By The UNCHARTED® editors · 6 min readWRITTEN BY
Sandy Cunningham
If Africa were a royal family, Rwanda would be my choice for Queen. The country’s journey over the past 30 years, from unimaginable hardship to remarkable recovery, is nothing short of miraculous. The parks — teeming with gorillas and golden monkeys, the Big Five, and sprawling herds of other wildlife — feel like throwbacks to unspoiled Africa.
Rwanda feels dignified and deliberate, like a country that has chosen civility and order as a manifestation of healing. The roads are smooth, villages are manicured, and houses are painted with pride. Community service days are mandatory nationwide — even the president participates — and it shows.
Volcanoes National Park: Virunga Lodge and Kwitonda Lodge
Earthy and intimate, Virunga Lodge represents the original vision of primate tourism in Rwanda. Perched high above lakes and volcanoes, the lodge feels woven into the land rather than imposed upon it. Rooms face either sunrise or sunset; my daughter’s and mine looked straight toward the volcano chain, their silhouettes floating in mist at dawn.
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VIRUNGA
Staff are local, warm, and intuitive — trained not for polish, but for presence. You never want for anything, yet nothing feels choreographed. This is luxury defined by personal connection rather than perfection. Take the spa treatment room: With a fireplace blazing behind the message table and long volcano views, it is one of Africa’s most remarkable spa settings, where the landscape itself becomes part of the experience.
Lodge
“Mist, volcanoes, and soulful stillness.”
Where Virunga is soulful and storied, Singita Kwitonda is immaculate and elegant, yet also warm. The conservation library alone could occupy an entire afternoon.
Golden Monkey tracking at Kwitonda was seamless. Guests are actively encouraged not to bring their own equipment; boots, gaiters, and waterproof everything in all sizes are provided. We kitted up in the gear room and made our way to the park entrance for a briefing before setting off on what proved to be a gentle trek, with just a bit of clambering through bamboo. Golden monkey tracking unfolds in a sunlit bamboo forest rather than the dense jungle one might imagine. Around 80 monkeys leapt, posed, and tumbled through the canopy of a sunlit bamboo forest — joyful and kinetic, almost theatrical. It’s a primate encounter entirely distinct from gorilla trekking, but no less enchanting.
The gardens at Singita Kwitonda are also a revelation, producing everything from crisp salad greens to seasonal fruit, alongside a profusion of indoor and outdoor plantings. It’s a serious farm-to-table operation — complete with its own mushroom farm — so what arrives on the plate was often picked just hours before. The cuisine, paired with wines selected by the on-site sommelier, is exquisite!
“Perched high above lakes and volcanoes, the lodge feels woven into the land rather than imposed upon it.”
Sabyinyo Lodge, Bisate Lodge, and Bisate Reserve
Wilderness Safaris offers three interpretations of high-end lodging, and all are compelling.
Sabyinyo Lodge feels like an elegant colonial home — think velvet sofas, fireplaces, and deep greens and golds — carrying a distinct sense of heritage and refinement. It is also Rwanda’s first community-owned luxury lodge, and is fully held by a local trust. A portion of profits supports nearby villages, funding schools, healthcare, and infrastructure, and nearly all staff are drawn from the area, so every guest experience is closely tied to the people who call this region home.
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Bisate
Lodge
“Nest-like villas above a sea of volcanoes.”
On the other hand, Bisate Lodge is made up of six unique thatched forest villas, each crafted to resemble a bird’s nest and opening onto sweeping views of the Bisoke and Karisimbi volcanoes. Designed by Nick Plewman and inspired by the architecture of Rwanda’s King’s Palace, the villas use eco-friendly materials (like recycled-plastic “grass” for the thatched roofs) that merge seamlessly with the surrounding forest.
Then there’s Bisate Reserve, a 2025 UNCHARTED Global Safari Award winner that lives up to every bit of the acclaim. Like its sister property, it is designed to echo the palaces of Rwanda’s ancient kingdoms. It is immersive and symbolic in the most refined way, complete with chandeliers, curves, and textures that evoke forest canopies and calderas. Each private villa is vast, with mudrooms, curved lounges facing the forest, and outdoor wood-fired hot tubs that sit beneath starlit night skies. Our days there were spent wandering the grounds, sharing mother-daughter moments, and forging easy friendships with the resident naturalist and the rest of the lodge team. We didn’t want to leave!
“Immersive and symbolic in the most refined way.”
Akagera National Park: Magashi Camp and Magashi Peninsula Camp
From misty volcanoes, Rwanda pivots — dramatically — to open plains. Akagera National Park is one of the most magical places I've been to in a long time. I went to Rwanda for gorillas, and golden monkeys, but it was the Big Five roaming these savannahs that made me fall in love with the park itself. With hardly anybody there, this is what parts of Kenya (say, Laikipia crossed with the Masai Mara) must’ve been like 100 years ago.
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We had lion sightings, leopard sightings, and an unforgettable encounter with rhinos — seven white rhino, with a little black rhino trailing behind, clearly hoping to join the family! None of the guides had ever witnessed anything like it. They were astonished, radioing one another in disbelief as they raced over to see it for themselves. That small black rhino, so determined to belong, made for a most poignant moment.
“Lakefront luxury in untamed wilderness.”
There were immense herds of elephants and buffalo everywhere. It felt like unspoiled Africa. Wilderness, the outfit behind Magashi Camp and Magashi Peninsula Camp, holds its own private concession here, which makes the experience even more exceptional and exclusive: No one is allowed on these two lakes, and no other vehicles are permitted within their concession. When we ventured onto the open plains, we saw just one other vehicle that wasn’t from Wilderness.
The two camps, one classic and one ultra-luxe, both deliver the same extraordinary wildlife experiences. At Magashi Peninsula, just two tented suites sit overlooking a lake, along with a spectacular two-bedroom private villa perched at the very tip of the peninsula.
This is not a camp where you casually stroll between spaces.
Hippos, crocs, elephants, and the usual suspects roam freely. We were very grateful for pick-ups and drop-offs to our tented suite, especially after encountering a giant bull elephant with only half a trunk — lost to a crocodile, yet remarkably healthy and clearly thriving.
Our game drives and afternoon boat safaris were intimate and unhurried. Picnic breakfasts unfolded with views across the water to Tanzania, and evenings of candlelit dinners ended quietly, with the rare feeling that you’ve got the park almost entirely to yourself.
This is one of Rwanda’s greatest surprises: It’s a place where you can see the Big Five and primates in a single safari. It’s untouched, UNCHARTED Africa — truly a destination to experience before the world catches on.
“It felt like unspoiled Africa. A destination to experience before the world catches on.”
Kigali: Memory, Art & Humanity
Kigali is modern, green, and immaculately ordered, but its emotional center lies at the Genocide Memorial. The experience is devastating, necessary, and deeply moving. Beneath the gardens, thousands are buried. Rwanda’s calm suddenly carries weight.
The city itself is alive with creativity: women’s cooperatives, contemporary design shops, and an extraordinary art scene.
Between its parks, lodges, wildlife, and creative, conscientious citizens, Rwanda leaves a profound and lasting impression.
This is part of a two-part trip report on Uganda and Rwanda. You can check out the
other story here.
“Devastating, necessary, and deeply moving.”
