Rwanda’s mountain gorillas and the Maasai Mara, with both permits, every flight and every fee already included.
The Luxury Rwanda Gorillas and Maasai Mara Safari is a 10 day, 9 night journey combining mountain gorilla trekking in Rwanda with the Maasai Mara. Guests spend one night at The Retreat in Kigali, three nights at Wilderness Bisate beside Volcanoes National Park with two gorilla treks and one golden monkey trek, then one night at Hemingways Nairobi and four nights at Mara Plains Camp in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy. Both gorilla permits at USD 1,500 each, all flights, every park and conservancy fee and the Great Plains Foundation contribution are inside the price. Prices start at USD 21,950 per person sharing and rise to USD 36,850 in the July to October migration.
Two gorilla permits, every flight, every park and conservancy fee and the Great Plains Foundation contribution are all inside the price. Nothing on this journey is handed to you at a reception desk.
There are roughly a thousand mountain gorillas left, all of them in one small block of forest straddling Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo. Rwanda permits eight visitors per gorilla family per day. You have two of those places, twice.
Bisate sits on the rim of an eroded volcanic crater at the edge of Volcanoes National Park, looking at Bisoke, Karisimbi and Mikeno. It is as much a reforestation project as a lodge, and every guest plants a tree in ground that was farmland ten years ago.
Then the landscape changes entirely. Mara Plains sits on the Ntiakitiak River in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, where the beds are capped at one tent per 700 acres, the lowest density in the greater Maasai Mara. Park fees, conservancy fees and the return flights from Nairobi are all inside the nightly rate.
Why we love this journey: of what happens on the second trek. The first is spent catching your breath, working out where to put your feet, and being told to keep your voice down. By the second you have stopped thinking about the walk, and you spend an hour watching a family of gorillas get on with their morning three metres away. Almost everyone who does one trek wishes they had booked two. This journey books two.
Two gorilla treks, not one · Both permits are inside the price. The second is the one guests remember, because by then they have stopped concentrating on the walk.
Bisate, on a crater rim · An award winning lodge of six villas at the park boundary, and a reforestation project that has rebuilt cloudforest from farmland.
Golden monkeys too · A third permit for the golden monkeys of the bamboo zone, a species found only in the Virungas.
One tent per 700 acres · Olare Motorogi caps its beds harder than any other Maasai Mara conservancy, and permits off road driving and night drives.
Everything inside the price · Both permits, every park and conservancy fee, all flights and the Great Plains Foundation contribution. Nothing is billed on arrival.
Two hours between them · RwandAir fly Kigali to Nairobi twice daily, which makes this one of the simplest two country journeys to run.
Fly into Kigali International, the calmest and cleanest arrival airport in the region, where you are met and driven twenty minutes to The Retreat in Kiyovu. A handful of suites around a garden and a saltwater pool in the middle of the city, quiet despite the address. If your flight lands early there is time for the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which is difficult and worth it. Dinner at Fusion, the hotel's restaurant, which works almost entirely from Rwandan smallholders.
The road north takes about two and a half hours, climbing steadily out of Kigali through terraced hillsides into the Musanze plain, with the Virunga chain rising ahead. Wilderness Bisate sits on the eroded rim of an old volcanic crater at the park boundary, looking out at Bisoke, Karisimbi and Mikeno. Six spherical thatched villas, each with a fireplace lit before you reach it. In the afternoon you will plant a tree in ground that was farmland ten years ago, which sounds like a gesture until you see how much forest has come back.
An early start at the park headquarters, where families are allocated and groups briefed. The walk in can take anything from one to six hours on steep, wet ground at altitude, and porters are available and worth taking. When you reach the family you have one hour with them, and the rule is seven metres, which the gorillas ignore entirely. Back at the lodge for a long lunch, a fire and the wellness rooms.
Out again, usually to a different family and often a different part of the forest. This is the one guests remember. The nerves have gone, you know what to expect underfoot, and the hour goes on watching rather than concentrating. In the afternoon, the golden monkeys of the bamboo zone, a species found nowhere but the Virungas, or a guided walk in the Albertine Rift with the lodge's naturalist.
The drive back to Kigali, then RwandAir to Nairobi, about two hours. You are met and driven to Hemingways in Karen on the southern edge of the city, looking out at the Ngong Hills. Every room is a suite with full butler service. A quiet evening after four days at altitude, and an early night before the flight into the Mara.
A short transfer to Wilson Airport and a light aircraft south west across the Rift Valley. Your guide meets the plane and the first game drive begins on the way in. Mara Plains is raised on decking above the Ntiakitiak River with only seven suites, a Relais and Chateaux member, and the conservancy around it caps beds at one tent per 700 acres. Every park fee and all your drinks are already inside the rate.
A dawn drive while the cats are still moving, back for a late breakfast, then out again in the afternoon. Conservancy land means your guide can leave the track to follow a sighting and take a night drive after dinner, neither of which the national reserve allows. Every suite carries professional camera bodies, lenses and binoculars for you to use at no charge.
A full day inside the Maasai Mara National Reserve, included in your rate. Between July and October this is where the river crossings happen. Outside those months it is where the largest resident lion prides hold territory. Picnic lunch under a tree, then back to the conservancy for the evening drive.
A hot air balloon at first light, a walking safari with a Maasai guide, a visit to a homestead, or two more drives and nothing else. After four days on foot at altitude in Rwanda, most guests are content to sit in a vehicle and watch. Dinner is served wherever suits, and the Jahazi Suite deck is worth asking about for a last night.
A final drive at dawn if your flight allows, then the short hop back to Wilson. We transfer you across the city to Jomo Kenyatta International for your onward connection, with a dayroom held if it is a late one. Guests continuing to the Kenyan coast or on to Zanzibar connect directly from Wilson.
A small, quiet hotel in Kiyovu, central Kigali, and the easiest possible first or last night in Rwanda.
The Retreat is a boutique property of a handful of rooms set around a garden and a saltwater pool, twenty minutes from Kigali International. Kigali is the cleanest and calmest capital in the region, and the hotel matches it.
It exists to solve the arrival and departure problem well. You land, you sleep properly, and you leave for the volcanoes in the morning. On the way home it holds you between the Rwanda leg and the flight to Nairobi.
Suites with private terraces, outdoor showers and plunge pools on the upper rooms, finished in Rwandan craft and local materials. Quiet, despite being in the middle of the city.
Fusion, the hotel's plant forward restaurant, works almost entirely from Rwandan smallholders. Breakfast can be taken early for the drive north, or slowly by the pool.
A saltwater pool, a spa and a gym. The Kigali Genocide Memorial, the Nyamirambo Women's Centre and the city's craft markets are all within a short drive and worth the afternoon if your flight allows.
Six villas woven into a volcanic amphitheatre at the foot of the Virunga chain, and widely held to be the finest place in Africa from which to walk in and meet a mountain gorilla.
Bisate sits on the eroded rim of an old volcanic crater at the edge of Volcanoes National Park, looking out at Bisoke, Karisimbi and Mikeno. The villas are spherical and thatched, echoing the hills that give Rwanda its name, and the interiors use woven screens and materials drawn straight from Rwandan craft.
The lodge is as much a reforestation project as a hotel. Every guest plants a tree, and the land around the villas has been rebuilt from farmland into indigenous cloudforest over the past decade. It has collected more than thirty international awards since opening in 2017.
Six Forest Villas, each with a fireplace, a wide curved window facing the volcanoes, a private deck and a bathroom with a deep tub. The lodge is built into a mountainside on three levels reached by stone steps, so it does not suit guests with limited mobility.
Fully inclusive, with all meals, local drinks and laundry inside the rate. Dining moves between the main lodge, the fireside and the deck depending on the weather, which at 2,500 metres changes quickly. The kitchen leans on Rwandan produce and the lodge's own garden.
Gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking are the reason to be here, both on permits bought separately. Beyond them, guided nature walks, birding in the Albertine Rift, tree planting, community visits, biodiversity briefings and The Sanctuary wellness rooms are all included.
With sweeping views of the Ngong Hills and interiors that reflect the grace of Kenya's heritage, Hemingways Nairobi blends timeless hospitality with thoughtful design.
Set between Nairobi National Park and the foot of the Ngong Hills, Hemingways Nairobi is an exclusive boutique hotel far from the bustle of central Nairobi. An all suite property providing full butler service, a brasserie and a bar, it is perfectly placed for trips to Nairobi National Park and the capital.
Hemingways Nairobi has a sophisticated and tranquil ambiance. Each of the 45 suites is a generous size, all with walk in dressing rooms and a terrace with magnificent views of the Ngong Hills.
Hemingways' 45 loftily ceilinged rooms are bright, open and fresh, decorated with soothing, muted colours and canopied beds, with touches of brass and mahogany. Large Italian marbled bathrooms, a personalised bar, in room dining and the attentive service of your butler are testimony to Hemingways' dedication to surpassing the very highest expectations.
The Dining Room serves delectable cuisine from the hotel's Michelin starred chef. Top notch culinary creations have placed Hemingways on Africa's gourmet food map, with contemporary European styled dishes and a variety of international flavours to suit every palate.
The utterly unique Nairobi National Park, offering authentic big game viewing with a city skyline, lies just a few minutes away, while the Karen Blixen Museum, Giraffe Centre and Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage are also nearby.
Where the rhythm of the Mara meets the refinement of safari living, Mara Plains Camp is a small and private luxury tented camp in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, on the northern border of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
An intimate safari retreat hidden beneath the canopy of riverine forest on the banks of the Ntiakitiak River, Mara Plains offers a rare sense of seclusion in the heart of the Maasai Mara. With only a handful of luxury tents, the camp blends understated elegance with authentic safari character: canvas walls, deep wooden decks, and interiors adorned with handcrafted furnishings and Swahili antiques.
Designed to merge seamlessly with nature, the camp opens to unbroken views across the savannah. The conservancy caps beds at one tent per 700 acres, the lowest density in the greater Mara ecosystem.
Seven spacious and uniquely designed canvas rooms built on a raised platform, each with its own private veranda and views of the Mara plains or the river. Every room has a private dressing area and an en suite bathroom with a double vanity, flush toilet, bathtub and shower.
Brunch and dinner are enjoyed around a grand wooden table in the canvas dining room or on the outdoor deck overlooking the river. Meal times are flexible, so you will not find yourself constrained to return to camp if you come across a great sighting.
Game drives across the Mara and the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, photographic safaris, and guided walks that bring the ecosystem to life. Cultural experiences with the Maasai community reveal the connection between land and heritage. Night drives are permitted on conservancy land.
This journey runs on request rather than on fixed departure dates. You choose the dates, we hold the camps. What changes is the season you travel in, and each band below is priced from our contracted rates for that window.
| Travel Window | Season & Availability | From | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
11 January – 28 February 2027 Shoulder |
Good availability | USD 25,850per person sharing | Get a Quote |
1 – 31 March 2027 Shoulder |
Good availability | USD 24,150per person sharing | Get a Quote |
1 April – 31 May 2027 Green |
Wide open Best Value | USD 21,950per person sharing | Get a Quote |
1 – 14 June 2027 Green |
Good availability | USD 23,800per person sharing | Get a Quote |
15 – 30 June 2027 Peak |
Limited | USD 34,600per person sharing | Get a Quote |
1 July – 30 September 2027 Peak, Migration |
Very limited, book early | USD 36,850per person sharing | Get a Quote |
1 – 31 October 2027 Peak |
Limited | USD 34,600per person sharing | Get a Quote |
1 November – 17 December 2027 Green |
Wide open | USD 22,050per person sharing | Get a Quote |
20 December 2027 – 4 January 2028 Festive |
Very limited | USD 36,850per person sharing | Get a Quote |
Rates are per person sharing in United States dollars, based on two adults travelling together. Both gorilla permits at USD 1,500 each are inside the price, as are every park and conservancy fee and the Great Plains Foundation contribution of USD 100 per person per night. Nothing here is billed on arrival. Note the step between 14 and 15 June, where Mara Plains moves into its migration season and the journey rises by USD 10,800. The Great Plains Stay 4 Pay 3 offer is applied from 11 January to 14 June and 1 November to 19 December. Gorilla permits are limited to eight visitors per family per day and sell out well ahead for July to October, so we confirm permit availability before holding anything. A single supplement applies in Peak and Festive seasons. Prices are held for 14 days from the date of quotation and confirmed on receipt of a 30 percent deposit, with the balance due 60 days before departure.
This ten day journey starts at USD 21,950 per person sharing in April and May, and rises to USD 36,850 through the July to October migration. Both gorilla permits at USD 1,500 each are inside that figure, along with every flight, every park and conservancy fee and the Great Plains Foundation contribution.
The first trek is spent concentrating. On the walk, on where to put your feet, on keeping quiet. By the second you have stopped thinking about any of that and you spend the hour watching. Almost everyone who books one wishes they had booked two, and the permit cannot be added once you are there.
It varies a great deal. Volcanoes National Park runs from 2,400 to over 4,500 metres and a trek can take anything from one to six hours on steep, wet, uneven ground. Families are allocated on the morning according to fitness, so tell us honestly and we will brief the park. Porters are available and worth taking whatever your fitness.
About two hours. RwandAir fly Kigali to Nairobi twice daily, and the Mara is a forty five minute light aircraft flight from Nairobi Wilson. It is one of the simplest two country journeys in Africa to run.
Yes, both of them. They are the largest single line in the journey at USD 1,500 each, set by the Rwanda Development Board, and they are inside the price rather than added later. They are also limited to eight visitors per gorilla family per day and sell out well ahead for July to October, so we confirm availability before holding anything.
Not in the conventional sense. There are no game drives and no Big Five in Volcanoes National Park. Bisate exists for the gorillas, and beyond the treks it offers guided walks, birding, tree planting and community visits. The safari half of this journey is the Maasai Mara.
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