For a self –drive safari tour in Rwanda, please do not look further than hiring a 4×4 vehicle with Self-Drive Kigali. Self-drive Kigali has affordable rates and very professional customer service. Self-drive Kigali is a great way to explore Rwanda at your own pace and take control of your trip by taking a Rwanda safari tour.
Self-drive Kigali gives you an opportunity to visit Rwanda’s 3 national parks: Nyungwe National Park, Akagera National Park and Volcanoes National Park.
You will be able to do gorilla trekking and golden monkey tours, do the chimpanzee tracking and wildlife viewing. You will as well be able to visit almost all the Rwanda genocide museums, with great history of the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The self-drive tour in Rwanda is a great way to experience the entire country with the 14 days and with the private rented 4×4 car with rooftop tent and camping gears.
4×4 Land Cruiser GX with Rooftop Tent $ 120 USD per day
When you arrive at Kigali Airport, you will meet with our company representative and he will give you a general brief about the 14-day safari and the jeep and later you will be handed over the rental car and commence your safari while heading first to Akagera National Park for game drive and boat tours on the Lake Ihema. Akagera is the only protected area offering traditional Big Five safaris in Rwanda. The park boasts good wildlife tours, although not on quite the same scale as other iconic Kenya and Tanzania parks but it being the buffer zone with the Tanzania parks you will see high concentration of wildlife. You reach the lodge early in the evening for relaxation, dinner, and an overnight stay at the lodge camping section with your 4×4 jeep.
You may suggest to stay at park campsite, a unique property on the edge of a lake in a very special African park is a jewel. The camp overlooking the lake are incredibly comfortable, with attention to detail.
The food Rwanda is excellent, as is the quiet, genuine service. Animals to sight may include: elephants, hippos, rhinos, lions, buffalo, zebra, impala, giraffe, crocodile – even a honey badger, a rare sighting indeed. If you are fortunate enough to get to visit Rwanda, do not miss this wonderful park and beautiful landscapes.
Game drive and viewing, afternoon boat cruise tour. Wake up very early to a cup of refreshing coffee and head out for a 6:00 am game drive where you are likely to spot predators like lions and leopards hunting their prey.
Still on the drive you will also see giraffe, antelope, eland, topi, and bush buck. Return to the lodge for a late breakfast and lunch. Later in the afternoon, go for a boat cruise on Lake Ihema to get up close to the crocodiles, hippos, and water bird species including pelicans, African fish eagles, and malachite kingfishers among others. Return to the lodge for dinner and your overnight stay.
After being filled with the African wildlife in this wildlife corridor proceed with your self-drive to Nyungwe Forest National Park through the Kigali city in the southwestern part of Rwanda about a 6/7-hours’ drive. En-route, you will make a stopover in Butare to visit the museum and another in Nyanza to visit the traditional King’s Palace and enjoy the international dance “Intore Dance”. Settle for lunch, and afterward, continue to your destination to the tropical forest where birding is so much paramount.
Nyungwe Forest National Park is protected in a magnificently scenic and bio diverse 1,015km squared national park set on the Rift Valley escarpment above Lake Kivu. At least 500 chimps roam this vast forest, but the main trekking site is Cyamudongo, an isolated forest annex whose community of 30 chimps is well habituated to tourists. These human like apes share almost 99% of our DNA.
And trekking through the jungle of Nyungwe to look for them is one of many magical experiences on offer in this underrated park. Block montane forest that offers great scenic views of Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganyika. It is also known for its numerous primate species, 75 different mammal species, and a variety of birdlife. You will arrive at the Uwinka campsite in the evening for dinner and your overnight stay.
Chimpanzee tracking and canopy walk tour. After breakfast, you will drive to the visitor center for a briefing before the chimpanzee tracking which starts at 07:30 am. You will enter the forest in the company of the ranger guides to search for the chimpanzees where they were last seen, and when they are located, you can enjoy an hour with them. You will then return for lunch at the lodge.
In the afternoon, you will go for a canopy walk between 50 – 60 meters above the ground, the highest forest bridge in East Africa. It’s an amazing experience to photograph the Nyungwe landscape and spot birds and primates. Return to your lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Thereafter, self-drive through the undulating landscapes at the shores of Lake Kivu. When you arrive at Gisenyi in the early afternoon, you can enjoy relaxing at the beach and participate in water sports like swimming, canoeing, and jet boats. You can also choose to take a boat cruise exploring the many islands and enjoy scenic views. Later, return to the Gisenyi Youth Discover Guest House camping grounds and you can either do prepare your meals or eat with the guest house.
Today, we visit to the some of the interesting places in the area like the Dancing pots where Rwanda culture is respected and experience the beautiful work of the artisans and later go self-drive through the green plantation of Karongi tea plantation to Volcanoes National Park in Musanze province and here upon arrival we shall settle at the guest house and set up our rooftop tent car and then in the evening relaxing walk to the Dian Fossey Museum and Campus and experience the gorilla conservation work that was geared up by the American primatologist.
After breakfast, you travel north driving through the rolling green hills of Rwanda. Volcanoes National Park is a popular destination for a gorilla-tracking experience with over 15 habituated gorilla families that forage on the slopes of the Volcano ranges within the park. But, due to our budget was not matching with the price of gorilla permit we decided to take golden monkey experience.
The park is also known for the endangered golden monkeys, and with luck, you may spot one while trekking to see the gorillas. You will have a stopover en route for refreshments and then proceed to the park. Check in at the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Therefore, for those that are able to do gorilla trekking tour. Today, you will wake up for an early breakfast at 7:00 am and head to Kinigi park headquarters for the do’s and don’ts about the mountain gorillas. Gorilla trekking is a memorable experience that may involve trekking for long hours depending on how far the gorillas have moved, but it is worth it when you finally find the gorillas.
You will spend a full hour with the gorillas while taking photographs, and observing them while feeding, playing, and mating. Later, return to the starting point and transfer back to Kigali airport for your departure and handing back the car to the company driver/guide or either you can cross to the nearby country Uganda that is so much suitable for self-drive safari holiday.