Gorilla trekking in Rwanda

Volcanoes National Park

Gorilla trekking in Rwanda happens in Volcanoes National Park, on the Rwandan side of the Virunga volcanoes, where gorilla families live in the forest on the volcanic slopes. Golden monkeys share the park, in the bamboo below the gorillas.

The park headquarters is at Kinigi, and the nearest town is Musanze, also called Ruhengeri. From Kigali the drive takes two to three hours through the hills of the north.

How a trekking day works

Trekkers meet at Kinigi early for the Rwanda Development Board briefing on the rules, on safety and on the conservation work the permits pay for. Each group is then given a habituated family and walks in with guides and trackers, into the forest and up the volcanic slopes. Depending on where the family is, the walk takes between two and six hours.

Then you have one hour with the gorillas as they feed, groom and look after their young. Most travellers are back at their lodge for a late lunch.

The permit

Rwanda's gorilla permits cost $1,500 per person. They are issued by the Rwanda Development Board and depend on availability when you book, so dry-season dates go early. TODO [OWNER]: the group size per family, before publishing. The hour with the family is the same as in Uganda, and the minimum age is fifteen.

Almost every gorilla safari we run includes the permit in its price. Our guide to gorilla permits sets Rwanda's permits beside Uganda's.

A day trip, or a night in Musanze

You can trek from Kigali and be back the same evening, with a pick-up at about five in the morning. It is a long day, and we usually suggest a night in Musanze first, which is much closer to the park. A night there also leaves time for the Musanze caves, lava tubes under the town, or the craft market where weavers sell agaseke baskets.

If time is short, a helicopter from Kigali makes the journey in well under an hour, and our two-day fly-in safari is timed around an international flight. Every short option is set out in our guide to gorilla safaris from Kigali.

Golden monkeys

Golden monkeys live in the bamboo zone below gorilla habitat and are tracked from the same headquarters, at the same early hour. The group is usually found within thirty to forty-five minutes, and you spend an hour with them. Several of our Rwanda safaris add a golden monkey morning to the gorilla trek.

When to go

Rwanda has two dry seasons and two rainy ones. The long dry season runs from June to mid-September and the short one from mid-December to February, with clear days and the easiest trekking. The long rains, from March to May, are the wettest time of year, heaviest in April, when the trails get muddy and harder going. The short rains, from October to mid-December, are lighter.

Dry-season permits sell out first, so book six to nine months ahead for those dates; in the green months eight weeks is often enough.

Adding to a gorilla trek

Nyungwe Forest in the southwest is Rwanda's place for chimpanzees, and Akagera in the east is where to go for game drives. Bwindi, across the border in Uganda, makes a second gorilla trek possible on the same trip; our guide to gorilla trekking in Uganda covers it.