Kahuzi Biega Chimpanzees and Gorillas
per person
Explore the sweeping forest steppes of the African Great Lakes region, and its most important and beautiful lake towns and National Park. Nestled in Congo-Kinshasa’s eastern region, this jungle hub is the launching point to Kahuzi-Biega National Park for lowland gorilla and chimpanzee spotting. Meet more of your relatives in one of Jane Goodall’s famous chimpanzee sanctuaries and protection zones. Finally, gaze at Chibati waterfalls set in an equatorial jungle straight out of Michael Crichton’s Congo, and Idjwi, Africa’s second largest inland island, below you.
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Destination
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DepartureKigali aiport / Kigali airport
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Departure TimePlease arrive by 10:15 AM for a prompt departure at 11:00 AM.
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Return TimeApproximately 10:30 PM.
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Dress CodeCasual, comfortable athletic clothing, hiking shoes, hat and light jacket.
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IncludedKahuzi Biega Chimpanzees and GorillasEntry FeesPersonal GuideBreakfast
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Not IncludedDeparture Taxes5 Star Accommodation
FROM OUR GALLERY
Kahuzi Biega Park Chimpanzees and Gorillas: Luxury Lodges
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Day 1: Arrival , African Great Lakes Cruise and Islands Scenic Tour
Welcome to your Kahuzi Biega Luxury Lodge Tour. Start from Kigali today at your hotel and take the 3 hour drive to the frontier with the border where you will be granted a DRC Visa on arrival (we can also arrange it in advance at your home embassy to save time this day.) Our next DRC-based representative picks you up in Goma or Gisenyi, and you transfer over the afternoon to Bukavu over the Lake Kivu and past all of its islands in the lake to Orchids Safari Lodge. After you comfortably check-in to your hotel, you have an option of a short tour, or just enjoy a rest and refreshment after a briefing from the local guide. The staff will attend to your turndown service this evening and you can relax.
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Day 2: Lowland Gorilla Tracking
Early wake in Bukavu where you’ll get a full panoramic view of the volcanoes and valleys where the gorillas reside. Take a four hour trek through the rainforest to share what is sure to be a memorable moment with the lowland gorillas in their natural environment in the Kahuzi Biega National Park. This activity will take most of the rest of the day.
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Day 3: Jane Goodall's Chimpanzees at Lwiro Forest
After breakfast head to the beautiful Lwiro Forest with a view overlooking the park - a walk of about three hours awaits you. Accompanied by a guide you will optionally discover more walks and birding tours and animals nearby crossed by a river and really enjoy watching our cousins the chimps interact and go about social life in their real habitat, a wilderness they were born and raised in. Finally head back along the beautiful Lake Kivu Lakeshore and stop at numerous village fruit stands and street snacks overlooking the islands.
This afternoon you will have the chance if open to visit a beautiful library preserved since Belgian Colonial time, a timepiece snapshot of Africa decades ago, preserved like a museum piece. (The library is quite famous with visitors since around 2014, so is a nice diversion but not mandatory.)
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Day 4: Mt. Kahuzi Guided Summit Hike
This morning depart to Mt Kahuzi one hour from Orchid Lodge and up towards the summit, through the valley jungles and flocks of birds and butterflies. You will climb, during 4-7 hours, the Kahuzi volcano.
After admiring the once-in-a-lifetime vista: the masses of swirling clouds glazing the valleys below you, gaze out between the sister volcanoes of Kahuzi and Mt Biega, and after taking a hearty lunch in the frigid air, you will walk down the volcano amidst beautiful and highly diversified volcanic flora, and some positively alien and bizarre plants. Jump in the 4x4 and make your way back to Orchid Lodge to rest your legs and relax tonight with a final sendoff cocktail.
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Day 5: Back to Kigali and Farewell from DRC
After a delicious departing breakfast at Orchid Lodge, spend the morning enjoying the park and seeing some last vistas of the Great Lakes and the Mountains. In the late morning you take the boat back north across the lake to Goma and on (if requested, to Kigali to be dropped off and waved goodbye.)
TOUR LOCATION
Kahuzi Biega National Park Safari - Wild Gorillas and Chimpanzees - Luxury Lodges
History of the New York
A vast area of primary tropical forest dominated by two spectacular extinct volcanoes, Kahuzi and Biega, the park has a diverse and abundant fauna. One of the last groups of eastern lowland (graueri) gorillas (consisting of only some 250 individuals) lives at between 2,100 and 2,400 m above sea-level.
Straddling the Albertine Rift and the Congo Basin, Kahuzi-Biega National Park is an exceptional habitat for the protection of the rainforest and the eastern lowland gorillas, Gorilla berengei graueri. Extending over 600,000 ha, are dense lowland rainforests as well as Afro-montane forests, with bamboo forests and some small areas of sub-alpine prairies and heather on Mounts Kahuzi (3,308 m) and Biega (2,790 m).
The Park contains a flora and fauna of exceptional diversity, making it one of the most important sites in the Rift Albertine Valley, it is also one of the ecologically richest regions of Africa and worldwide. In particular, the most important world population of eastern lowland gorillas (or de Grauer), sub-species endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and listed under the endangered category on the IUCN Red Data Book, uses the mosaic of habitats found in the property.
Criterion (x): Kahuzi-Biega National Park contains a greater diversity of mammal species than any other site in the Albertine Rift. It is the second most important site of the region for both endemic species and in terms of specific diversity. The Park protects 136 species of mammals, among which the star is the eastern lowland gorilla and thirteen other primates, including threatened species such as the chimpanzee, the colubus bai and cercopiuthic of Hoest and Hamlyn. Other extremely rare species of the eastern forests of the DRC are also found, such as the giant forest genet (Genetta victoriae) and the aquatic genet (Genetta piscivora). Characteristic mammals of the central African forests also live in the Park, such as the bush elephant, bush buffalo, hylochere and bongo.
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ADDITIONAL INFO
INCLUDED
- Transport in a 4WD vehicle with pop-up roof.
- All fuel for the tour
- English speaking Ugandan driver/guide.
- Accommodation and Meals on Full Board (Breakfast Lunch and Dinner)
- Park-entrance fees for all National parks
- All activities described in the itinerary
- 1 Gorilla permit per person.
- Drinking water.
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NOT INCLUDED
- International air fares
- Entry visa Uganda
- Meals that are not part of your accommodation.
- A porter for during the gorilla tracking’s (someone who carries your daypack).
- Personal (medical/travel) insurance
- Tips and gratuities to rangers, driver/guide, porter, hotel staff, etc.
- All expenses of personal nature (e.g. drinks, laundry, optional activities, souvenirs etc.)
TASHA STEWART
I cannot speak highly enough about our 3 week trip to this place and the services provided by this travel company. Everything was seamless. The private guides were interesting and knowledgable. We felt that they were more than just guides. It was like we had a friend in each city.