If you are planning to film in Rwanda and you intend to fly, the short answer is that you cannot simply arrive and put a drone in the air. Flying here is regulated, permission has to be granted in advance, and it is granted in a particular order. This is the single most common reason a visiting production loses its first shooting days.
None of it is difficult once you know the sequence. What follows is that sequence, in plain terms, for producers and fixers planning a shoot.
It is two separate things, not one
People usually talk about "the drone permit" as though it were a single document. It is not. Two different things have to be true before you fly:
- The aircraft has to be registered. Every drone flown in Rwanda must be registered with the civil aviation authority, whoever owns it and wherever it came from. A drone that is not registered may not leave the ground, even in the hands of an experienced pilot.
- The activity has to be permitted, and that permit attaches to the operator. It is granted to the company flying, for the work being done. It does not belong to the aircraft and it does not travel with a person.
That second point is the one that surprises people most, so it is worth saying again plainly: a permit is held by an operator, not carried by a pilot.
"We are bringing our own drone"
That is fine, and common. It still has to be registered here before it flies. Tell us the platform and the camera when you send your dates and we will start that registration for you. Once it is registered we can operate your aircraft under our permit. If your dates are tight and registration would be the thing holding you up, we fly ours instead and you lose nothing.
"We are bringing our own pilot"
Also fine, and it rarely helps with the paperwork, because the permission is not something a pilot carries in a pocket. It is held by the operator. In practice most productions find it simpler to use our crew: our pilots came to the aircraft from film production, so what you get is a camera operator who reads a shot list, not a technician waiting to be told what to do.
Where you want to film changes what you need
Two situations need something extra, and both catch productions out because of the order they happen in:
- National parks and protected areas.
- Flying at night.
Each needs an exemption, and the exemption has to be granted before the activity permit can even be applied for. The two run one after the other, not side by side. It is entirely possible; it is the one part of the process that cannot be compressed at the last minute. If either is in your treatment, say so in your first message rather than your last.
Locations have owners as well as airspace
Airspace permission is not the same as permission to be somewhere. A stadium, a private estate, an industrial site, a district road: several of these carry their own consent, quite separately from flight authorisation. Sending us your location list early lets us find those before they become a problem on the day.
How early should you start?
As early as your dates are firm. We deliberately do not publish a number of days, because it genuinely varies with the location, the airspace involved and what you intend to shoot, and a number on a web page would be misleading in both directions. Send us the dates and the treatment and we will tell you straight away whether that window is workable, which is the answer you actually need.
What we need from you
- Your shooting dates, and how much they can move
- The locations, or the kind of locations, if scouting is not finished
- What the film is, roughly: a treatment or even a paragraph
- Whether a national park or night flying is involved
- Whether you are bringing an aircraft, and which one
That is enough to start. Nothing has to be final.
What happens if you skip it
The usual outcome is not a dramatic one. It is a schedule that quietly falls apart: a crew on the ground, a grounded aircraft, and days that were costed for filming spent waiting on paperwork that should have been started weeks earlier. The cost lands on the production, not on the regulator.
Questions we are asked most
Can I just bring my drone and fly it in Rwanda?
No. The aircraft must be registered with the civil aviation authority and the flying must be authorised in advance. Arriving with an aircraft and no permissions is the most common reason a production loses its first shooting days. We handle both before you travel.
Does my licence from another country count?
It does not transfer. Permission to fly here is granted to an operator under Rwandan rules. That is why productions normally fly with a local operator rather than trying to import their own permissions.
Can you fly the aircraft we are bringing?
Yes, once it is registered here. Send us the platform and the camera and we start that registration; when it is complete we operate your aircraft under our permit.
Can we film in a national park, or at night?
Both are possible and both need an exemption, which must be granted before the activity permit can be applied for. They run in sequence, so tell us early if either is in the treatment.
How long does it take?
It varies with the location, the airspace and the subject, so we will not quote a fixed number here. Send your dates and we will tell you immediately whether they work.
Who owns the footage?
You do. Licensing is agreed in writing before the shoot, and we do not reuse a client's material without permission.
This guide describes how the process works in practice for the productions we fly for. It is not legal advice, and requirements can change. Tell us what you are planning and we will confirm what applies to your shoot.
Send us the dates first
Tell us when you are coming, where you want to shoot and what the film is. We will tell you honestly what is possible in that window, and start the paperwork the same week. We reply promptly.