Volcanoes National Park
Dian Fossey's mountain gorillas, two and a half hours up the road.
Duration
8 hrs – 10 hrs
Difficulty
●●●●●
Best time
Dry season, June to September
Open
Every day, by permit
Entry price
To confirm
Volcanoes National Park covers the Rwandan part of the Virunga chain, eight volcanoes shared between Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC. It is where Dian Fossey worked from 1967 until her murder in 1985, and her grave is on the Karisoke site.
Mountain gorillas numbered around two hundred and fifty in the 1980s; there are over a thousand today, the only great ape whose population is rising. The permit is very expensive and deliberately so: the fee funds protection and compensation for neighbouring communities. Exactly one hour is granted with a family.
Getting there
Two and a half hours by road north-west of Kigali, to Kinigi. The briefing starts at seven: you have to sleep nearby the night before.
What the price covers
a paid, capped gorilla trekking permit, booked far in advance; rate to be confirmed with the RDB
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Sportswear
Rules on site
The permit is named, very expensive, and booked months ahead: only eighty are issued a day. The approach walk can take one to six hours over muddy, steep ground. You stay seven metres back, and any respiratory illness bars you: gorillas catch our viruses.