Rwanda safaris offer a variety of packages and activities to do on your Rwanda safari taking you all around Rwanda, starting at the capital city which is Kigali down to the deep cities of Nyanza and many others. Rwanda is seriously making its way to the leading safari digestion in east Africa mostly being empowered by the endangered mountain gorillas found at its volcanoes national park, fancy game drive at the Kagera national Park where you will have a chance to see several animals that include elephants, leopards, lions, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, vervet monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, and many others
Rwanda safaris also take you unique activities that can only be enjoyed while in Rwanda. these include the canopy that can only be found in Rwanda in all of east Africa. the canopy walkway is situated 70 meters high at the nyungwe forest national park giving you a clear aerial view of the forest as you will be entertained by the birds and primates playing around the trees.
Rwanda is home to only 4 national parks namely; Kagera national park, nyungwe forest national park, volcanoes national park, and gishwati mukura national park
leaving aside the national parks of Rwanda, there are many more potential destinations all around the country starting with art galleries, local markets, tea and coffee plantation, craft markets, cultural centers, museums, and genocide memorial centers
Rwanda safaris destinations in Rwanda include;
- Kigali genocide memorial
- national history museum ( kandt house museum)
- Kigali fashion week
- nyanza genocide memorial
- banda culture village
- kitabi culture center
- gorilla guardian village
- cultural festivals
- King’s palace in Nyanza
- presidential palace museum
- urutare rwa ngarama
- ntarama genocide memorial
- ryamurari
- inema art center
- nyamata genocide memorial
- murambi genocide memorial
- environmental museum
- campaign against genocide museum
- national liberation park museum
- utubindi twa rubona
- ethnographic museum
- bugesera reconciliation village
- Lake Kivu
- twin lakes
- Kigali city tour
- Musanze caves
- iby’iwacu cultural village
RWANDA NATIONAL PARKS
Nyungwe national park
nyungwe national park is situated in the southwestern part of Rwanda situated on a 150kilometer squared area. the park was established in the year 2004 and it borders congo in the west. nyungwe national park is located in the rusizi district of Rwanda along the border of Rwanda and Burundi south of Lake Kivu.
this park is famous for chimpanzee trekking with over 90 individuals of chimpanzees. the park has got 2 groups of chimpanzees, one at uwinka and the other at cyamudongo. the chamudongo group is the smaller one with only 30 members and the uwinka group is the biggest group with 60 members.
the parks headquarter is uwinka. the park is home to over a thousand wildlife species, 300 bird species, 85 mammal species, and 1,068 plant species.
Akagera national park
established in the year 1934 located in the eastern part of Rwanda covering an area of 1,122 square kilometers. this is the main savannah park of Rwanda offering a wide range of activities starting with the dominant game drives, bird watching, cultural encounters, boat cruises, and sport fishing.
the park’s name was derived from the Kagera River, situated along Rwanda’s eastern boundary with Tanzania. the large part of the park is covered by swamps and wetlands.
animal that is found at Kagera national park include elephants, buffalos, giraffes, zebras, leopards, lions, hyenas, waterbucks, topis, oribis, duikers, cape elands, klipspringer, impalas, olive baboons, bush babies, blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, hippos and some bird species including the fish eagles, cattle egrets, hamerkops, hadada ibis, augur buzzard, long-crested long-crested eagles, pied crow, black-headed weavers, grey-backed fiscals, fan-tailed widowbirds, shoebills, papyrus gonolek, African wattled plover, giant kingfisher, Senegal lapwings, squacco herons, African open bill stock, grey crowned crane, African darters and many more.
Gishwati mukura national park
this park is located in the northwestern part of Rwanda close to lake Kivu covering an area of 34 kilometers squared. this is the smallest park in Rwanda and it’s also the least visited park in Rwanda on the different Rwanda safaris.
gishwati mukura national park was established in the year 2015 long the Congo-Nile strange and it’s home to birds, primates, and the different tree species. the park is only a 2-hour drive from Kigali and there is an option of flying to the park from Kigali.
animals at this park include chimpanzees, olive baboons, blue monkeys, golden monkeys, l’hoest monkeys, vervet monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, and many other primates.
some of the bird species at gishwati mukura include the red-throated a lathe, the mountain yellow warblers, the regal sunbirds, the Grauer’s swamp warblers, purple breasted sunbirds, Ruwenzori batis, woodshop, martial eagle, strange weavers, grey crowned crane, dusky crimson wings, and the Rwenzori turacos.
Volcanoes national park
This is a rainforest and volcanoes gazetted area covering 160kilometers squared in the northern part of Rwanda. the park is only a 2-hour drive from Kigali and it was a former research center for the American primatologist Dian Fossey. the park has got 5 volcanoes that are gahinga, sabyinyo, muhabura, karisimbi, and bisoke.
Historically, the volcanoes national park was first secured by the Belgian colonialists in the year 1925 making it the first national park in Africa. the park was extending to Congo and Rwanda governed by the Belgians. during the year 1967, the American primatologist arrived and set up her research center between karisimbi and visoke not until she was murdered in 1985 and buried near her research center. by the civil wars in Rwanda, the park was destroyed as it was turned into a battleground till 1999 when the area was declared safe.
Volcanoes national park is home to 178 bird species including 16 Rwenzori endemic species and 13 endemic Virunga species. some of the animals at this park include the famous mountain gorillas, golden monkeys, a few elephants, bushbucks, spotted hyenas, buffalos, and the black-fronted duikers.
ACTIVITIES AT RWANDA’S NATIONAL PARKS
nyungwe national park
chimpanzee trekking
canopy walk
bird watching
cultural encounters
Angolan colobus monkey trekking
 nature walks
tropical waterfalls
gishwati mukura national park
birding
nature walk
cultural tours
biking or walking the congo-Nile trail
akagera national park
game drives/ game viewing
bird watching
boat cruise
sport fishing
cultural tours
volcanoes national park
gorilla trekking
golden monkey trekking
birding
hiking moutain bisoke and karisimbi
musanze caves
Dian Fossey tombs
cultural encounters