11 Days Maasai Mara & Rwanda Honeymoon
A private Kenya and Rwanda honeymoon: Mara balloon, forest canopy, Lake Kivu and gorillas
11 Days Maasai Mara & Rwanda Honeymoon
Some honeymoons are about doing nothing. This one is about doing a few extraordinary things together, then having the time and space to savour them. It begins in the Maasai Mara with your own vehicle and guide, a sunrise balloon flight that lands to a champagne breakfast, and an evening when the camp team sets a table for two out in the bush, lit by lanterns and a crackling fire.
Then you fly to Rwanda and the rhythm changes. In Nyungwe Forest you cross a swaying bridge high above the canopy, track chimpanzees at dawn and wander through tea estates where pickers work the rows by hand. On Lake Kivu the two of you take a boat out to small islands, paddle quiet coves by kayak, pedal a stretch of the Congo Nile Trail and raise a cup of coffee, grown on the surrounding hills, to the sunset.
The finale is in Volcanoes National Park, where you climb together to spend an hour with a mountain gorilla family; both permits are included. Every transfer, guide and vehicle is private to you, the days bend to your mood, and the evenings are entirely your own.
Ideal for: Newlyweds and couples marking a milestone who want privacy, slow mornings and a handful of real adventures together, from a sunrise balloon to a gorilla trek.
The journey in brief
You arrive in Nairobi for a quiet first night, then fly to the Maasai Mara for two nights with a private guide, a sunrise balloon flight with champagne breakfast and a private bush dinner. On day four you fly via Nairobi to Kigali. The next day's drive south to Nyungwe Forest stops at the royal palace museum in Nyanza, and two nights in the forest bring chimpanzee tracking, a tea-estate walk and the canopy walkway. You then follow the lake road north to Lake Kivu for two nights of island boat trips, kayaking, sunset coffee and a cycling stretch of the Congo Nile Trail. From there you drive to Volcanoes National Park for your gorilla trek, returning to Kigali on the last day for your flight home.
Highlights
Day by day
Arrive and Exhale
A Geob Ventures host meets you both at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, takes charge of the luggage and drives you to a quiet hotel on the city's green, unhurried fringe. There is nothing to do today but land. Take a long shower, sleep off the flight, or sit outside with something cold to drink while sunbirds work the flowerbeds. Tonight's dinner is set for two in a corner of the garden, away from the main dining room. Before bed, your trip planner drops by briefly to hand over your travel pack and to mention one detail: tomorrow's light aircraft allows 15 kg each in soft bags.
Two Seats to the Mara
Your private driver takes you to Wilson Airport for the light-aircraft flight to the Maasai Mara, about 45 minutes over the Rift Valley. On the airstrip, the guide and open 4x4 that are yours alone for the next two days are waiting. Your camp sits in a private conservancy bordering the reserve, where off-road driving is allowed and other vehicles are rare. After lunch and a siesta, head out for an unhurried afternoon drive on your own schedule, lingering as long as you like with a pride of lions or a breeding herd of elephants. End the day on a hilltop with a sundowner as the sky turns to embers.
Champagne Above the Plains
Your guide collects you in the dark and drives you to the launch site, where burners roar and the balloon swells against the dawn. You rise with the sun and float for an hour or so over the grass, low enough to hear hippos grunting below, high enough to see the plains run to the horizon. Where you land, a breakfast table is laid in the open and a cork pops for the two of you. Spend the middle of the day resting, then take a late game drive. After dark, the camp team leads you to a clearing lit by lanterns and a fire, with a table for two and the stars overhead.
Wings to Rwanda
Take a last morning drive or a lie-in, then fly back to Wilson Airport. Your driver whisks you to the city's main international airport for the short hop to Kigali, about an hour and a quarter in the air, and because Rwanda sits an hour behind Kenya, you gain an hour on landing. Your private Rwandan guide greets you in arrivals and drives you into the capital, past roundabouts planted with flowers and hillsides stacked with homes. Settle into your hotel and freshen up. Dinner tonight is on a quiet hillside terrace as Kigali's lights come on across the valleys, an easy first evening in the country you will spend the next week exploring.
South Through the Royal Hills
Today is a long but lovely drive south to Nyungwe Forest, six to seven hours with stops. In Nyanza you visit the King's Palace Museum, a reconstructed royal residence with a towering thatched roof, where herders still tend the long-horned Inyambo cattle and sing to them in traditional verse. Lunch is in Huye, the old university town, with an optional hour in its ethnographic museum. The afternoon road climbs into tea country, and then the forest begins: an unbroken wall of ancient montane rainforest pouring over the ridges. Arrive in time to watch mist settle into the valleys from your terrace, a glass of wine in hand.
Chimps at Dawn, Tea at Dusk
An early start, around 5 am, gives you the best chance with Nyungwe's chimpanzees, which move fast and far once the day warms up. A ranger leads you along forest trails as trackers home in on the morning calls. When you find them, often high in a fruiting tree, you have an hour to watch. Chimp tracking here is open only to those aged 15 and over, and sightings are good but never guaranteed. Back at the lodge, breakfast and a well-earned nap. In the late afternoon, wander hand in hand through the tea estate on the forest edge, where pickers fill wicker baskets with bright green tips and the slopes glow in the low light.
Above the Canopy, Down to the Lake
This morning you drive to the Uwinka visitor area and follow a forest trail down to the canopy walkway, a suspension bridge slung across a deep ravine with the treetops beneath your feet. It sways a little, so hold on to each other. Look for L'Hoest's monkeys, turacos and, with luck, Angola colobus, whose troops in Nyungwe can number in the hundreds. After lunch the road winds north to Lake Kivu, three to four hours past banana groves and fishing villages along the shore. You reach Karongi in time for sunset, with the mountains of Congo fading to violet across the water.
Islands, Paddles and Sunset Coffee
A day on the water. A private boat takes you out among the islands off Karongi, starting with Napoleon's Island, named for its bicorne-hat outline, where thousands of fruit bats burst from the trees as you climb the trail. Smaller wooded islets make perfect swimming stops, and since Lake Kivu has no hippos or crocodiles, you can dive straight off the boat. After lunch, take kayaks into the sheltered coves and paddle at your own pace. Towards evening you visit a lakeside coffee washing station for a tasting as the sun goes down. Listen for the fishermen, who sing in rhythm as they paddle their lashed-together canoes out for the night catch.
Pedals, Coffee Hills and the Road North
After breakfast, saddle up on e-bikes or mountain bikes for a stretch of the Congo Nile Trail, the long route that traces Lake Kivu's shore through coffee farms, banana groves and hilltop villages. Your guide picks a two- to three-hour section with the best views and the fewest punishing climbs, and a support vehicle follows in case legs give up. Children run alongside shouting greetings, and every bend reveals another bay. Lunch is a picnic above the water. Then the vehicle takes over for the drive north to Volcanoes National Park, roughly three and a half hours, arriving to a fire in the hearth and a quiet dinner for two.
Gorillas, Together
The big day. After an early breakfast, your guide drives you to the park headquarters in Kinigi for the 7 am briefing, where you join a group of no more than eight people to visit one habituated gorilla family. Your permits are already secured and included. The trek can take from one to several hours through farmland, bamboo and nettles, with porters to carry your bags and help you over the steep sections. Then, quite suddenly, you are sharing a hillside with a silverback, his females and their young. For one hour you watch side by side, hardly speaking. Spend the afternoon resting, perhaps with a massage, before a celebratory dinner.
Homeward from the Hills
A slow breakfast with the volcanoes framed in the window, then the drive back down to the capital, which takes around two and a half hours through terraced hills. Depending on your flight time, spend the afternoon at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which gives a profound understanding of Rwanda's past and its recovery, or browse the stalls of Kimironko market for bright kitenge fabric, woven baskets and coffee to take home. Plan ahead and a market tailor can turn a length of fabric into a shirt or dress within a few hours. Your guide sees you through to the departure terminal for your flight home, with a whole album of shared stories to tell.
Your route
The parks, lakes and towns you'll travel through, in order.
What's included
Prices
Priced per person for a private safari for two.
Rates are per person per day, sharing a room, and cover everything under what's included. Your tailored quote confirms the final price for your dates. International flights are not included.
Frequently asked questions
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Let's plan your safari
11 Days Maasai Mara & Rwanda Honeymoon · 11 days
Tell us when you'd like to travel and who's coming. A Geob safari specialist in Nairobi will reply within one working day with availability, a tailored quote and any changes you'd like.
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- Every itinerary can be adjusted to your dates and pace
- Prefer to talk? +254 728 136 167
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