Gorilla tracking & Zanzibar adventure

Today, you will set off early after breakfast for the park headquarters, where you will register for the gorilla trekking. Once you've been assigned a group and have had a briefing from your guide you will be driven to the trailhead where you will start the walk. Your trek will take anywhere from an hour to five hours to reach the gorillas, depending on which group you've been assigned. The terrain changes from farmland to bamboo forest and rainforest as you search for the gorillas. Once you've found the group you will have one hour to watch these incredible creatures and take photos.

Today you will visit the golden monkeys in the Volcanoes National Park. This will be a completely different but just as rewarding experience to tracking the gorillas. You will search for the monkeys with your guide through the forest of the Volcanoes National Park. The walk is generally easier than the trek to the gorillas, although this depends on the monkeys' movements. There are two habituated troops of golden monkeys, both of which have around 80 members in the family. They are incredibly lively, so they can be quite hard to photograph until they settle down or go into a clearing, but they are fascinating to watch leaping from tree to tree. In the afternoon you will be taken across to Lake Burera and Ruhondo. These are two beautiful lakes located about 45 minutes out of Ruhengeri, and it is possible to do some gentle walks in this area.

After breakfast, you will head back to Kigali with your driver-guide, a journey of around two hours. There will be time to do a short city tour of Kigali if you wish — the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Museum is well worth visiting if you want to learn more about the country's history. You will then fly out to Zanzibar via Nairobi. You will be met on arrival and driven across the colourful island to the palm-fringed east coast, where you can relax after your Rwandan adventures.

At leisure at Breezes Beach Club — you can spend the day relaxing and unwinding here on the beautiful stretch of beach, or by the pool, reading a book under the shade of a palm tree and swimming in the warm Indian Ocean. If you're feeling more active, you can easily arrange diving or snorkeling from the lodge's PADI-certified dive center or choose from a range of other excursions to explore the island.

We highly recommend heading out on a snorkeling trip at some point during your stay — you will sail in a traditional dhow to one of the reefs, and can spend an hour or two watching the colourful marine life living in the corals off Zanzibar. This is a lovely way to spend a morning or afternoon and a good opportunity to sail on a dhow as well.

One of our favorite things to do in Zanzibar is to visit one of the small-scale spice farms on the island — you get a really hands-on experience tasting and smelling the spices for which the island is famous. This can be easily arranged either in advance or when you're at the hotel, so you can see how you feel day by day.

Another good way to spend a morning or afternoon, if you're looking for a change of scene from the beach, is to visit the Jozani Forest in the center of the island. It's home to the rare Red Kirk's colobus monkeys, which are endemic to the island and which are really entertaining to watch leap and play in the trees.

For something completely different to the beach, you could head into Stone Town one day for a day trip — the town is located on the west coast and is a busy and bustling town. You can hire a guide to help you explore the narrow alleyways and cobbled streets, learning about the town's fascinating past with a rich and dramatic history as a center of colonial exploration and of the East African slave trade. It's also a great opportunity to pick up any souvenirs.

You will check out of your hotel today and will be driven across the island back to Zanzibar Airport for your onward flights.