Affordable Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Package from Nairobi | 4 Days 3 Nights
Couple Packages
Vacations
Mountain Gorilla View Lodge and Park Inn by Radisson Kigali or similar
Four days from Nairobi to the mountain gorillas of Volcanoes National Park: a direct morning flight, your gorilla permit, two nights in Kinigi with all meals at the foot of the volcanoes and a last night in Kigali, in one price.
Affordable Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Package from Nairobi: four days and three nights with direct return economy flights from JKIA and checked baggage on your fare. Kenyan passport holders need no visa for Rwanda. Your private driver meets you at Kigali airport and takes you north to Kinigi, the village at the gate of Volcanoes National Park, for two nights with all meals at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge.
On your trekking day you meet the park rangers at Kinigi at 7am, walk up through farmland and bamboo forest with your guide and spend one hour with a mountain gorilla family. Your gorilla permit is included. On the way back you stop in Kigali for a walk through Nyamirambo with a Rwandan lunch, then spend your last night at Park Inn by Radisson. You need a yellow fever certificate. Your planner walks you through it. One price per person sharing covers the flights, hotel, transfers and every experience listed below. One Baecation planner stays with you on WhatsApp from booking to landing home.
Very few people forget the moment a silverback looks up from his bamboo and decides you are no threat. Mountain gorillas live in only one corner of the world, the volcanoes where Rwanda, Uganda and Congo meet. Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda is the easiest place to reach them from Nairobi. The flight to Kigali takes about an hour and a half. The drive north to the park takes about two and a half hours more.
East African citizens trek at a fraction of the foreign rate on the dates this package runs, so a trip most visitors plan for years is within reach on a long weekend. We keep it simple: two nights close to the park so you sleep near the gate before your trek, all meals at the lodge so you never have to plan dinner in a small village, then one night in Kigali before you fly home.
The trek itself is a real hike. Depending on where your gorilla family has moved overnight, you may walk for less than an hour or for several hours each way, over muddy and steep ground at altitude. Your ranger guide sets the pace. Porters can carry your bag and help you up the steep parts.
Details
Summary information about this package
Mountain Gorilla View Lodge and Park Inn by Radisson Kigali or similar
Kigali (Rwanda)
Couples
Included
Flying
For Adults only (18+)
Full-board
Included
All year round
Costs
Kenyan Citizen
Ksh. 257900 per person sharing
Non-resident
$ 3299 per person sharing
Transport
Options: Flying
Duration and Timing
No
More than >3 Days+
About Package
More information about this package
Your stay in Kinigi: Two nights at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge or a comparable lodge confirmed at booking, in a double cottage, with breakfast, lunch and dinner. The lodge has 30 stone cottages, each with a sitting area and a fireplace. There is a restaurant on site. It does not have a pool. It sits in Kinigi, a short drive from the park headquarters where every trek begins.
Your night in Kigali: One night at Park Inn by Radisson Kigali in Kiyovu or a comparable hotel confirmed at booking, in a Standard Room with a queen bed, with breakfast. The hotel has an outdoor pool, a fitness centre and a spa. It stores your bags on your last day.
Your gorilla permit: Your permit is booked with the Rwanda Development Board in each of your full names. The price for East African citizens uses RDB's East African rate. The foreign visitor price uses RDB's standard rate. At the park gate the rangers check that the document you carry matches your permit, so travel with the same passport or national ID you booked with.
The trek: You report to the Kinigi park headquarters at 7am for a briefing, then your ranger guide takes your group of no more than eight to one gorilla family. The walk can take from under an hour to several hours each way. Once you reach the family you spend one hour with them, at least seven metres away, with no flash photography. Trekkers must be at least 15 years old. Rangers can turn away anyone with a cough, cold or other illness, as gorillas catch human infections.
Your driver: A private 4x4 with an English speaking driver collects you at Kigali airport, takes you to Kinigi, drives you to the park headquarters and the start of your trek and brings you back to Kigali. A private transfer takes you to the airport on your last day.
Direct flights: Kenya Airways and RwandAir both fly nonstop between JKIA and Kigali in about an hour and a half, with checked baggage on your fare. You land in the morning and fly home in the evening. Kigali is one hour behind Nairobi.
Before you fly: Kenyan passport holders need no visa for Rwanda. Each of you needs a passport valid for at least six months from the day you land with a blank page. You also each need a yellow fever certificate, with the vaccine given at least 10 days before you fly. Carry your return tickets, hotel vouchers, permit confirmation and a bank card.
Full entry guide: Every entry rule, with the official links, is explained on our Kigali page at baecation.co.ke/kigali.
Rwanda's rules: Plastic bags are banned and are taken away on arrival. On the last Saturday of each month, Umuganda community work closes most services and roads from 7am to 11am. Photographing government buildings, military sites and the police is not allowed.
Fitness and kit: You do not need to be an athlete, but you should be comfortable walking uphill for a few hours. Bring waterproof boots, long trousers, long sleeves and garden gloves for the nettles. Walking sticks are usually handed out at the start of the trail.
Travel cover: Rwanda screens arrivals at Kigali airport during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Visitors who have been in Congo in the 30 days before arrival are refused entry. Volcanoes National Park lies outside the border areas that the UK and US governments advise against. We recommend travel insurance with medical cover and tell you straight away if official advice changes before you fly.
One planner, start to finish: Your Baecation planner books your permits, checks your documents with you, sends your e tickets and vouchers before you fly and stays reachable on WhatsApp throughout. If a flight moves or a day needs to change, you message one person instead of four companies.
Package Itinerary
The package itinerary is as follows
Affordable Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Package Itinerary with Baecation Adventures from Nairobi
Kenya Airways usually leaves JKIA at 07:30 and lands in Kigali at about 08:00 local time, as Kigali is one hour behind Nairobi. Flights home leave Kigali in the evening, with RwandAir usually at about 17:30 and Kenya Airways at about 20:00 on set days, landing at JKIA the same night. Schedules change from late October and late March, so your planner confirms the exact flights on your written quote before you pay. The drive from Kigali to Kinigi takes about two and a half hours. On the last Saturday of each month, Umuganda community work closes the roads from 7am to 11am, so your planner avoids arriving on that day or plans a later start north. Gorilla treks report at the Kinigi park headquarters at 7am every day of the year. The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund opens daily from 9am to 5pm, with last entry at 4pm. From 7 April Rwanda marks Kwibuka, the commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Treks continue, the country is quiet in the first week and your planner adjusts the Kigali day with care. The volcanoes see rain in every month, most of all from March to May, so pack for wet trails whenever you travel.
Day 1: Nairobi to Kinigi
Morning: Documents and the Drive North Put your passports, yellow fever cards, printed return e tickets, permit confirmation, vouchers and a bank card in one folder for your hand luggage. Pack nothing in plastic bags. Hand your yellow fever cards to the health officers with your passports, then meet your driver for the drive north through the hills of Rwanda towards Musanze and the volcanoes.
Afternoon: Kinigi and the Gorilla Campus Arrive at the lodge in time for lunch. Later, your driver takes you to the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a few minutes away, for a self guided visit to the gallery with its 360 degree theatre and a replica of Dian Fossey's forest cabin. It is the best way to understand the families you will meet tomorrow.
Evening: By the Fire The volcano air turns cold after dark. Have dinner at the lodge, lay out your trekking clothes and get an early night by the fire in your cottage.
Overnight: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge or similar Meals: Lunch and dinner
Day 2: The Gorilla Trek
Morning: Briefing at Kinigi Have an early breakfast and collect the packed lunch the lodge prepares for you. Your driver takes you to the park headquarters for the 7am briefing, where the rangers assign each group to a gorilla family. Drive to the start of your trail, pick up a walking stick and hire a porter if you would like one.
Afternoon: One Hour with a Gorilla Family Walk up through potato fields, over the old stone wall at the park edge and into the bamboo forest with your ranger guide. When you reach the family, put your bags down and spend one quiet hour watching them feed, groom and play. Walk back down, eat your packed lunch along the way and meet your driver for the short ride back to the lodge.
Evening: A Slow Evening Warm up with a hot shower and dinner. Look through your photos together by the fire, with the mud of the trail still on your boots by the door.
Overnight: Mountain Gorilla View Lodge or similar Meals: Breakfast, packed lunch and dinner
Day 3: Kinigi to Kigali
Morning: Back to the City Have an early breakfast, check out and drive back south to Kigali with your bags in the car. Your driver takes you straight to Nyamirambo, one of Kigali's oldest neighbourhoods.
Afternoon: Walking with the Women of Nyamirambo Meet your guide at the Nyamirambo Women's Center and walk past tailors, hair salons and milk bars before you sit down to a Rwandan lunch in a local home. Your driver then takes you to Park Inn in Kiyovu for check in and a swim.
Evening: Your Last Night Choose your own dinner tonight. Ask your planner about a table with a view over the hills of Kigali.
Overnight: Park Inn by Radisson Kigali or similar Meals: Breakfast and lunch
Day 4: Kigali to Nairobi
Morning: A Slow Start Take your time over breakfast and a last swim. You can also add the coffee masterclass from the list below.
Afternoon: Last Gifts Check out at noon and leave your bags with the hotel. Have lunch nearby and pick up coffee or baskets to take home. Your driver collects you in the afternoon for the airport.
Evening: Flying Home Your flight leaves Kigali in the evening and lands at JKIA the same night, with your gorilla family on your phone and on your minds.
Meals: Breakfast
Add Ons
Romantic Touches: (Small extras that make the trip yours, priced as shown and added to your package)
An extra day in Kinigi: one more night at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge with all meals and your driver for the day, for golden monkey tracking, a hike to Dian Fossey's grave or simply a slow day by the fire: from USD 815 (KES 105,100) per couple, with any park permits added at RDB's rate
Golden monkey tracking on your extra day in Kinigi: permits at RDB's rate, USD 65 each for East African citizens and USD 100 each for foreign visitors
Specialty Coffee Masterclass at Question Coffee in Kigali on your last morning, about two hours: pick coffee cherries in the garden, taste Rwandan coffees side by side and blend your own coffee to take home: from USD 145 (KES 18,700) per couple
Extra night at Park Inn by Radisson Kigali with breakfast: from USD 230 (KES 29,700) per couple
Upgrade Your Stay: (Priced per couple on top of the package price)
A step up in Kinigi: Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel at the foot of the park for both Kinigi nights, with all meals, an outdoor pool and massages: from USD 600 (KES 77,400)
A step up in Kigali: Kigali Serena Hotel on KN 3 Avenue for your Kigali night, with an 18 metre landscaped pool and Maisha Spa with a sauna and steam room: from USD 100 (KES 12,900)
+ Inclusions
Direct return economy flights between JKIA and Kigali, with the checked baggage allowance on your fare
One gorilla trekking permit each for Volcanoes National Park, booked with the Rwanda Development Board, with your ranger guide
Two nights at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge or similar in Kinigi, in a double cottage, with breakfast, lunch and dinner and a packed lunch on your trekking day
One night at Park Inn by Radisson Kigali or similar, in a Standard Room sharing a queen bed, with breakfast
A private 4x4 with an English speaking driver for your first three days, from Kigali airport to Kinigi, to the trek and back to Kigali
A private transfer to Kigali airport on your last day
A self guided visit to the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
A walking tour of Nyamirambo with the Nyamirambo Women's Center, with a Rwandan lunch
Hotel VAT and Rwanda's tourism tax
Pre departure briefing on your passports, return tickets, yellow fever certificates, permit documents, trekking kit and fitness, what you can and cannot bring into Rwanda, Umuganda and local rules
Your Baecation planner on WhatsApp before and throughout the trip
- Exclusions
Drinks at the lodge and meals in Kigali other than the Nyamirambo lunch
Yellow fever vaccination and certificate
Travel insurance, which we strongly recommend
Porters on the trek, paid in cash at the trailhead
The suggested donation at the Ellen DeGeneres Campus
Tips for your ranger guide, trackers, driver and lodge staff
Golden monkey tracking, extra hikes and the add ons listed below
Extra baggage beyond the allowance on your fare
Early check in or late check out
Spa treatments
Personal spending and shopping
What To Carry
Passports valid for at least six months from the day you land, each with a blank page
The same passport or national ID you used to book your gorilla permit, as rangers check it at the gate
Printed return e tickets, hotel vouchers and your permit confirmation
Your yellow fever certificates, as Rwanda requires them from travellers arriving from Kenya. The vaccine must be given at least 10 days before you fly. Travellers without a certificate are vaccinated on arrival at their own cost. A certificate under 10 days old means quarantine until it becomes valid
Waterproof hiking boots with good grip, already worn in
Long trousers you can tuck into your socks and long sleeved tops in muted colours
A waterproof jacket and a warm fleece, as the mornings and evenings in Kinigi are cold
Garden or light work gloves for gripping branches and nettles
A small daypack with a rain cover, a water bottle and snacks
Two face masks each, as your guide may ask you to wear one near the gorillas
A camera or phone with the flash turned off and a spare battery
US dollars or Rwandan francs in small notes for porters and tips
Personal medication in its original packaging with your prescriptions
Reusable fabric bags or pouches for toiletries and shopping
No plastic bags at all, shopping and duty free bags included, as they are confiscated on arrival. Vapes and e cigarettes are banned in Rwanda, even for your own use. They are confiscated with a possible fine. Illegal drugs, cannabis included, carry long prison sentences, so never carry anything packed by someone else. Declare any drone when you land
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