Complimentary breakfast on own at hotel. Depart hotel 9:30am for Kigali City Tour.

Kigali is one of Africa's most beautiful and amazing cities. A city tour is a great way to get acclimated. Stops include: 

-- Mt. Kigali for views of the city and the countryside

-- Local milk bar & best Rwandan coffee around

-- Neighborhood market

-- Mural walk & neighborhood walk

-- Ride on a water taxi

 --Delicious Rwandan lunch

The tour will end around 3:30pm at The Kigali Genocide Memorial. This incredibly moving Memorial is the final resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It honors the memory of the one million+ Rwandans killed in 1994 through education and peace-building. Understanding Rwanda's genocide past is important to understanding the present and future of this dynamic country.

The driver and vehicle will wait until the Memorial closes at 5:00pm and return to return to the hotel. The driver will bring those not interested in visiting the Memorial back to the hotel at 3:30pm.

We'll reconvene for dinner as a group at 7:00pm (TBD).

Complimentary breakfast on own at hotel. We depart as a group for a day of visits around Rwanda's leadership in hospitality, tourism and the arts. 

Marriott opened their first Sub-Saharan Africa hotel in Kigali (CNN video) in 2018. Many from the Marriott and Onomo staff are graduates of the premier all-female Akilah Institute. With hospitality one of Akilah's key educational pillars, the institute plays a major role in Rwanda's talent development and economic growth. We'll walk the campus, meet inspiring students and staff. Over lunch with alumni who've been part of the launch of both the Marriott and Onomo hotels, we'll learn their personal and professional visions for the future.

In the afternoon, we'll visit Imena Arts. Founded in 2012 by brothers and self-taught painters Emmanuel Nkuranga and Innocent Nkurunziza. They'll share more about their art, support of up-and-coming artists, and role in connecting Rwanda to the broader world. 

After a rest at the hotel, we'll enjoy dinner at Heaven, a gorgeous restaurant and hotel founded by Americans Josh & Alissa Ruxin. As shared in the book A Thousand Hills to Heaven,, Heaven has set a national standard for food and service excellence. 

Complimentary breakfast on own at hotel. We depart our hotel early for the 60km drive to Muhanga, home to the first African distribution center for Zipline, a San Francisco-based medical delivery company that designs, builds, and operates drones aircraft. Named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2020, Zipline began drone deliveries in Rwanda in 2016 and is responsible for more than 2/3 of Rwanda's blood deliveries outside of Kigali. As we tour the facility, we'll learn why Zipline chose Rwanda as the inaugural country for their drone delivery services and their global expansion plans.

On our return to Kigali, we'll visit with Kasha, an e-commerce company for women's health and personal care in East Africa. Launched in Rwanda in 2015 to provide access to hygiene and reproductive health products--especially to women in low-income rural areas in emerging markets--Kasha seeks to move the needle in improving health, education and economic opportunity for women and their families (more about Kasha).

We'll end the day with a visit to Ampersand, which builds affordable e-motos and charging systems for the three million motorcycle taxi drivers in East Africa, starting with Rwanda. By making it cheaper to buy and operate an electric motorcycle, Ampersand helps drivers double their income and Africa leapfrog to a zero-carbon future. Read more about Ampersand and how it's transforming Rwanda's taxi industry.

All of these technologies fit into Vision 2020, President Paul Kagame's campaign aimed at transforming the country into a knowledge-based middle-income country. 

With a lot to talk about, we'll reconvene for dinner as a group at 7:00pm at Khana Khazana.

Complimentary breakfast on own at hotel. Rwanda is a leader in technology, economic transformation and gender equality--did you know that women have held 2/3 of Rwanda's parliamentary seats for about a decade? 

Today we'll dive deeper into Rwandan innovation and leadership. We start the day with a visit to African Leadership University (ALU), an out-of-the-box educational initiative focused on identifying, developing and connecting the continent’s leaders of all genders. With campuses in Mauritius and Rwanda, we'll learn more about ALU's vision for Africa and why Rwanda is a chosen base (about ALU). 

What's the Uber of East Africa? Volkswagen's Move. Realizing that ride-hailing and car-sharing are where the demand is, VW chose the small, technology-leading Rwanda as its African laboratory and a small team from Awesomity as its implementing team (read more). We'll meet with the Awesomity team and hear how this came about.

Finally, we can't leave Rwanda without learning about coffee! It's Rwanda's leading agricultural export, with specialty coffee about 2/3 of production. The Relationship Coffee Institute (RCI), a non-profit public benefit corporation (PBC) created between Bloomberg Philanthropies and Sustainable Harvest® Coffee Importers that seeks to increase social and economic opportunity for smallholder commodity farmers and their families. We'll visit Question Coffee for a coffee master class, learning everything from beans to their coffee economics. 

We'll reconvene for dinner as a group at 7:00pm at Repub Lounge in the Kimihurura neighborhood, enjoying amazing food, drink and live music beginning at 8:00pm.

Complimentary breakfast on own at hotel. Every month, Rwandan citizens come together with a common purpose. Umuganda is Rwanda's decade-old nationwide mandatory community work day, created to promote peace, unity, and prosperity across the country. On The Last Saturday of every month from 8-11:00 am, businesses close and traffic halts as citizens across the country take to their neighborhoods. Even as a visitor, you'll participate in this monthly holiday. Along the way, we'll hear more about community-based art foundation Kurema, Kureba, Kwiga ("To Create, To See, To Learn") which is behind many of the murals appearing across the Kigali.

After cleaning ourselves up, we'll head out to do some final shopping at locations like Rwanda Clothing, Haute Baso and Kigali Cultural Village, or partake in a class at Azizi Life Studios. 

We'll regroup in the late afternoon for a Final Celebration as a group on the outdoor terrace of the Onomo. Executive Chef Blessing Kamombe hosts a monthly post-Umuganda BBQ. We'll be able to eat tasty choma off the grill to our hearts content while sharing highlights of our week and how the experiences led us to think differently. 

For those with continued energy, head out to enjoy one last night of Kigali nightlife. But it will be an early morning for most. There's still more Rwanda outside of Kigali to explore!

Breakfast on own at hotel and check-out. From here, participants may choose optional trip excursions, such as gorilla trekking or safari, or return to the Kigali International Airport (KGL) for outbound flights.

You may arrange for airport transfer with hotel or additional tour excursion operators directly (not included in trip fee).

Book separately. Rwanda’s famous Mountain Gorillas located 2.5 hours outside of Kigali. It's estimated there are less than 900 Mountain Gorillas left in the world. Rwanda is one of only three countries where you can visit these critically endangered animals.

Each hike to reach a gorilla family is different; some hikes are as short as 45 minutes others as long as several hours. The terrain varies, and altitudes may reach up to 4,000m (13,000 feet) with a starting altitude of 2,500m (8,200 feet). Guides arrange with the park service to assign you to a group based on your fitness level and preference. Groups are limited to only 8 visitors per gorilla family to minimize disturbance to the gorillas. Each group can be visited for a one hour period. Permits must be purchased from the park service well in advance. Permits are non-refundable.

Go Kigali Tours offers a one-day Gorilla Trekking. If you have interest in multiple days, combining with a safari or in other excursions in Rwanda or East Africa, the Go Kigali team can work with you to customize your perfect pre- or post-trip experience. Please contact Muzamiru Kiyaga (gokigalimuzamiru@gmail.com).

Sample Itinerary: Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park Day Trip

Book Separately. Less than a 3-hour drive from Kigali along the border with Tanzania, Akagera National Park is home to the "Big Five." Animals to be seen include giraffe, zebra, elephant, lion, leopard, hippo, rhino, antelopes, buffalo and hundreds of bird species, including rare birds like the Shoebill.

Go Kigali Tours offers a one-day Safari. If you have interest in multiple days, combining with gorilla trekking or in other excursions in Rwanda or East Africa, the Go Kigali team can work with you to customize your perfect pre- or post-trip experience. Please contact Muzamiru Kiyaga (gokigalimuzamiru@gmail.com).

Sample Itinerary: Akagera Day Trip Itinerary