In Rwanda, you may only track gorilla within Volcanoes National Park, a section of the bigger Virunga mountains. Approximately 480 mountain gorillas live in the Virunga complex and reside on the altitude range of 2,300 to 4,500 meters in the southern area of Virunga National Park (in the DRC), as well as the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and some in Uganda’s Mgahinga National Park.
In the whole world, you can only see the mountain gorillas ( Gorilla Berengei Berengei) in Uganda, Rwanda and Congo.
In Rwanda, these primates can be seen in the Volcanoes National Park, Parc Nationale Des Volcans, There are 7 mountain gorilla groups habituated making it 56 gorilla permits for visitors to Rwanda available every single day. 8 people per group can trek these endangered apes.
Susa group is the best to track with 41 gorillas! With a gorilla permit costing US $ 1500 per person per trek, part of your contribution goes to conserving these mountain gorillas.
What to expect when deciding to Tack Gorillas in Rwanda
Here are a few highlights! You have to wake up early morning, meaning that you must find accommodation closer to the park entrance.
Your African gorilla guide will be briefing you at 7 am about safety precautions as well as the etiquette. There are over 80 gorilla tracking guides provided by the Rwanda Development Board, well trained and speaking English and French. Together with other members of the group, you proceed to the forest and start the hike which may be tiring depending on your physical strength.
Remember they are called mountain gorillas so an element of hiking is a must. The adventure takes anything from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. The English-speaking forest guides are amazingly good, and will lead you to the specific ‘habituated’ mountain gorilla group, which certainly will be acquitted to human presence.
Getting there from Kigali to Volcanoes National Park Rwanda
Time by road : 2 h 18 min without traffic.
Distance: 109 km
Lakato Safaris also arranges Two Country Safaris and it’s easy to connect from Uganda’s Gorilla Parks to Rwanda’s Gorilla Park.
Rwanda Gorillas are divided into 2; those for study or research purposes which are strictly accessed by scientists plus researchers only. Among these are Beetsme and Pablo’s Shida’s which have the highest number of gorillas.
There are also ten habituated gorilla families that are for tourism purposes, so these are available for trekkers to visit.
At most 8 people may visit each of the gorilla groups every day and you may spend at most one hour. Among these gorilla groups are the: Ugenda, Umubano, Susa group, Karinsimbi, Sabinyo, Hirwa, Amahoro, Bwengye, Group 13 (the Agasha group) and the Kwitonda.