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We are a Rwandan tour operator, based in Kigali.
We plan and run trips across Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, and we do it from Kigali, two hours from the Virunga treeline where the mountain gorillas live.
What being a Rwandan operator changes.
Legson Journeys is based in Kigali and works across Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Rwanda is where we live, so when a guest asks whether the road to Kinigi is open, or what the trail will be like after a night of rain, we can answer from experience or by calling someone we know in the area.
Gorilla permits are the part of a trip that can fail before it starts. In Rwanda they are issued by the Rwanda Development Board, in Uganda by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and both sell out. We deal with those offices directly, and we hold your permits before we invoice the rest of the trip. If your dates are gone, you hear that from us before you have booked a flight.
Our guides are from the places they guide in. A tracker who grew up near the Virungas reads a trail the way you read your own street, and a guide born in the Mara knows that ground in a way a visitor from elsewhere cannot. They speak the local languages, they know the rangers, and when a plan has to change they know who to ask. When we price a safari we ask about the guide before we ask about the lodge.
Kigali is two hours from the Virunga treeline, and that is the plainest advantage we have. A guest can land in the evening, sleep near Musanze and be at the trailhead the next morning, with no internal flight and no lost day. It also means that when something changes, a late flight or a permit moved to another date, we are two hours from the forest and not a country away.
How a trip is built
Six things happen between your first message and the last day of your trip, in this order.
We talk it through
You tell us who is travelling, which dates you have and what you most want to see. We ask about fitness and budget plainly, because both change what we can offer. This happens by WhatsApp, email or a call, whichever you prefer.
We hold the permits
Gorilla and chimpanzee permits come first, because they sell out. We secure them for your dates before we price the rest of the trip. If the dates are gone, we tell you straight away and offer the nearest ones that are open.
We draft the itinerary
You get a day-by-day plan with the lodges, the drive times and the guide for each park. You mark it up and we revise it until it is right.
You pay a deposit
Once the permits and the itinerary are agreed, a deposit confirms the lodges and vehicles. The amount, and the date the balance falls due, are in writing before you pay anything.
We settle the final detail
Flights in and out, arrival times, dietary needs, what to pack for the forest and for the plains, and a briefing on how trek day works.
We stay reachable while you travel
You have a WhatsApp line to us for the whole trip. If a flight moves or the weather changes the plan, message us and we rearrange it from Kigali.
Responsible travel, in practice
Four rules we work to, and the reason behind each.
Permit fees fund conservation. What you pay for a gorilla permit goes to the Rwanda Development Board or the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and it pays for the rangers, trackers and patrols that protect the families.
Community visits are paid to the community. Visits to Maasai communities in Kenya and Tanzania are arranged directly with the group manyatta. The fee is agreed in advance and goes to the community, not to a middleman. If a visit would be a performance staged for cameras, we leave it out.
Groups stay small. Gorilla families see no more than eight trekkers a day, and we plan our own groups to fit inside that. On safari we keep vehicles small enough that every guest can see out and the guide can talk to each of them.
Sixty minutes is the rule, and it is there for the gorillas. Gorillas catch human illnesses easily, and a long visit wears on a family that still has its own day to get through. The limit protects the animals, not the schedule. We plan the whole day around that hour, brief guests before the trek on how to behave, and never ask a guide to stretch it.
Talk to us before you book anything.
Send your dates, how many of you are travelling and what you most want to see. We will reply with what is possible and what it costs.
Registered with the Rwanda Development Board. Based in Kigali, Rwanda.