the gorillas, no flash photography, and turn away if you feel a cough coming. You are assigned to a habituated gorilla family based on your fitness and trekking preference.

The trek goes through bamboo, dense mountain rainforest and volcanic soil. It can take one to six hours, depending on how far the gorillas have moved from their overnight nest. When you find them, you spend one hour with the family. You might watch a silverback, juveniles playing, or a female sitting quietly and looking back at you. Mountain gorillas were once close to extinction, and conservation work and community protection programmes have helped their numbers recover. That history is part of what makes the hour so moving.

You return to the lodge for lunch. The afternoon is for rest, with spa treatments, yoga or a book in the forest air. Your USD 1,500 gorilla permit is included in the price. Permits cannot be refunded.

• Briefing at the park headquarters
• Gorilla trek of 1 to 6 hours, then 1 hour with the family
• Lunch and a free afternoon at the lodge

Free Day: Culture, Forest Walk & Wellness

Day 3 is deliberately unhurried, and you choose how to spend it. A guided walk along the forest edge is good for birds and for spotting medicinal plants used in traditional Rwandan healing. Your guide also explains how farmland wraps around the park on every side.

A visit to a local cultural village shows rural life today. You see traditional intore dance and the weaving of agaseke peace baskets. Through an interpreter, you hear how local communities take part in gorilla conservation through revenue sharing and jobs as trackers and rangers. If you would rather stay near the lodge, the Dian Fossey Exhibition covers the life and research of the primatologist who worked at the Karisoke Research Centre in the Virungas. The afternoon is free for the lodge's amenities.

• Guided walk along the forest edge
• Cultural village visit, or the Dian Fossey Exhibition
• Free afternoon at the lodge

Drive to Lake Kivu

You leave Volcanoes National Park and drive south along the Congo-Nile Ridge, the watershed between the Congo and Nile river systems. Views open on both sides, with forested valleys to the west and the terraced hills of Rwanda falling away to the east. There are photo stops along the way. Tea plantations cover the upper slopes, and then Lake Kivu appears through the trees.

Your lakeside lodge sits directly above the water. In the late afternoon you take a sunset boat cruise past small inhabited islands and fishing boats returning with their catch. Dinner is at the lodge.

• Scenic drive over the Congo-Nile Ridge with photo stops
• Check-in at the lakeside lodge
• Sunset boat cruise on Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu: Island Exploration & Wellness

Lake Kivu is one of Africa's Great Rift Valley lakes, shared between Rwanda and the DRC, at 1,460 metres above sea level. The climate is warm without being heavy, and the water is calm. In the morning you choose between a guided kayak around a sheltered bay, or a motorised boat trip to one or more inhabited islands. On the islands, communities fish at dawn and dry their catch on wooden racks in the sun.

The afternoon is for the lodge's wellness facilities, including spa treatments that use local volcanic minerals and herbal preparations (extra cost). Dinner is a private meal on the lake terrace, with fresh tilapia from the lake.

• Guided kayak or boat trip to the islands
• Free afternoon, with optional spa treatments
• Private dinner on the lake terrace

Return to Kigali & Departure

After a last breakfast by the lake, you drive back to Kigali. Depending on your flight time, your guide can arrange a stop in the city. Options are the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which explains Rwanda's history and recovery, the Kimironko craft market, or a quiet lunch at a restaurant before the airport. Your guide goes with you to the airport for your departure.

• Return drive to Kigali
• Optional stop at the Genocide Memorial, Kimironko market or a restaurant
• Transfer to Kigali International Airport