Can You See the Big Five in Rwanda?
Yes — all five, in Akagera, and only recently. Lions returned in 2015 after two decades of local extinction, rhino from 2017. One of very few places you can pair the Big Five with gorillas.
Read BlogVolcanoes, Akagera, Nyungwe, and Kigali — planning a Rwanda trip on its own or alongside Uganda.
Start hereRwanda is small enough to cross in a day, which is the whole case for going — you can land at Kigali and be trekking gorillas the next morning. How many days you need, when to go, and what it costs.
Read the guideYes — all five, in Akagera, and only recently. Lions returned in 2015 after two decades of local extinction, rhino from 2017. One of very few places you can pair the Big Five with gorillas.
Read BlogMost visitors spend one hour here and drive away. The park also has golden monkeys, Dian Fossey's grave, and volcano climbs that almost nobody does — for a fraction of what the first day cost.
Read BlogOne of Africa's largest surviving montane rainforests, a canopy walkway 70 m up, and colobus troops running to several hundred animals. Routinely skipped, and shouldn't be.
Read BlogClean, safe, and with the best food in the region — but the reason to give Kigali a full day rather than a transfer is one building, and it reframes everything else you'll see in Rwanda.
Read BlogOne of very few large African lakes you can swim in — no hippos, no crocodiles — a short drive from Volcanoes National Park. The natural place to go after a gorilla trek.
Read BlogFlying into Kigali puts you a few hours from Bwindi, against most of a day from Entebbe. The open-jaw routing that removes a full driving day — and that very few travellers arrive having thought of.
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