11-day Rwanda safari: Akagera, Nyungwe, Lake Kivu and gorillas

Arrival day is kept intentionally light. Meet your guide at Kigali International Airport, transfer to the hotel and choose between resting after the flight or taking a short introduction to the city if your arrival time allows.

Kigali gets a full day rather than a rushed stop between transfers. The Genocide Memorial Centre is the main historical visit, followed by selected markets, craft shops and other cultural or city sites included in the day's plan.

Savannah replaces city streets as the route heads east to Akagera National Park. After lodge check-in, an afternoon game drive looks for antelopes, zebras, elephants and other wildlife as your first introduction to the park.

Akagera's game-drive roads take the morning, with lions, leopards, buffaloes and other savannah wildlife among the possibilities. Lake Ihema changes the viewpoint after lunch, when the boat safari looks for hippos, crocodiles and waterbirds along the shoreline.

A final game drive gives you another look at Akagera before the return to Kigali. The afternoon is deliberately open for rest, shopping or another city activity rather than another fixed excursion.

The journey south toward Nyungwe is also a cultural route. Stops at the Royal Palace Museum in Nyanza and the National Museum in Butare break the drive before lunch and the final section into the rainforest.

Chimpanzee tracking takes the morning in Nyungwe Forest. Park guides lead the search along forest trails, with the chimpanzees' location changing from day to day. If you want more time in the forest, the afternoon can be used for the canopy walk or a guided nature trail.

Lake Kivu provides the pause between Nyungwe and Volcanoes National Park. Travel via Kibuye for lunch, continue to Gisenyi and keep the evening free at the lakeside accommodation.

The morning can be spent on Lake Kivu by boat, visiting small islands and looking for waterbirds, or at the Bralirwa Hot Springs instead. Volcanoes National Park is reached after lunch, leaving the evening for preparation before the gorilla trek.

Gorilla trekking is the final major wildlife activity of the route. Rangers lead the search for the assigned mountain gorilla family, and the permitted hour begins once the group is located. Iby'Iwacu Cultural Village follows in the afternoon for music, dance and cultural interpretation.

Rwanda's volcanic north falls behind on the drive back to Kigali. A packed lunch is carried for the road, and any remaining time before your flight can be used for a short city stop or shopping before the airport transfer.