Activities in Volcanoes National Park -Rwanda
Activities in Volcanoes National Park
Activities in Volcanoes National Park are the different ventures in which travelers can engage to be able to complete their Rwanda Safari tours. Volcanoes National Park is known for a number of attractions including half of the remaining mountain gorillas in the country. Other attractions that can be seen within the park include; the virunga mountains, Dian Fossey grave, the Karisoke research station among other attractions and at the park you will get to participate in a number of activities as explained below;
Gorilla trekking: This is the most done of all the activities in Volcanoes National Park. When you visit volcanoes national park, you will get to participate in gorilla trekking where you will visit a gorilla family among the remaining half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. The different habituated gorillas can be visited at any given time of the year because of the good weather conditions within the park. During gorilla trekking you will embark on your hikes to the different virunga mountains depending on the different gorilla groups that are assigned to you, for instance, the karisimbi gorilla group is found on mount karisimbi, the Ugenda gorilla family is usually found along the slopes of mount sabyinyo among other gorilla families.
The gorilla trekking process in the park is quite interesting because you will get to see a number of attractions including the different bird species, the golden monkeys among other species. In the park, you will get to the bamboo trees where the gorillas are found, you will get to see the behavior of the gentle giants while in the wild, for instance, their feeding patterns you will see infants suckling the breasts of their mothers for food, you will also see them eating the bamboo trees which is quite an exhilarating experience to come in contact with the primates which you will see in an hour you get to spend with the gorillas, photography can also be carried out to keep exciting memories of your experience with the gentle giants.
Golden monkey trekking: Just like gorilla trekking in the park, golden monkey trekking also involves hiking the Virunga Mountains to get to the bamboo trees where they can find the primate species. Coming in contact with the golden monkeys is such an easy activity compared to gorilla trekking which involves the primates moving from one place to another to establish overnight nests when it comes to the golden monkeys searching for them is quite easy because they do not make new nests every night. Therefore accessing them is quite easy making golden monkey trekking an easy activity as compared to gorilla trekking. During the activity, you will see a number of attractions while hiking to where the golden monkeys are found for instance you will see the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo, Lake Kivu among other attractions.
Virunga Mountains hike: There are 8 Virunga Mountains and volcanoes national park houses five of them which include Mount sabyinyo, Mount Gahinga, Mount Muhabura which it shares with mgahinga national park in Uganda. Other virunga mountains that can be seen in volcanoes national park include mount Karisimbi and Bisoke. Other Virunga mountains include Mount Nyiragongo, Mount Mikeno and Mount Nyamuragira that are found within Virunga National Park. During the virunga mountains hike, you will get to hike the given mountains in the park where you will see a number of attractions like the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo, the golden monkeys, the gorillas that can be seen along the different slopes of the different virunga mountains.
Twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo: The twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo can be accessed after hiking mount Muhabura which will lead you to the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo where you will have the opportunity to carry out a number of activities like boat cruises, birding, sport fishing, picnics, the lakes will give you perfect views for photography among other activities that will enable you have an amazing adventure.
Dian Fossey tomb hike: This hike is one of the incredible activities in Volcanoes National Park. Dian Fossey was an American primatologist that risked her life to protect the endangered mountain gorillas in volcanoes national park. She ensured that the gorillas were conserved in the park from the hands of the poachers in the park that were hunting down the gorilla species. She carried out a number of patrols to ensure that the gorillas are protected from the poachers; she burnt homes of the poachers which infuriated them, destroyed their snares and the other different equipment that were used to hunt down the gorillas.
Unfortunately, she lost her life through murder, she was found in her cabin and after her death, she was buried at the gorilla cemetery with her gorilla friends that were also killed through poaching. Therefore you can visit the park and visit the grave where the primatologist was buried alongside her gorilla friends.
Birding: Birding is one of the interesting activities in Volcanoes National Park. During birding in volcanoes national park, you will get the chance to see a number of bird species that will be seen for example the Archers ground robin, red-faced woodland warbler, Ruwenzori double collared sunbird, Collared Apalis, Ruwenzori turaco, handsome francolin, strange weaver like Archers ground robin, red-faced woodland warbler, Ruwenzori double collared sunbird, Collared Apalis, Ruwenzori turaco, handsome francolin. The bird species can be seen in the thick vegetation along the different slopes of the Virunga Mountains in the park.
