Rwanda is one of the gorilla trekking destinations in the world, hosting some of the leftover endangered mountain gorillas. The Virunga area, which Rwanda is part of, currently has about 605 mountain gorillas. Volcanoes National Park is the only home of the mountain gorillas which live in families. A dominant silverback leads each gorilla family, and other family members obey his rule. Rwanda has about 12 gorilla families fully habituated and open for tourism. Each person must purchase a gorilla permit for Volcanoes National Park to be allowed entry into Volcanoes National Park for a gorilla trekking safari.
| Each trekking group can only have a maximum of eight people and can only spend one hour with the gorillas after seeing them. Rwanda’s gorillas are the easiest to trek as they live in the bamboo covered slopes of the Virunga Volcanoes and live within an easy reachable range. It was on these slopes that the popular primatologist did her conservation works and the place where the movie Gorillas in the Mist was shot making Rwanda Gorilla trekking safaris popular world over. |
The unique opportunity to see gorillas in their natural habitat is unforgettable, some even say life changing. Encounters with gorillas as they go about their daily lives are carefully managed, with expert trackers and guides leading small groups of tourists up bamboo-covered slopes to spend a precious and awe-inspiring hour just a few feet away from the gentle creatures. There are twelve gorilla families living in the Volcanoes National Park, which are fully habituated, with a few others habituated solely for scientific research. The groups, or troops, consist of at least one silverback along with several females and youngsters.
The troops are somewhat fluid in composition, but tend to stick to a preferred area. They are constantly monitored and protected by park rangers, with each group coming into contact with tourists for a strict maximum of one hour per day. Eight tracking permits are issued per troop per day, meaning the encounter is as intimate and as unobtrusive as possible. With only 96 permits available each day in Rwanda, it is highly recommended to book in advance.
Visitors gather at the Volcanoes National Park headquarters in Kinigi at 7am, and are allocated a family group on the day according to fitness levels, as well as being briefed on protocols and rules for visiting the gorillas. The families are known as Susa, Igisha, Karisimbi, Sabyinyo, Amahoro, Agashya, Kwitonda, Umubano, Hirwa, Bwenge, Ugyenda and Muhoza. Hikes up to their various locations can last anything from 30 minutes to four or more hours, reaching an altitude of between 2,500m and 4,000m. Porters are available to carry backpacks and cameras, as well as to offer a helping hand along the route.
10% of the revenue from the permits is channelled towards local communities, to build schools and health centres, as well as roads. There is a compensation fund for local farmers should any gorillas damage their crops, which helps to ensure peaceful co-existence. Gorilla tracking also provides employment for many locals, from rangers and trackers to porters, drivers and staff at tourist lodges. For those interested in tracing the footsteps of Dian Fossey, her tomb is a 30-minute drive from the park headquarters and then two or three hours hike through the forest, to above 3,000m altitude.
