Rwanda is one of the easiest and safest countries in Africa to visit alone, and gorilla trekking is unusually well suited to solo travel: you are placed in a group of eight at the briefing regardless of how you arrived, so the experience itself is never solitary.
Rwanda is consistently ranked among the safest countries on the continent, and Kigali is safe to walk in the evening. English and French are widely spoken, mobile data is excellent everywhere, and the roads to the parks are properly surfaced. Solo female travellers report Rwanda as one of their most comfortable African destinations.
Trekking itself is guided and accompanied by armed trackers throughout. Nobody walks in the forest alone.
Wardens divide visitors into groups of eight at the 07:00 Kinigi briefing, so a solo traveller joins a group for the walk and the hour. Many guests describe that group as one of the pleasures of the day — eight strangers sharing something unrepeatable, then breakfast together back at the lodge.
If you would rather have the forest to yourself, Rwanda offers an exclusive private visit to a gorilla family at USD $15,000, with rangers briefing you privately at your lodge.
The permit is USD $1,500 whether you are one person or six, so it does not penalise solo travel. What does is the single supplement at the small Virunga lodges, and the cost of a private vehicle and guide — around USD $600 per day — carried by one person rather than shared.
We reduce this in three ways: choosing lodges where we can negotiate the supplement down, timing the trip into the green seasons when rates soften, and shortening the vehicle days by positioning you near the park rather than driving each morning.
Five to eight days works well. Two nights in Kigali with a guided city day, three or four nights in the Virungas with two treks and a golden monkey morning, and two nights on Lake Kivu to stop. Solo travellers often add the Dian Fossey Ellen DeGeneres Campus and the Musanze caves, both of which suit a single visitor with a guide.
A private guide is worth more to a solo traveller than to anyone else. They advocate for you at the briefing, handle every logistic, and are company on the drives.
You can travel alone, but you will not trek alone — wardens place every visitor into a group of eight at the Kinigi briefing, accompanied by guides and trackers.
Yes. Rwanda is consistently ranked among the safest countries in Africa, Kigali is comfortable to walk in the evening, and solo female guests regularly describe it as their easiest African trip.
At most Virunga lodges, yes, because the properties are small. We negotiate it down where we can and use green-season dates to soften it further.
More so than for anyone else. Your guide advocates for your fitness at the briefing, manages every logistic and is company on the drives. Private vehicle and guide runs from about USD $600 per day.
Tell us a little about how you travel. Our team will reply within 24 hours with a draft itinerary composed for you alone.
Private expeditions are typically composed from USD $10,500 per guest, fully inclusive of gorilla permits, lodging, guiding and transfers.
