Luxury Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda

Rwan­da is one of the few coun­ties where vis­i­tors from all over the world go for goril­la trekking oth­er than Ugan­da and Demo­c­ra­t­ic Repub­lic of Con­go. Rwan­da is locat­ed in the Great Rift Val­ley of Cen­tral Africa shar­ing its bor­ders with Ugan­da in the North, Burun­di in the South, Demo­c­ra­t­ic Repub­lic of Con­go (DRC) in the West and Tan­za­nia in the east.

The coun­try has part of it cov­ered with­in the Virun­ga Con­ser­va­tion Area which cross­es to D.R. Con­go and Rwan­da cov­er­ing Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park in Rwan­da, Mgahin­ga Nation­al Park in Ugan­da and Congo’s Virun­ga Nation­al Park which are all known for goril­la trekking. The area has a chain of 8 vol­ca­noes which of course can­not be sep­a­rat­ed from goril­la trekking as most of the goril­la fam­i­lies inhab­it the slopes of these vol­ca­noes, four of which are locat­ed in Rwan­da includ­ing Mount Sabyinyo, Mount Bisoke, Mount Gahin­ga, Mount Karisim­bi and Mount Muhabura.

Goril­la trekking takes place in Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park and is con­sid­ered to the best place that some­one can vis­it to see goril­las in Africa. Goril­la trekking is the most pop­u­lar activ­i­ty with­in the park, the park is cov­ered with mon­tane and bam­boo forests plus savan­nah veg­e­ta­tion which makes track­ing of moun­tain goril­las more adven­tur­ous. Goril­la trekking is usu­al­ly for the able bod­ied as it requires some sort of fit­ness since it involves hik­ing to the steep vol­cano slopes as its where most goril­la fam­i­lies are habituated.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Com­pared to Ugan­da and D.R. Con­go, goril­la trekking in Rwan­da is more expen­sive but worth the expense since the expe­ri­ence here is extreme­ly dif­fer­ent and the best one can have and the very rea­son, we refer to it as the lux­u­ry goril­la trekking. It’s very impor­tant that you book a per­mit in advance since there is a very high demand due to the many tourists that enter the coun­try to see goril­las at the park and it depends on the time you intend to visit.

The peak sea­son here is always in June, July, August and Sep­tem­ber and if you intend to go for goril­la trekking with­in those months then it’s bet­ter you book you per­mit at least four months earlier.

Goril­la trekking per­mits are sold at US$1500 for every per­son but with spe­cial offers for those vis­it­ing many parks or con­fer­ence atten­dees. For every­one who intends to go for goril­la trekking, they must have a goril­la trekking per­mit as it’s a require­ment for any­one to go in for goril­la trekking. The entire cost for a goril­la trekking safari will car­ry on the cost of goril­la trekking per­mit, trans­port and accommodation.

WHEN TO DO LUXURY GORILLA TREKKING IN RWANDA?

Goril­la trekking can be done at any time of the year, so there should be no rea­son stop­ping you from vis­it­ing any time of the year. The best time how­ev­er to vis­it would be dur­ing dry sea­son which spans from the months of Decem­ber to Feb­ru­ary and June to September.

This is because hik­ing to trek moun­tain goril­las through the vol­cano slopes can be dif­fi­cult dur­ing the rainy sea­son as the slopes may get slip­pery. It is how­ev­er expen­sive dur­ing that time since most tourists choose to trav­el dur­ing the dry season.

LUXURY LODGES IN VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK.

Accom­mo­da­tion is key for any trip you choose to take which is why you always have to choose the best accom­mo­da­tion. There are dif­fer­ent places with vary­ing accom­mo­da­tion prices depend­ing on your bud­get for which you receive a lux­u­ry experience.

Bisate Lodge.
This prop­er­ty is unique­ly posi­tioned as the res­i­dents can catch sight of the Bisoke and Karisim­bi vol­ca­noes. Bisate is designed in resem­blance of these vol­ca­noes in a cone like shape.

The lodge can only accom­mo­date 12 guests on a giv­en night giv­ing an ele­gant African exclu­sive expe­ri­ence with its wood­en roof, fire place, among oth­ers. There is ample and secure free park­ing space, a fit­ness cen­ter, onsite bar and restaurant.

The lodge is served by near­by airstrip, for any vis­i­tors who would wish to con­nect from the lodge to Kigali airport.

Virun­ga Lodge.
The place is locat­ed at the park’s bound­aries with­in an hour dri­ve from the park’s head­quar­ters. Virun­ga lodge is strate­gi­cal­ly locat­ed at a high­er alti­tude of 2,175 meters above sea lev­el giv­ing the res­i­dents a mag­nif­i­cent view of the Virun­ga Vol­ca­noes in the North West and a clear look at the twin lakes of Ruhon­do and Burera.

The lodge is unique­ly con­struct­ed with stone walls and wood­en floors and all ser­vices avail­able at plea­sure. Vis­i­tors at Virun­ga lodge are always enter­tained tra­di­tion­al dances from the Indore dance troupes, free Wi-Fi acces­si­ble, mas­sage plus a bar serv­ing all kinds of wines and whisky.

Sabyinyo sil­ver­back lodge.
Sabyinyo sil­ver­back lodge is ranked as a 5‑star accom­mo­da­tion facil­i­ty locat­ed in Musanze dis­trict with­in the bound­aries of the park near the Kini­gi where the park’s head­quar­ters are locat­ed. The ser­vices at the lodge are exquis­ite as it has 8 cot­tages clear­ly designed to host vis­i­tors as they have a fire place, ensuite bath­room, a bed room and dress­ing room.

Five Vol­ca­noes Bou­tique Hotel.
The lodge is sit­u­at­ed in Kini­gi town at the edge of Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park which is just at the edge of park entrance. Pro­vid­ing the utmost com­fort­able accom­mo­da­tion, the hotel pro­vides easy access to the park and per­fect night sleep for any­one who just had a long goril­la trekking day.

Embrac­ing cul­ture, the place has stone cot­tages with a sit­ting space out­side to have the nature view of the place and feel the per­fect tem­per­a­tures with­in the place plus a pool and gardens.

WHAT TO PACK?

What you always need for lux­u­ry goril­la trekking in Rwan­da not any dif­fer­ent from what is required else­where. What you wear is always so impor­tant, so it is impor­tant you pack the following:

·       Long sleeved shirts and trousers.

·       Hik­ing boots; since the slopes are usu­al­ly mud­dy and steep.

·       Gar­den­ing gloves. These are intend­ed to pro­tect your hands.

·       Rain jack­et, regard­less of the time you vis­it. The park is cov­ered by rain forests so it’s pos­si­ble receiv­ing rain.

·       Car­ry along a hat, insect repel­lant, among others.