What to know about gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park Rwanda
Only Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda offers gorilla trekking. Nestled between Mgahinga National Park in Uganda and Virunga National Park in D.R.Congo, this Park is in Northwestern Rwanda.
Since the Belgian Colonial Authorities acquired this historical Park in 1925, this Park is among the earliest gazette National Parks in Africa.
American primatologist Dian Fossey established up the Karisoke Research Center after her study in Rwanda in 1967. The residents were rather resentful of her unwavering protection of mountain gorillas. This resulted in her horrific murder in 1985.
The beginning of the gorilla trekking safari was the relentless effort of Dian Fossey. After the 1980s census, she conveyed the suffering of virtually varnishing mountain gorillas to the world. By then, the findings revealed just 300 mountain gorillas alive globally.
Funds were needed to assist with the mountain gorilla conservation. People have to get closer to the mountain gorillas so they would come to value their presence.
One way to assist this great cause was through gorilla trekking, but first gorilla habituation had to take place. Gorilla habituation is the process by which wild mountain gorillas get to be used to human presence.
Depending on how fast the mountain gorillas adjust to the presence of women, the gorilla habituation process spans two years to more.
As one of the main battlefields, the 1994 Rwanda genocide slowed down gorilla trekking activity. There are about 15 gorilla families available for visitors at Volcanoes National Park right now.
Booking Gorilla Permits for National Parks and Volcanoes
Choose a date for your gorilla trekking trip in Rwanda together with the necessary permits. Volcanoes National Park offers several opportunities for gorilla treking.
You might get in touch the Rwanda Development Board or a reputable travel agency such as Katland Safaris. Our safari expert has to verify whether the Rwanda Development Board permit listing shows availability of gorilla permits.
Should availability be good, we need you to buy them right away as they sell quickly. They are locked using first-come, first, served basis. Only 8 per gorilla family daily are allowed for public booking despite the demand for gorilla trekking permits.
Later on, we will need you to supply information such full names as shown on the passport, nationality, date of birth, and passport expiry date.
The cost of a Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Permit?
For international nonresidents, the Rwanda gorilla trekking permit costs $1500 per person; for citizens of East Africa, it costs $300.
The expenses cover:
Park pay-offs.
Ranger guide payments.
Safety.
Support for Gorilla Conservation
Local civic support.
One hour with the gorillas in mountains.
The permit fee for the Rwanda gorilla leaves out transportation, beverages, packed lunch, snacks, personal item expenses.
Are installment purchases of Rwanda gorilla permits possible?
If you get the Rwanda gorilla permit 90 m days before the trip, you can buy it in installments.
The Rwanda Development Board lets you buy the gorilla permit using 30% of the entire cost and 70% of the whole permit cost.
You have to keep in mind that you run the risk of losing your gorilla permit if you forget to completely top it ninety days before the trekking date.
Is a Rwanda gorilla trekking permit worth the cost?
Though it seems expensive, the $1500 per person Rwanda gorilla trekking permit is well worth every minute spent with the mountain gorillas.
Not only do you get one lovely hour before the only remaining mountain gorillas on Earth, but you also get to observe them living their lives.
You help to preserve the mountain gorillas, unique species found only in East Africa.
Some of the closest cousins of humans in animal worlds, mountain gorillas contain around 96% human DNA.
About 10 of the yearly income from selling Rwanda gorilla licenses goes into the local community to assist their initiatives, therefore indirectly supporting the local population.
Every gorilla permit you to buy helps the pricey International Visit Rwanda campaign.
How expensive is Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari?
The Rwanda gorilla trekking safaris are listed in luxury, middle range, and under budget.
The one universal expense whose price all packages pay for is the gorilla permit.
Other elements of the gorilla trekking program include:
The count of attendees to your gorilla trekking event. Less the cost per person the more people joining you for gorilla treking. You can provide various safari conveniences such gasoline, driving guides, etc.
Time for reserving the gorilla trekking safari for Rwanda; in low seasons, certain service providers may provide discounts while in peak seasons, which draws expensive rates.
Days in Rwanda safari: the safari cost increases with increasing number of days spent there.
Rwanda has various things to mix with gorilla trekking safari. In Akagera National Park Rwanda, you might combine gorilla trekking with wildlife safari, chimpanzee treking, golden monkey trekking, and others.
When should one plan Gorilla Trekking Safari in Rwanda?
Although gorilla trekking in Rwanda is available all year long, most visitors choose the dry season—June through September and December through January.
Though they are rare, demand for gorilla permits during this season is very strong. Consequently, just eight gorilla permits for each family are provided daily for public booking.
Though the Virunga region is known for sudden rain, mountain gorillas are more active during the dry seasons. This is so because the forest rejects strong humidity and even other forest inhabitants like monkeys are more eager to observe.
The dry season is ideal for photography as the brighter illumination passes through the forest leaves.
During the dry season at Volcanoes National Park, walking the paths to reach the mountain gorilla is more preferable as they are smooth.
From March to May, the Wet season benefits gorilla treking in Rwanda.
Discount safari prices are possible as certain service companies provide them to break even.
For those who dislike crowds, the forest offers a great chance as there are few visitors there.
In the wet season, chances of unpreparedness for a single gorilla trekking safari are more present. This is so because occasionally you may be the only one scheduled for gorilla treking that day.
How Do One Get To Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda?
Three hours’ journey from Kigali Airport brings Volcanoes National Park. You go along twisting lanes covered with verdant green grass. Although Kigali city offers public transportation, it terminates in Musaze; so, you must rent a car to Volcanoes National Park.
Alternatively one can charter from Kigali Airport to Volcanoes National Park.
For how long is gorilla trekking in Rwanda?
The unrestricted flow of the mountain gorillas in the bush makes it yet unknown when they were discovered during the Rwanda trip. Depending on a lot of elements in the forest, you can spend two hours or more.
Some of the elements influencing the location of mountain gorillas include
The gorilla’s feeding area’s closeness
Should they feed from distances, they might require assistance in locating. From a designated spot for some while, the mountain gorillas eat; they then leave when their food runs out.
In event of a conflict with another gorilla family
When gorilla families quarrel, the losers might be driven into hiding, thereby postponing wild tracking of them.
Usually occurring weather while gorilla trekking
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda may be postponed on a wet day due of the slick slopes in the highlands where mountain gorillas spend their daily lives.
Gorilla Trekkers’ pace
If you are assigned a gorilla trekking party with sluggish walkers, you might require additional time to find the mountain gorillas. To prevent anyone from being lost in the woods, the ranger guide, on the other hand, moves at the slowest speed among the trekkers.
The difficulty of gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park
Five of the six Virunga volcanoes cover the terrain of the national park. Volcanoes National Park’s terrain is more steeper than those of other mountain gorilla habitats.
Having some degree of fitness would help one to fully appreciate Rwanda’s whole gorilla trekking adventure. This keeps you caught up and lets you finish the full walk.
On Gorilla Trekking Adventure at Volcanoes National Park, what should one avoid?
To prevent transferring infections to the mountain gorillas, no spitting on the ground or in the jungle.
During the trip, keep silent or use a low tone to find the mountain gorillas.
Gorilla treking in Rwanda is reserved for those fifteen years of age and above.
No, if you are photographing mountains gorillas with light, you might startle them.
Once you find the mountain gorillas, keep around eight meters away.
Should you have an infection, offer to remain behind so you avoid passing it on to the mountain gorillas. They are rather prone to human infections.
Eat or smoke least three hundred meters away from the mountain gorillas.
Once you find the mountain gorillas, just one hour is permitted with them. This is so because they are used to be in front of people for precisely that purpose.
Apart from gorilla treking, what else may one do at Volcanoes National Park?
Golden monkey safaris
Golden monkeys find home in Volcanoes National Park. From its appearance to its bodily form, this is yet another unusual monkey species. Golden monkeys have a body size more than that of other monkeys.
Golden brown hairs define golden monkeys on the lower body. With around 30000 to 40000 thought to be living in the globe, they are some of the endangered primates.
Their great vitality and appealing demeanor make following them fascinating. Golden monkeys exhibit their natural behavior even if they are accustomed to human presence.
To be let to join this trip, you have to buy a Rwanda golden monkey trekking permit.
Dian Fossey climbed.
Dian Fossey’s bones of fallen mountain gorilla drugs were buried among the gorillas she was defending until her dying breath. American philanthropist and primatologist she dedicated her studies to mountain gorillas from 1967.
Unknown attackers slaughtered her mercilessly at her house in 1985. Hiking where the bones were placed will allow you to walk in the last steps of her life.
Volcanoes National Park Birding
One of Rwanda’s birding venues is Volcanoes National Park. Albertine rift endemics among other over 300 bird species presently call this Park home. To assist you on this Rwanda birding trip, you need engage a competent birding guide with background in Rwanda.
Among the birds you may find are Handsome Francolin, Rwenzori Turaco, Archer’s Robin-chat, Dusky and Shelley’s red wings, and others.
Nature hike at Volcanoes National Park.
For nature hikes where you may find other monkey species such olive baboons, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, and others, volcanoes forest is great.
You might find some natural tree species that have endured several decades.
Volcanoes National Park Mountaineering
Mountains suitable for hiking abound throughout Volcanoes National Park’s geography. Mountains Gahinga, Sabyinyo, Muhabura, Karisimbi, and Bisoke are among these ones.
One may trek one day to reach the tops of any one of these hills.
