Lake Kivu Tour by Boat
A Lake Kivu tour by boat is the best way to experience the tranquil islands, coffee plantations, bats, and swimming cows.
Do you need a full day? Yes. There are a lot of little islands, and you won’t even have time to visit them all. We chose the company Countryside Tours Rwanda to organize our tour for us via WhatsApp.
The basics of the tour
- USD 40 per person.
- 6-7 hour tour.
- See all the Lake Kivu islands.
- Stop at Monkey Island (for the Columbus monkey) and Napoleon Island (for a short hike and bats).
- Request a stop at Kinunu Guest House for a coffee plantation/washing station tour.
- Tip: we tipped USD 10 each for our guide and translator as the tour was longer than excepted and we didn’t buy them lunch.
Organizing the Lake Kivu boat tour
Each island is different. With a guide, you’ll be able to visit each one. Plan for 6 hours or more and start your day at 9am. We started the tour at 10 but would have done better starting at 9am.
I found Countryside Tours Rwanda on TripAdvisor and reached out to them to ask about their boat tours just two days in advance. I got a response over WhatsApp in 10 minutes and my tour was organized within the hour. They operate out of Kigali, so look them up if you want the full tour experience. You can even do a boat cruise as a day trip with them. WhatsApp Countryside Tours Rwanda at +250 790 009 064.
You can also organize this with your hotel, but Inn on the Lake (where we stayed) was quoting us USD 400 whereas the same thing was being offered for USD 80 (for 2 people) with Countryside Tours. Not sure why there was a huge disparity but don’t pay USD 400…
Additionally, you can contact Blue Monkey Tours, which I saw most frequently on Lake Kivu. Khan’s Boat also has a lot of great reviews on Google Maps.
Visiting the Lake Kivu Islands
There are several islands in Lake Kivu. You are best off visiting them from the area between Kinunu Guest House and Kibuye, as this is the stretch between the islands you’ll be visiting if you also want to visit the coffee island and washing station.
There are three main islands that you can get off at, but if you’re on a private tour, you can decide which you’d like to visit.
Monkey Island
The first stop on the Lake Kivu boat tour was Monkey Island. Apparently, the government sent some monkeys here to help boost boat tourism. Whether or not that’s true, it has worked because I wanted to see the vervet monkey. I’m sure some of these monkeys are pretty whacko from in-breeding, but we only saw into one. We got off here to take a look at the monkey and try to spot more.
Napoleon Island
Napoleon Island was my favorite island because we got to see a huge colony of bats! It was such a unique experience. You’ll see (and HEAR) them about halfway up your hike to the top of Napoleon Island.
At first you’ll just hear the bats and they will be hard to spot…
Then, they will likely get irritated with you being around them and start flying around! It’s a crazy experience.
We also saw the famous swimming cows, though they weren’t swimming at the time. Swimming cows? That’s right! There is a cooperative which brings the cows to graze on the islands and over the years the cows have learned to swim between the island. There is nothing in particular that triggers this mini migration so you’ll have to rely on luck to see it.
The views from the top of Napoleon Island are beautiful. It’s an easy hike. We did it in sandals but I wish I wore more appropriate shoes since the ground is a little rocky.
Peace Island, King Island, and Queen island
We just saw these islands from the boat, but you can visit Peace Island for sunset on your way back.
Coffee tour experience
Add on the coffee tour experience at Kinunu Guest House. This is a 1.5-hour tour and tasting of the cooperative owned by a retired senator who wanted to bring jobs into his community. As such, much of the work that theoretically could be done by machines is done by hand. Read about that here.
