approximate price per person sharing (January 2011)
As one of the Great Lakes of Africa, and indeed the highest on the continent, Lake Kivu is one of Rwanda’s greatest natural treasures and offers visitors an extraordinary experience.
Lake Kivu lies on Rwanda’s eastern border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and is part of the Great Rift Valley. It covers a surface area of over 2 700km² and stands 1 460m above sea level. It also ranks as the 15th-deepest lake in the world and contains the world’s 10th-largest inland island, Idjwi.
The Kivu Coffee Tour combines an educational experience, where visitors learn about the coffee-growing process, with the stunning scenery of Lake Kivu. Its shores are particularly fertile and host a range of plantations where some of the best coffee in the world is grown.
Volcanoes National Park: Made famous as the research base of the late American primatologist Dian Fossey, and subsequently as the setting for the film Gorillas in the Mist, the park continues to uphold its reputation as a destination for unrivalled wildlife encounters. The edge of Mt Sabyinyo is where you will find Fossey’s tomb as she was buried among the gorillas she grew to love so dearly.
A trek to the heart of Volcanoes National Park could bring you into contact with golden monkeys, buffalo, bush duiker and a vast array of bird species. For conservation reasons, each gorilla family can only be seen by one group of eight tourists per day. This is a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife experience that should not be missed.
4 nights
Day 1: Arrival in Kigali
Fly to Kigali , the lively capital of Rwanda. At the airport our English-speaking agents will meet and assist you with formalities. Transfer to a hotel of your choice (B&B).
Day 2: Gisenyi
Transfer to Gisenyi, check in and enjoy lunch at your hotel.
The Dancing Pots experience is a unique opportunity for visitors to learn about and interact with a community of settled and forward-looking Batwa – or “historically marginalised people”, in the words of the government of Rwanda.
Located close to Gisenyi, the members of Abatigayubuke are harnessing their famous traditional skills of pottery and performing arts to make a living and to serve as an exemplary Batwa community that is fully integrated in the area’s social life and structures.
Today there are only about 33 000 Batwa left in Rwanda, representing 0.4 percent of the population. Official statistics from 2004 revealed some disturbing facts:
Visitors will be given an introductory presentation on the Batwa before reaching the village. You will then travel to the Abatigayubuke community and be greeted by a welcome dance.
Thereafter, you will enjoy a few hours of interaction, learning about the pottery skills as well as the intriguing performing arts practised by the Batwa. These include dances, songs and a variety of unique musical instruments.
Before ending your visit with a small traditional ubusabane get-together party, you can participate in a discussion about Batwa culture and life and how the community tries to be a vital part of Rwandan society.
Still, the Batwa are able to maintain a distinctive identity and culture and are particularly renowned for their skills as potters, dancers and musicians. The idea of the Dancing Pots project is to create valuable opportunities for providing this community with financial resources to improve their socio-economic conditions and enhance their social status.
Enjoy dinner at the White Rock Restaurant. There will be a preparatory presentation on gorilla trekking and conservation in the Volcanoes National Park. Overnight at a hotel of your choice (full board).
Day 3: Gisenyi
As mentioned above, the Kivu Coffee Tour combines an educational experience, where visitors learn about the coffee-growing process, with the stunning scenery of Lake Kivu. Its shores are particularly fertile and host a range of plantations where some of the best coffee in the world is grown.
In early 2008, we started to collaborate with Ingoboka, a local co-operative of coffee farming families. Ingoboka has a total of 350 members, all of whom own small coffee farms on or close to the shores of the lake.
We have trained some of their members to provide a personal introduction to coffee growing that will teach you everything you need to know about this complicated process, from crop to cup.
On Nyamirundi Island, you will visit the plantation of one of Ingoboka’s member families. Each coffee plant is hand-raised and cared for by the farmer. Combined with the volcanic soils of the area, this special treatment gives the coffee a full-bodied yet non-acidic flavour.
From the island, you will continue your journey to the nearby Gashishi Washing Station on the shores of the lake. This is where coffee is processed. During the main coffee season (March to June), you can witness over 700 men and women working at the station day and night. The washing station is also a fascinating place in other seasons.
The process is complicated and involves over 20 different steps. You will get a full explanation of this coffee processing, from picking to washing and later roasting, and even have the chance to pick a few cherries yourself. After an opportunity to sample the co-operative’s coffee, you will return to Gisenyi.
Enjoy lunch at White Rock Restaurant. You’ll have the afternoon at leisure.
Dinner is at the hotel. There will also be a preparatory presentation on gorilla trekking and conservation in Volcanoes National Park.
Overnight at hotel of your choice (full board).
Day 4: Volcanoes National Park and Kigali
Early drive to Volcanoes National Park. Deep in the heart of Rwanda’s thousand hills exists a creature so precious and rare that tourists the world over come each year to catch a glimpse. It is the critically endangered mountain gorilla, and more than half of the almost 700 mountain gorillas remaining in the world make their home in Rwanda’s stunning Volcanoes National Park.
These highly sociable primates sleep in trees but spend most of their waking hours on the ground, moving less than 1km a day and remaining easily accessible. Let an experienced gorilla tracker guide you through the towering Hagenia and Bamboo trees, the weaving vines and the flowering Lobelias of the park to their tiny oasis, where you will spend one hour face to face with man’s closest living relatives in their remarkable natural habitat.
Visitors can follow one of the park’s seven habituated gorilla families as they go about their daily lives in troops of anywhere between eight and 39. Watch a mother tenderly feed her baby while the younger gorillas frolic in the bushes around her. Feel the cautious stare of a 200kg silverback on you as he keeps a protective eye overhead. Witness a youngster put on a chest-beating display to playfully signal his dominance.
During your hour with the gorillas, you will come to experience the inspiration for the film Gorillas in the Mist and understand why the late American primatologist, Dian Fossey, made it her life’s mission to live with, study and protect these gentle giants.
A trek to the heart of Volcanoes National Park could also bring you into contact with golden monkeys, buffalo, bush duiker and a vast array of bird species. For conservation reasons, each gorilla family can only be seen by one group of eight tourists per day. This is a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife experience that should not be missed.
Return to Kigali. Dinner and overnight at hotel of your choice (full board).
Day 5: Flight out
Optional excursions in the Kigali area (see below). Transfer to the airport and flight out.
Prices include
International flights from Johannesburg, all accommodation and meals as indicated, all excursions with car and driver, guides in the reserves, 1 Gorilla permit and all airport-hotel transfers.
Prices exclude
Meals not indicated, drinks including bottled water, tips and personal expenses, travel insurance, Internet access, airport taxes and visa fees.
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More than 6 weeks prior to departure:
10% of price
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50% of price
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75% of price
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100% of price
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