Rwanda Safaris and Gorilla Trekking

Experience gorillas, volcanoes and more in a luxury Rwanda safari.

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Rwanda is a staggeringly beautiful country and home to some of Africa’s premier primate wildlife watching and tracking. Discover it in the style, comfort and care of Jacada Travel.

Luxury accommodation in Rwanda

Here are some of our travel designers' favourite options for Safari

Bisate Lodge

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The spectacular Bisate Lodge is located in the natural amphitheatre of an eroded volcanic cone, with panoramic views across rural hills and Afro-alpine forests to great conic peaks of Volcanoes National Park. Utterly unique in its design, six sumptuous forest villas are luxurious while retaining environmental principles and reflecting the culture of the surrounding country. Each has a generous yet intimate combination of bedroom, reception space and bathroom, heated by a central fireplace a private deck looking out to Mount Bisoke The spherical stone and thatch architecture, said to be inspired by the Royal Palace of traditional monarchs, continues through to the communal areas such as the dining room, bar and spa, detailed with a variety of woven materials, local crafts and more modern touches. Bisate is a short drive to the national park’s headquarters, from where gorilla treks depart daily, and you can also embark upon forest hikes to see rare Golden Monkeys and other wildlife. Visit the site of Dian Fossey’s research camp and grave, meet the community on guided village walks, plant a tree as part of the Bisate’s reforestation project or perhaps tag along with the chef to the local market to buy ingredients.

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Magashi Camp

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In the north-eastern section of Akagera National Park you’ll find Magashi Camp overlooking the stunning Lake Rwanyakazinga. The camp is surrounded by some of East Africa’s most beautiful savannah, lakes, swamps and rolling grasslands. The camp, with design and interiors inspired by traditional Rwandan culture, boasts six spacious tents with lake views. When you’re not enjoying the solitude of your airy tent, relax in the luxurious lounge, enjoy a meal in the dining and bar area. The pool is the ideal place to cool off after a busy day of game viewing and birdwatching, and evenings are best spent on the deck around the fire pit. The region is also home to one of the continent’s largest hippo populations, as well as crocodiles. You’ll also find the rare sitatunga and other plains game here as well as over 520 different species of bird. After a 20-year absence, lions were reintroduced to the area in 2015, and the population today is thriving. Black rhino were reintroduced in 2017.

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One&Only Nyungwe House

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Low and wide amid the leaves of its very own tea plantation surrounded by ancient rainforest, Nyungwe House’s modern architecture is a wonderful contrast to its verdant setting. There are 22 rooms and suites split between six wooden villas, with vast windows and private decks opening up into the forest. There are open fireplaces in each and every room and suite, with interiors and artwork inspired by the nature and traditions of Rwanda. The main lodge building is home to lounge areas, bar and dining space where you can enjoy sun-rise breakfast (or, for late risers, all day à la carte brunches in your room) and mouth-watering, organic, garden-to-plate menus at dinner, with lunches usually enjoyed while out exploring. Nyungwe Forest, an ancient place of majestic mahoganies, giant ferns and delicate orchids, is renowned for its wide diversity of animal species and the lodge has a variety of treks available for those wishing to see chimpanzees, white colobus, grey-cheeked, golden and rare Mangabey monkeys. You can also take to the heights of the nearby canopy walk, ride mountain bikes, take a day trip to the waters of Lake Kivu or immerse yourself in the local culture on a range of tailored experiences that will give you an insight into crafts, cuisine and more.

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Discover all that Rwanda has to offer:

Venture into Volcanoes National Park to spend time with mountain gorillas
Go hiking along the forest trails in Nyungwe Forest, one of Africa’s oldest rainforests
Trek to Dian Fossey’s original scientific base, Karisoke
Follow lush forest trails looking for Colobus monkeys and chimpanzees

We create completely personalised itineraries and Rwanda safari tours for the luxury traveller; one that may combine this as well as other African countries for a complete safari adventure, seamless transfers by modern 4WD vehicles, drivers and expert local guides and trackers. With only the very best hotels that we’ve checked out first hand, let our Africa travel designers put together an incredible and eye-opening trip to Rwanda.

A central African country of unbelievable natural beauty. Scenes of rolling green savannahs, hills smothered with tropical rainforests and bamboo forests, falling to lakes (Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes), then rising to dormant volcanoes and home to three protected national parks (Akagera, Volcanoes and Nyungwe).

The foremost reason for many who come to Rwanda is to spot its golden monkeys, and see Rwanda’s rare mountain gorillas and silverbacks in the wild. Defying its troubled past, Rwanda’s stability and hospitality is going from strength to strength.

Luxury safari lodges in Rwanda

There are many incredible places to stay in Rwanda. Here are some of our favourites, handpicked by our travel designers:

The spectacular Bisate Lodge with its panoramic views
One&Only Nyungwe House set in its own lush tea plantation
The spacious lake-side Magashi Camp
Gorilla’s Nest set in Virunga’s eucalyptus treetops
The luxuriously comfortable Virunga Lodge

See the best of Rwanda on a private safari with Jacada Travel. Our Africa experts, with decades of experience between them, will create a memorable journey to witness some of the most incredible landscapes and wildlife spectacles on the planet.

Providing you with excellent safari guides, exquisite fine dining and the best accommodation in one of the most sought after safari destinations in the world, Jacada can plan the perfect trip to Rwanda for you. With your interests in mind, we’ll select the best safari camps and lodges to avoid the crowds and enjoy the most astounding wildlife encounters.

Get inspired by browsing through some of our favourite example trips below, and call one of our expert Rwanda Travel Designers to start planning the journey of a lifetime.

Gorilla trekking in Rwanda is the ultimate wildlife experience. I remember feeling so excited during the trek, then, as we came into a clearing and saw the gorillas my heart started thumping... I was scared! After a few minutes I relaxed and we sat with the gorillas watching them play and eat for an hour - magical!

Iain McConachie

Travel Designer

Our top example trips to Rwanda

Whatever you want from your adventure in Rwanda, our team of expert travel designers are ready to help.

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Where to go

Volcanoes National Park

Nyungwe National Park

Kigali

Akagera National Park

Meet your Africa team

Need to Know

is the local time
Rwanda FRanc is the local currency
Kigali is the capital city

When to go

Rwanda has two dry seasons, one lasting from June until September and the other from December to February. March to May is the country's first wet season and is followed by another from October to November.

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When is the Best Time to Visit Rwanda?

Inspire Me

Rwanda travel guides

Definitive Guide to Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda

Rwanda

Gorilla Trekking: Uganda vs. Rwanda

Africa

Positive Impact Pioneers: The Retreat, Kigali

Africa

“Great organisation and Experience‌”

Great organisation and Experience. Thank you for everything.

Published 01st September 2022 on Trustpilot

Raad Abduljawad

“My trip was an African dream‌”

Everything exceeded my expectations The attention to the details and the concierge service throughout my trip Special thanks to Phil, Heather and Jody

Published 29th June 2021 on Trustpilot

Shaikha Althani

“Jacada Travel—simply the best!‌”

We chose Jacada Travel to plan our second safari trip to Africa. We wanted a private safari experience on our terms! We had two major goals: see the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and check off the rhino from our Big Five list. We put Jonny Humphries to work on the itinerary, and he knocked it out of the park. Jacada…

Published 08th September 2019 on Trustpilot

Lori

“3 Epic Trips to Africa!‌”

We have used Jacada Travel for 3 epic trips to Africa over the past 5 years. For each trip, Byron arranged an itinerary that met our desires and with the least amount of travel time between lodges. All of the lodges, game drives, flights, transfers, etc. were 5-star! Byron and his team kept us informed about the trip from the…

Published 28th August 2019 on Trustpilot

Scott P.

“Big Africa - 5 Country Tour‌”

After we had decided our next vacation should be a big tour through Africa, I contacted Jacada by mail. Within two days I was called back and shared my key requests with a travel designer. In a short period of time our whole trip through 5 countries and using 5 different top lodges (Kalahari Plains, Nxabega, Matetsi, Bisate and Mnemba…

Published 02nd March 2019 on Trustpilot

Rudolf Vogl