Top Highlights of Visiting Volcanoes National Park
Top Highlights of Visiting Volcanoes National Park: Rwanda, sometimes known as “the land of a thousand hills,” is a beautiful country that you must see! This is because Rwanda is endowed with mountain gorillas discovered camouflaged in the bamboo woods of Volcanoes National Park.
The lovely home of mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park is located on the slopes of the Virunga Mountains. Approximately 125 square kilometers of alpine forest, home to the six Virunga volcanoes and the world-famous mountain gorillas.
Protected within Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park, the mountains’ lushly wooded slopes provide an adequately dramatic natural environment for what is undoubtedly the most poignant and unforgettable wildlife encounter in the world: gorilla trekking.
Along with mountain gorillas, the park preserves a variety of colorful birds, butterflies, and uncommon golden monkeys. Nothing prepares you for the impact of encountering a fully grown silverback gorilla. Meeting gorilla families is a once-in-a-lifetime event that no one should miss.
This is because gorillas display remarkable characteristics similar to humans. All Rwanda Gorilla trekking permits are bought in advance through the Rwanda Development Board heard quarter and cost USD $1500 each.
Top Highlights when visiting Volcanoes National Park.
Gorilla Trekking
Viewing mountain gorillas in the Virungas is a top priority for almost every traveler. And reality seldom disappoints. Gorillas are more closely related to humans than any other animal save chimps, and their sheer size – a silverback may weigh up to 200kg – is quite astonishing. Meanwhile, the fact that tourists may routinely approach gorillas to within a few yards indicates their amazing peacefulness.
True, the walk up might be difficult.
You’ll be climbing steep slopes among lush greenery at elevations of more than 2,500 metres; it’s not called the rainforest for nothing. However, the reward, a fantastic hour spent with nature’s iconic gentle giants, is simply one of the world’s most exhilarating and emotionally charged animal experiences.
Golden Monkey Tracking.
The attractive golden monkey, an Albertine Rift Endemic with a territory essentially restricted to the Virunga Mountains, gets its name from the luxuriant orange-gold patches on its back and sides.
Daily monitoring expeditions are conducted into the national park to see a habituated colony of these wonderful hyperactive monkeys, which normally frequent areas of bamboo – their major feed – but also occasionally cluster at fruiting trees.
Visit Karisoke Centre and Dian Fossey Gravesite.
The original Karisoke Research Camp, created in 1967 by the famed primatologist Dian Fossey, is accessible by a popular half-day round walk. The camp, located at a height of roughly 3,000 metres on a wooded saddle connecting Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke, had to be evacuated multiple times throughout the civil war until being transferred to the town of Musanze at the base of the mountains.
Nonetheless, it is very moving to visit the living quarters where Fossey was slain in 1985 and pay respect at her tomb, which lies beside those of numerous gorillas killed by poachers during her tenure.
Hiking and Mountaineering.
Four of the Virunga Peaks located inside the parks are accessible via guided walks. The most rewarding day walk is up 3,711m Mount Bisoke, which is capped by a stunning crater lake surrounded by slopes covered in atmospheric huge lobelias and hagenia woods. The trek is strenuous, ascending more than 1,000m from the trailhead to the top, and the descent can be dangerous after rain.
The most appealing of the Virunga summits for serious hikers and summit baggers is Mount Karisimbi, which stands at 4,507m and is Rwanda’s tallest point and Africa’s sixth-highest mountain.
Karisimbi also has the most diverse vegetation of the Virungas, with the ascent leading through clumped bamboo and hagenia forest to the otherworldly Afro-alpine zone. Even by Virunga standards, it’s a strenuous walk that includes overnight camping in near-freezing temperatures.
Visit Ibyi’wacu Cultural Village.
Gorilla Guardians (formerly known as Iby’iwacu Cultural Village) is the cornerstone of a community initiative that employs over 1,000 local villagers as specialized farmers, beekeepers, and other similar positions.
It also provides tourists with an intriguing and entertaining cultural programmes that ends in a traditional Intore drumming and dance routine performed in a spectacular wood-and-thatch reproduction of a traditional Rwandan castle.
What you should know about primate activities in Volcanoes National Park?
All activities in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park begin at the park headquarters in the village of Kinigi, which is 12 kilometers north of the larger town of Musanze and 110 kilometers from Kigali.
Gorilla tracking and other hiking permits should be purchased in advance, and participants must arrive at the park headquarters by 7 a.m. or risk having your permit invalidated. There is no lodging within the national park, however there are various lodges and motels around its boundaries, including Kinigi and Musanze.
How to get to Volcanoes National Park?
The closest international airport to Volcanoes National Park is in Kigali; thus you must go by road from there. To reach the trailhead in the morning, you can take public transportation to Musanze or Kinigi.
Otherwise, you must charter a 4×4 with a driver. Technically, it is feasible to track gorillas as a day excursion from Kigali, but it is not suggested because you would need to leave at 4 a.m. to be at the park headquarters on time.
