Luxury Rwanda Safari
Rwanda has an excellent road network that winds gently through its mountains and valleys. Transfers are a visual pleasure, especially on your way to the Parc National des Volcans for a mountain gorilla trekking expedition. Tracking gorilla families through the dense rainforest is an experience you won’t soon forget. Be sure to keep an eye out for Rwanda’s golden monkeys, too. They inhabit the same forested terrain as the mountain gorillas and you can spot them swinging to and fro on branches, munching on bamboo shoots and squabbling amongst themselves. Birders will be keen to observe more than 700 species of birds.
Beyond the forests, Rwanda has beautiful lakes where you can relax or enjoy boating and watersports. Let Journeysmiths take you further off the beaten track with a safari in Akagera National Park. This blissfully quiet park borders Tanzania and is the only place in Rwanda where you can find elephant, giraffe, zebra, lion and more.
- Cloud covered volcanoes and lush mountain scenery.
- Incomparable for gorilla trekking and spotting golden monkeys.
- Big Five safaris in Akagera National Park.
- Fascinating art and delicious cuisine in Kigali.
- Some of Africa’s most exclusive mountain lodges and safari camps.
The dense rainforests of Parc National des Volcans are one of the few remaining places where you can see mountain gorillas in their natural state. The park is also home to rare golden monkeys.
With its golden sands, swaying palm trees and stunningly clear water, Lake Kivu is the inland beach getaway you never would have expected. Enjoy hiking, watersports and boating activities in luxurious privacy.
Nyungwe Forest National Park protects one of Africa’s oldest rainforests. This thriving ecosystem is the best place in Rwanda to track chimpanzees, Angolan colobus monkeys and hundreds of species of birds.
Akagera National Park is central Africa’s largest protected wetland and the only region where you’ll find savannah-adapted wildlife in Rwanda. The park is a remarkable conservation effort, ongoing since 2010.
"Memorable trip from the original booking with Ross to the amazing guide throughout our stay in Rwanda . Great hotels , lovely country , fabulous people and one unique unforgettable trek with the gorillas."
Rwanda is a country where the rewards are exceptional, but you should prepare yourself for some emotional encounters, whether that is coming face to face with a critically endangered mountain gorilla, or a visit to the genocide memorial.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.Rwanda is a country where the rewards are exceptional, but you should prepare yourself for some emotional encounters, whether that is coming face to face with a critically endangered mountain gorilla, or a visit to the genocide memorial.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
To look into the amber eyes of a mountain gorilla, the world’s largest primate, is a moment that can never be forgotten. You’re in their environment, deep in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, and you’ve trekked along mountainous forested trails to be with these mighty close relatives.
A toddler gorilla may tumble and play nearby, or be clutched for comfort; another may forage for food, and you may be lucky enough to encounter a silverback. Such things are likely scenes when you have been granted one of the 96 daily permits to spend an hour with the gorillas of the Volcanoes National Park. Your expert guides will be familiar with each one of them by name and character, for they are our family and deserve to be known.
A rustle of leaves reveals the roost of a chimpanzee high in the branches of a fig tree, as curious about you as you are about him. This will be the first of many rewards for your early-morning departure into the midst of Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest. Each trek is different, but the chimpanzees thrive here so you will always have encounters with these tremendous and spirited primates.
Along the way, you will also see numerous other of the dozen or so primate species that flourish in the forests of Rwanda, from the ubiquitous vervet monkey to the shy owl faced monkey, but for a connective experience with a fellow ape, chimpanzees take some beating.
To have spent time in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city, is to experience the positivity of African growth and development. It’s a bustling place with its eyes firmly set on the future, and you will visit its markets, art galleries and the workshops of innovative entrepreneurs with a local guide when you stay at The Retreat.
You’ll also sample the world-renowned coffees, participate in banana beer making, and discover the wealth of Rwandan cuisine during a cookery class. Not only is The Retreat a stunning luxury refuge, but it is a training centre for the Rwandan hospitality industry, so you will be in good hands as you are shown the breadth of local culture.
It’s known as the land of a thousand hills, and there is no better way to appreciate this than from the air. By helicopter, it’s just a short hop to Akagera, Nyungwe or Volcanoes National Parks, or you could have a scenic flight around colourful Kigali.
Our recommendation would be to take the opportunity to fly to the Virunga volcanoes, passing over the Twin Lakes and Lake Kivu on the way. You will be struck by the lush forests that adorn the rolling landscapes as you skim above the lush canopy.
Lying on Rwanda’s eastern border with Tanzania, Akagera National Park is an open expanse of wilderness comprising rivers, lakes and grasslands. As one-third of it is classed as wetland, it teems with life and has been a beacon of success for the re-introduction of many keystone species.
The thriving populations of elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard, giraffe and zebra in a relatively small area will guarantee a spectacular safari experience for you. It’s a gem of a place to provide your Big Five experience, but also to introduce you to endemic and rare oddities such as the red-faced barbet and the papyrus gonolek.
Despite the vibrancy and positivity that you will encounter every day of your time in this glorious country, Rwanda’s recent history is challenging. It is estimated that during just 100 days in 1994, up to 800,000 Rwandans were murdered by their neighbours during a brutal tribal civil war.
It is perhaps one of the darkest moments in human living memory, and yet there is recovery, reconciliation and hope. A visit to the Genocide Memorial is more powerful than words can do justice to: it simply cannot be missed if you come to Rwanda, for it will remind you of both the capacity of humans for indescribable cruelty as well as forgiveness and love.
In the shadow of Rwanda’s looming volcanoes, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund welcomes visitors who are interested in the work of the conservationists working with gorillas and the ecosystem that supports them. Pride of place in the development is the Ellen DeGeneres Campus, a large multi-agency centre where the central mission is education.
Wander along the interpretive trails amongst 250,000 native plants, before feasting your senses in the 360-degree immersive video theatre. Over a cup of coffee in the superb Gorilla Café you’ll reflect on how every aspect of the campus, even down to more than 2,000 local construction jobs it created, is inspirational.
In the mid-1980s, it was estimated that there were fewer than 300 mountain gorillas left in the world, for they had suffered decades of poaching, loss of habitat, life-threatening injuries from snares, and illnesses spread by humans.
During an evening with local veterinary experts, you will hear about the tragedy of those days – including the murder of Dian Fossey – and recent hope as they work tirelessly to care for our closest primate relatives. You’ll learn how the gorillas are monitored, how they are treated, and also how experts reach out to Rwandans to protect their threatened forest-dwelling neighbours.
You’ll laugh and smile as you attempt to capture photographs of the high-speed antics of the playful and inquisitive golden monkey flash-mob marauding around you. These sprites of the bamboo forests on the lower slopes of the Virunga mountains are gregarious and delightful, but don’t let the 80 or so members of the troop fool you into thinking that they are common: they are a critically endangered endemic species only found in this mountain range.
You’ll spend about an hour with them whilst they frolic and play, swinging at high speed through the trees and chasing each other in circles. They will enchant you with their vitality.
There’s a deep richness to the greens in Nyungwe National Park. It’s a place of massive rainforest trees, of drifting mists and of leafy abundance where you can almost feel the vegetation growing in front of your eyes. On the fringes of the park, there’s a different but equally lush environment, where the plants resemble glossy green clouds: these are the tea plantations.
You’ll immerse yourself in the culture of tea on the Gisakura Tea Estate where you will be involved with picking, drying, brewing and tasting whilst learning every aspect of the fine art of tea production. Finally, you will sip Nyungwe’s own full-bodied and rich variety of tea in the Tea Lounge whilst gazing out over the pristine natural forests beyond the plantation.
Bisate Lodge is situated on the edge of the Parc National des Volcans, within the eroded, forested cone on extinct volcano with fabulous views towards the park and of the volcanos Bisoke and Karisimbi which protrude from the afro-alpine forests of the park.
Magashi Camp is an intimate, luxurious haven within the wilderness of Akagera National Park.
The Retreat by Heaven is the first entirely eco-friendly, solar-powered resort in the capital city of Kigali, located just twenty minutes from the international airport, on a tranquil tree-lined street.
A stunning, exclusive-use villa, perfect for a group of friends or a family stay.
The views from Singita Kwitonda are staggering, and enhanced by vast panoramic floor to ceiling windows throughout all the main areas and every suite, inviting the wild in and your gaze outward.
Kigali Serena is a classically elegant hotel offering a warm welcome to all that stay.
Family of Mountain Gorilla in the Virunga National Park, Rwanda
Green Tailed Sunbird, Rwanda
The iconic Bisate Lodge, Rwanda
Golden Monkeys in Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda
Virunga Mountains, Rwanda
Elephant in Akagera National Park, Rwanda
Lake Kivu, Rwanda
Leopard up close in the Akagera National Park, Rwanda
Boat safari in the Akagera National Park, Rwanda
We are a boutique travel specialist. For over 30 years we have been crafting the finest tailor-made holidays to the world’s wild places. Your time is precious and with a world to see, we understand the importance of getting it absolutely right for you every time.We are a boutique travel specialist. For over 30 years we have been crafting the finest tailor-made holidays to the world’s wild places. Your time is precious and with a world to see, we understand the importance of getting it absolutely right for you every time.
When one of TV’s best-known wildlife enthusiast, Steve Backshall, tasked us with crafting an unforgettable father-son safari in celebration of his son’s 5th birthday, we knew exactly how to create a trip that would excite and inspire both in equal measures.
Cape Town is one of the world’s great cities with a unique setting beneath Table Mountain.
To experience a little bit of everything that South Africa has to offer, you can hardly do better than to drive along the coastal road of the Garden Route between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. It’s an extraordinary journey, and there’s wildlife on both land and shore, endless beaches, historic battlefields, and the vineyards are never far away. One day you might be whale spotting at Hermanus — renowned as one of the best whale watching locations in the world — and the next you could be learning about the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, handling antique weapons and scrambling over the British and Zulu positions.
Formerly the Zulu Kingdom, the province of KwaZulu Natal runs along South Africa’s dramatic Indian Ocean coastline. The Drakensberg Mountains create a natural border between Lesotho and the Eastern Cape, and offer some excellent hiking routes.
Three of Africa’s great rivers set the scene for your Zambia safari. The Zambezi, the Luangwa and the Kafue rivers are all of different character and have national parks named for them.
Not sure where to start? We have answered frequently asked questions we’ve received over the past decades about our bespoke safaris. Here we discuss everything from pre-planning information to responsible travel. We hope you will find this useful, but if you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Slowing down and staying longer is the new way of travelling and there are huge benefits to this approach. People, wildlife and the environment directly benefit from you staying a little longer; but in equal measures, so do you.
For families of all ages there is so much to see and do in South Africa, making it an excellent and diverse travel destination. We’ve chosen 20 of the best experiences to immerse you in the culture, wildlife and beautiful places of this remarkable country.
7 Secret Places to Spot Leopards in Southern and East Africa
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite leopard viewing destinations for the best chances of guaranteed sightings.
We highlight some of the places filmed in Planet Earth Three’s Deserts and Grasslands episode; view elephants in Zakouma National Park and Arabian camels roaming the Ennedi plateau in Chad, ostriches and chacma baboons in Namibia.
At Journeysmiths we take you out into the wilds to enjoy all kinds of activities with expert, personable guides. Read our top ten Tanzania family safari experiences.
What To Do In Kenya With Children? We’ve chosen our best experiences for a luxury family safari to Kenya.
Booking your family safari to Botswana opens a door to a world of exciting adventure. From the minute your Cessna touches the bush strip, your family will be in the wilds with expert guides. We curated the top 10 family experiences in Botswana to whet your appetite.
in South Africa
Without a shadow of a doubt, South Africa is one of the very best places to watch wildlife in the world. The Kruger National Park — a protected area the size of Wales — is certainly the most famous and popular safari destination, but with Journeysmiths you’ll escape the crowds to explore vast, wildlife-filled private reserves, in the company of the best guides.
Escape into the wilds of Botswana, where the pristine landscape and varied wildlife abound. On a luxury safari in Botswana, you can expect to share your safari with only a handful of other guests, as our travel insider Philippa Page discovered.
Botswana is one of the best places for a family holiday of a lifetime! There are millions of animals across plains, deserts and deltas.
South Africa is an excellent choice for family travel with children of all ages. Its wildlife is abundant, with a great diversity of species, including the Big Five: rhino, leopard, lion, elephant and buffalo. There are vast malaria-free reserves and it’s easy to get from safari regions to Cape Town and the beach.
A safari holiday gives your family a wonderful chance to meet local communities and experience their culture.
Whether on foot, canoe or open vehicle - Zambia is the perfect place for a real family safari adventure. You can track elephants and giraffe walking with an expert guide. You can paddle a stable Canadian canoe down the Zambezi watching zebra and antelope drinking at the water’s edge.
The only travel company to have access to a huge moment in conservation history, our Kenya Conservation safari group got to watch a rhino release!
An Exploration of Unforgettable Experiences at My Favourite Camps in Kenya
The Kalahari is a fascinating place for a family safari. The children can sit by a meerkat den watching these curious little creatures foraging and playing as one stands guard on its hind legs looking out for eagles. They can watch enthralled as a San Bushman reveals hidden secrets that have enabled them to survive here for thousands of years.
Are you celebrating a big birthday, a retirement or special anniversary? Maybe you have a plan to take your whole family, children and grandchildren on a trip that will delight and inspire them. Any reason will do!
Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary
Working in partnership with globally recognised conservation organisation; Care for Wild, the world’s largest rhino orphanage, we have curated a truly unique and exclusive experience giving a privileged few behind-the-scenes access to this otherwise incredibly private sanctuary.
The best time to visit Tanzania will depend on the activities you are interested in and the wildlife you'd like to spot. Read our month-by-month seasonal guide, and responses to your most popular Tanzania safari questions
A land of contrasts, Botswana has long captured the hearts of countless travellers with its seasonal ebbs and flows. Each year, the flooding channels of the Okavango Delta beckon wildlife from near and far; rains transform the stark Makgadikgadi and Nxai salt pans into blankets of green; and dusty footprints trace paths to the vast elephant herds that gather in Chobe National Park. Comparing the verdant patchwork of green in the north to the lunar Kalahari landscapes further south is a feast for the senses, a feast which makes for an unforgettable geographical study in the span of a single trip. Discover Africa’s most exclusive safari destination in complete luxury.
Young children delight to see wild animals in their natural environment. With Journeysmiths your safari will be expertly designed to match your family’s needs and interests. We use the best guides and arrange superb accommodation in the wilds of Africa.
Imagine gliding silently along an Okavango waterway in a mokoro canoe as zebra and impala graze the grasslands. Or cantering on horseback with your guide alongside giraffe. In the Kalahari, take an early morning walk with a San Bushman as he explains the ancestral secrets of survival.
Here’s something you might not expect. The people looking after you on safari might create some of your happiest safari memories. You’ll remember laughter and those after dinner stories and jokes around the campfire. During a three-night stay in a luxury camp, you’ll get to make friends with your guide, the chef, the vegetable gardener and the other people who love their work.
Botswana is a great choice for an exclusive family safari. Roaming the spectacular deserts, deltas and savannahs are literally millions of animals. The fertility and abundant water of the Okavango and Linyanti Deltas supports an incredible 200 different mammal species. The Government’s high value, low volume tourism policy helps conservation and enables you to enjoy a top quality private safari.
Between safaris there is plenty for children to do in camp while the adults relax. Safari lodges may be small and in remote locations, but they have excellent facilities and your hosts’ purpose is to give you the best possible time. In this section we also suggest a couple of places that combine easily to complement your Botswana safari.
With opportunities to see the Big Five of both land and sea, along with incredible scenery, enormous national parks, world-class vineyards, a fascinating history and vibrant, friendly people, South Africa frequently tops the lists of the world’s best holiday destinations. Even so, less than 1% of the world's travellers make it here, so it’s a place where you’ll find yourself with a few select, like-minded and discerning adventurers who have discovered this gem of a country. It’s a place you could return to for the whole of your life and never tire of it.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
We will ensure you can enjoy the best of Africa in the exclusivity of Kenya’s private conservancies where walking, riding and other expertly guided activities enable the richest safari experience.
Here’s our list of ten wonderful experiences to consider including in your Namibia safari:
The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater are truly spectacular settings filled with great herds and big cats. We take you far from the crowds and minibuses with your own private guide, staying in exclusive accommodation. Families with older teenagers will love the wildly remote Selous, Ruaha and Mahale, where you can walk, canoe and even track chimpanzees. Round it off on exotic Zanzibar.
Botswana is Africa’s most exclusive safari destination. Each enormous private reserve has just one or two luxury lodges guaranteeing a series of private experiences as you travel from one exquisite location to the next. Expert guides will take your family on safari among big cats and vast elephant herds in beautiful deltas and deserts.
We’ve collated a list of our ten favourite Tanzanian experiences to show you what’s possible in this incredible country.
Here’s our list of ten wonderful experiences that you might consider having whilst you are in Uganda:
The best way to give your family the facilities it seeks may be to book out an entire camp or lodge. Perhaps you are planning a multi-generation safari. Or you may want to fulfil a dream of walking, mokoroing and camping out in the Okavango. You may simply crave an extra degree of privacy. Most lodges we use take fewer than 16 guests, some take only eight, so booking a whole lodge is a viable option.
Kenya has the ingredients for an amazing family safari. Your children will love seeing vast numbers of animals in iconic African settings. Stay in amazing and exclusive accommodation on private reserves. Enjoy adventures on foot, horseback and by open vehicle with Africa’s finest guides. Your children can see pioneering conservation work in action and meet remote tribal communities. Maybe end with a few days by the coast.
If you’re looking for a country that’s got everything, choose South Africa. Renowned for the spectacular views of the Garden Route, vibrant Cape Town, malaria free safaris, fascinating history and outstanding wildlife, the whole family will fall under the alluring spell of this diverse country.
Are you feeling inspired to travel after watching Planet Earth Three?
Coasts offer the opportunity to see a wide variety of wildlife both at sea and on shore and are excellent destinations for wildlife enthusiasts. Follow in the footsteps of the Planet Earth crew and journey along the picturesque Garden Route coast to see Cape fur seals gathered in their thousands in South Africa. Head to the eerie Skeleton Coast of Namibia to find the desert-adapted lions that laze on its sand dunes. Or hop on a boat in Chile and watch the enormous barnacled body of southern right whales emerge from the water as they breach a matter of metres from your eyes.
Without freshwater, life on land wouldn't exist.
Freshwater is the most precious resource on our planet, but it's finite. Vital to life, only 2.5% of all Earth’s water is fresh and less than 1% of that is accessible. Planet Earth Three’s episode on freshwater documents its importance for selection of species.
Mountain gorilla can be found in Rwanda and Uganda, both superb destinations but each offering something slightly different. Read on to find out which is best for you.
The school holiday cycle is full of opportunity; there is a safari for every season, whether it’s during the Christmas, Easter or Summer holiday period.
Namibia has a diverse cultural heritage and is home to one of the most distinct African tribes — the Himba — a group of semi-nomads who live in the Kunene region.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was the first person to call South Africa “the rainbow nation”. It’s a reflection on the fascinating diversity of this country, not only in the identities of its people but in the landscapes, wildlife, cultures, and activities it offers. South Africa is a country which, because of its variety, can be all things to all people, truly a rainbow of varied opportunities and experiences.