Animals in Ruhengeri

1 Day Gorilla Trekking Safari in Rwanda Volcanoes National Park

A life time adventure!

My experience trekking the Volcanoes National Park to see the gorillas was a memorable adventure. However, in my opinion, the fees to get the permit was overrated. Was it worth it? I guess for that a one-time adventure, yes! But certainly not worth doing it twice for the cost it entails.

10 Day Best of Rwanda Safari: Gorillas, Chimps and Game Drives

Once in a lifetime experience

Amazing experience. Everything was easy and uncomplicated from the booking to the trip. The Company was always reachable when questions occurred or trip adjustments needed to be made. We did Gorilla-tracking and Akagera Safari. Both were incredible experiences. The guides went out of their way to make it a once in a lifetime experience.

Golden Monkey Tracking Day Pass

Golden Monkey - A hiking shorter and easier than the one to see the gorillas.

Activities at Volcanoes NP require advance booking and payment and you must be at the Kinigi Visitor Information Center before 7 AM, bringing your passport. Since we were a self-driving couple, we arrived well in advance, they let us in with the car, checked us and photocopied our documents. The center quickly filled up with other visitors all accompanied and followed by local drivers. After a complimentary coffee we were divided into several groups, some for the gorillas and others for the golden monkeys and we were given a short briefing. Having seen the gorillas on the Ugandan side, we had booked for the golden monkeys paying 100 USD per person. At the end of the briefing, the participants take back their cars and each group formed a column of cars to reach the starting point of the tracking. Being the only ones self-driving, the ranger who was leading our group got into our land cruiser with the other cars following us. After passing Kinigi in a north-westerly direction we went along secondary roads until we reached a point where we parked and found another ranger and some porters waiting for us. They provided us with hiking sticks and, not knowing what awaited us, we all took the porters to carry our backpacks (10 UDS for porter). The path immediately appeared very simple: after a couple of hundred meters slightly uphill, in a cultivated area along the outside of the stone wall that borders the NP, the ranger gave us a mask to cover our noses and mouths. Even though we were told at the briefing that golden monkeys are difficult to photograph because they constantly jump between the branches and bamboo canes, in front of us, in a potato field, there was a large group of monkeys completely unconcerned by the presence of humans, meaning us and the farmers. At a distance of a few meters we had an hour to photograph them. Busy feeding, they were very easy to photograph and film even with cell phones. Beautiful animals with their incredible golden fur. Taking pictures and observing the interactions in the social structure of the group, the time passed quickly and after less than two hours we were back at our cars. A hiking shorter and easier than the one to see the gorillas.