If you only want to visit Rwanda for gorillas, then you can get in and out in as little as 3 to 5 nights. However, it is usually best to spend at least four nights in the Virunga Mountains area and do two gorilla treks, to ensure good sightings.

3-5 nights

Most people undertaking a trip of this duration visit the gorillas and then fly across Lake Victoria to the Serengeti region of Tanzania, but you can stay in Rwanda for the chimpanzee area of Nyungwe Forest and the savanna reserve of Akagera.

6-10 nights

It is extremely unusual to spend this long in Rwanda, so whichever combination of places you choose, you will most likely be combining with other countries, most notably Serengeti in Tanzania, Okavango in Botswana or Kruger in South Africa.

11-15 nights

Our safari experts have incredible 
first-hand knowledge and an average
of 12 years experience building great 
trips.

Expertise and experience

Since 1999, we have created over a million sample  trips and helped over 120,000 guests fall in love with  safari Africa.

A proud history

Over the years we have polished our operation to be super-reliable. Arranging your trip should be almost as much fun  as going on safari. 

Seamless and fun

Your trip should cost no more than if 
you had booked all the components directly. You effectively get our services for free.

Delivering value

Every single trip that we build is unique. Your trip will be precisely tailored to meet the exact requirements of everyone in your group.

Supremely tailor-made

The first safari company on the internet, we helped to shape the modern safari and we continue to be the prime innovators in our field.

Original innovators

Tell us your whatever you know about your ideal trip. Whether you're drawn to specific wildlife, particular regions, or have preferences about the style of accommodation, the more we understand, the better we can help you to craft the perfect experience.

Share your ideas

Your dedicated safari specialist will work with you to build a selection of sample trips. We'll discuss seasonality, wildlife movements, logistics, lodge options, activity levels, whatever is necessary. And we will keep on refining until we are all confident that we have reached the perfect trip.

Crafting your trip

Everything is arranged. All you need to do is turn up. You probably won’t even need to show your paperwork, you will simply glide from one group of friendly and efficient local hosts to the next. And our support team remains on hand throughout, leaving you free to focus entirely on the extraordinary experiences ahead.

Travel with confidence

Many of us here at ATR have travelled extensively with our own kids, so we know for a fact that safari is great for families.

This is the kind of trip that guarantees to generate memories that you will share for the rest of your lives.

However, there are significant health issues to consider in most safari areas, so we need to proceed with caution.

Most dry season safari is ideal for kids of 12 years and older, eminently feasible for kids 8-11 years and potentially viable from 6-7 years old. If your kids are 0-5 years, then it’s probably best to stick to the non-malarial areas of the Cape, then progressing up into Namibia as they get older.

Family safari 

Safari is an inherently romantic experience that can be endlessly tailored to suit you.

We have been helping guests to build awesome honeymoons for many years. We have intimate knowledge of some of the wildest and most romantic places in the world.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to be yourselves. Please don’t feel it is necessary to fit into the usual romantic tropes if they’re not for you. Just focus on having a great trip.

We very much understand the importance of these trips, we know that your honeymoon needs to really hit the heights and be a truly life-punctuating experience.

Honeymoon safari 

On safari, luxury means different things to different people.

The most conventional meaning is that the accommodations are extremely comfortable, with elevated levels of hospitality. This is relatively easy to deliver, there are lots of luxury lodges.

However, simply inserting more luxurious lodges into your trip is no guarantee of a better safari. In fact, the opposite can be true.

For us, the hallmarks of a truly high quality safari are a suitably slow pace, wonderful remote locations, superb safari guiding, exclusive and intense wildlife interaction, precisely tailored experiences and considered attention to detail. We can do that.

Luxury safari 

Safari in Rwanda ranges from pricey to very pricey. There are too many costly structural elements that cannot be avoided, like gorilla and chimp permits, internal flights and private vehicles. You can expect to spend USD 600 to 4000 per person per night

We are more than happy to work across this range of prices. The only important thing is that we help you find the very best safari to suit your budget.

The two dominant price factors are the length of time that you spend on safari and the specific lodges that you choose to include in your trip. Deploying more time in town locations can bring the total cost down dramatically.

If you have a higher budget, we will help you determine which lodges do actually deliver elevated levels of service and experience. We will also highlight other subtle ways in which your trip can be raised to another level, including the use of whole camp bookings, private guides and vehicles etc.

If you have a medium budget, the best ways to keep a lid on costs are to keep your trip short, to deploy nights in Entebbe and to carefully choose lower-cost lodges. We will help you understand where to trim and where to splash in order to achieve the best overall experience.

If you have a lower budget, then we can always look at other fundamentally less pricey safari countries, although this would inherently mean scrapping the gorilla experience.

"We just returned from a weeks safari organized  organized   organized by ATR and have nothing but positive reviews!"

Virunga Mountains

Set in the northwest of Rwanda, Virunga Mountains is one of the prime locations in Africa for viewing mountain gorillas, plus options for other primates and cultural interaction.

Guest accommodation is in a very wide range of lodges, some of which are extremely high quality, much more so than in the equivalent Bwindi Forest area of Uganda.

The most significant downside for Virunga Mountains is the unavoidably high cost of visiting and the potential shortage of gorilla permits during peak seasons.

Guide price USD 750-4000 pppn

Nyungwe Forest

Set in the southwest of Rwanda, Nyungwe is an important and scenic tropical forest reserve, the best location in the country for viewing chimpanzees. The area also offers an exceptional range of hiking trails through the forested mountains and surrounding tea plantations.

Guest accommodation is in just a handful of lodges. One of these is genuinely high quality but rather pricey, the others are right at the other end of the spectrum, but are usable.

The most significant downside for Nyungwe Forest is that it is quite complicated and/or expensive to get to from the gorilla area of Virunga and that the chimp sightings are not that reliable. For this reason, we tend to head to Uganda for gorilla and chimp combinations.

Guide price USD 600-3500 pppn

Akagera

Set in the northeast of Rwanda, Akagera is a savanna safari reserve, with an unusual diversity of scenery, with mountains, forests, lakes and small open grasslands.

The reserve has been subject to a major conservation and restoration project since 2010, which included the reintroduction of lions and other animals.

Guest accommodation in a handful of rather cool pioneering camps, from relatively basic to surprisingly upmarket. These bases are able to offer a wide range of safari and conservation activities.

The most significant downside for Akagara is that the wildlife viewing is inherently not as reliable or numerous as in more established safari areas like Serengeti.

Guide price USD 500-2750 pppn

The mountain scenery of Rwanda is very impressive, dominated by scenic upland farmlands, dotted with dense forests and dramatic volcanic peaks. The tea plantations are particularly beautiful. To the east there are some limited areas of open savanna.

Mountain scenery

Rwanda is one of two locations (the other being Uganda) to offer intense up-close encounters with mountain gorillas. This area specialises in very-high-end lodges, but the core forest experience remains authentic and heart-pumping.

Mountain gorillas

People tend to underestimate the chimp experience, but these guys are also very powerful, and are much more active than their bigger cousins. They can be encountered in the Nyungwe Forest area to the south of the country.

Chimpanzees

The savanna safari in Rwanda is not all that strong, but it is fascinating from a conservation perspective. However, most people combine gorillas with a more serious safari in the Serengeti region of Tanzania, which is reached by daily light aircraft services.

Savanna safari

Serengeti is the mother of all safari reserves, a most extraordinary place, best known for its enormous wildebeest and zebra migration, but with prolific wildlife year round.

Serengeti

Maasai Mara is one of Africa’s best known wildlife reserves. A part of the greater Serengeti ecosystem, the Mara is renowned for hosting the migration herds Jun-Oct.

Maasai Mara

If you are looking for tropical beaches, then Zanzibar Island has loads of choice of lodges, whilst the islands of Pemba and Mafia are much less-visited backwaters with a cool Swahili vibe.

Zanzibar

June to September is the main dry season in Rwanda and the best time for gorilla tracking in the Virunga Mountains. Trails are firmer, trekking is more predictable, and encounters are reliable, though visitor numbers are higher and permits must be booked well in advance.

Jun–Sep

October to November brings a short rainy season. Conditions can be unpredictable, with softer trails and variable trek lengths, but crowds are lighter and the scenery is beautifully green and atmospheric.

Oct–Nov

December to February is the short dry season, offering good trekking conditions with slightly fewer visitors than mid-year. Trails are generally manageable, mornings are cool, and photography conditions are excellent in the misty forest. Book very early for late December.

Dec–Feb

March to May is the main rainy season and the most challenging period for gorilla tracking. Trails can be muddy and slippery, treks longer and more demanding, but visitor numbers are low and the forest is lush and dramatic.

Mar–May