EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GORILLA TREKKING IN RWANDA

Gorilla trekking is easily one of the best, if not the best, animal encounters on the African continent, so it is no surprise that I received quite a few questions about my experience trekking in Volcanoes National Park. Read on to learn everything you need to know about gorilla trekking in Rwanda.

WHAT TIME OF YEAR IS BEST FOR GORILLA TREKKING?

Gorilla trekking occurs year-round in Rwanda, but the drier seasons are a bit easier for trekkers. The dry season extends from December to early March and occurs again between June and September. While it is warmer during the dry season, there is also significantly less mud and rain, making your hours of hiking a bit more enjoyable.

We visited in late December and still encountered ankle-deep mud on parts of the volcano and a thunderstorm later in the day, but otherwise, we wonderful weather for our trek. However, peak trekking season also means higher prices for everything from lodges to flights, so there is something to be said for braving the off-season.

VISAS

Anyone visiting from the United States (and from most every other country) will require a visa to enter the country of Rwanda. You can obtain your 30-day visa upon arrival at the airport. If you prefer to get your visa in advance to expedite your entry, you can apply and pay online on the government’s website. A single person in your group can apply for all of the visas by adding everyone as additional travelers.

As a tourist, you will want to get a T2 tourist visa, which costs $50 USD for Rwanda only and $100 for an East African Tourist Visa, which includes entrance to Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Head to the Rwandan Immigration and Emigration IREMBO portal to apply for a visa online.

VACCINES

You’ll want to be up-to-date on your MMR, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, chickenpox, and polio vaccines – something you should do for any travel. The CDC also recommends Hepatitis A and Typhoid vaccines, as well as taking malaria pills. Travelers who may come in close contact with bodily fluids (from a tattoo, piercing, medical procedure, sexual partner, etc.) should get a Hepatitis B vaccine.

It is worth noting that the CDC does not recommend a yellow fever vaccine for travel to Rwanda, but the Rwandan government requires proof of a yellow fever vaccine if you are traveling from a country at risk or with an active yellow fever outbreak.

HOW TO GET THERE

Fly into Kigali International Airport, which services the capital of Rwanda and its largest city, Kigali. From there, you’ll drive about 2.5 hours to Musanze, previously known as Ruhengeri, which is where the entrance to Volcanoes National Park is located. This park in Northern Rwanda borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda and thus shares volcanoes and mountain gorillas with these countries.

You will need to be at the park entrance in Kinigi by 7:00 am, so you will want to arrive to Kigali the day before your scheduled trek or wake up painfully early to make the drive that morning.

We hired a driver/guide, who took us around Kigali and drove us out to Musanze and back, through Primate Safaris, which I highly recommend. Our guide was incredibly kind, candid, and knowledgeable about everything from Rwandan history to how the process of gorilla trekking works. It gave us a great deal of peace of mind to know that we would be traveling with the same person during our time in Rwanda and with a company that specializes in this type of tourism.

If you’ve decided to drive on your own, you will need an international driver’s permit. Rwandans drive on the righthand side of the road and are not permitted to use cell phones while driving.

GETTING A PARK PERMIT & HIRING A GUIDE

If you travel with a guide, such as Primate Safaris, they will pull your permit for you. If you choose to get a permit on your own, you’ll want to get it several months before your visit by contacting The Rwanda Development Board, which is the tourism body within the country, or applying online at The Rwanda Development Board portal.

You can contact tourism with questions via email at reservation@rwandatourism.com or by phone at +252 576 514. They only give out 96 permits per day, so you’ll want to claim your spot as soon as you know your travel dates.

The gorilla trekking permit costs $1500 per person, but you can get a 30% discount if you plan to visit other Rwandan National Parks for 3 days or more on the same trip, such as Akagera National Park and Nyungwe National Park. Additional discounts are sometimes available during the low season between November and May. There are also more expensive permits available for private trekking tours or multi-day tours, where guests can trek several times to visit families.

WHAT TO EXPECT

You will want to assemble for your trip by 7:00 am at the Kinigi Park Headquarters for a briefing before driving to the starting point of the trek. While you’re waiting, enjoy a delicious complimentary coffee and watch a brief informational video about Rwanda’s parks.

At the headquarters, you’ll receive your guide, trackers, and gorilla family. Your guide will provide a briefing about the gorillas, the park, and how to behave while viewing the gorillas (don’t stare at them or touch them, etc.). Groups range from 2 to 8 people, so if you are traveling with fewer than 8 people, expect to be paired with a few new friends.

Once you’ve finished your briefing, you’ll want to use the restroom one last time and then load up into cars to drive to the start of the hike, about 15 minutes away. The trackers go up ahead of you to check on the status of your assigned gorilla family, while your guide stays with you and leads you to the gorillas.

Guests trek between 8:30 am and 7:00 pm depending on how far into the park your assigned gorilla family is located. Treks can last anywhere from an hour to 6 hours roundtrip, which is something to consider when planning anything for the evening after your trek. We received one of the closer families in the park and hiked about 1.5 hours each way and returned to our lodging by 1:30 pm.

If there is someone in your group who is not physically able to make a longer hike, it is worth telling your guide this information as far in advance as possible. The park will try to give closer families to visitors who cannot make it on a longer trek.

For anyone traveling with children, it is important to note that visitors under the age of 15 will not be permitted to trek to the mountain gorillas.

While the difficulty of the hike admittedly depends on the length, it is worth mentioning that it is fairly uphill because well, you’re hiking up a volcano, into a cloud forest. The forest can be quite dense, which means occasionally squeezing through small openings in the vegetation. The vertical terrain means a change in elevation, which can contribute to shortness of breath. The lush growth also means that the sun doesn’t reach the ground consistently in some areas, so they remain fairly muddy and thus, hard to hike through. Your guide will offer you a walking stick at the base of the hike – I strongly recommend that you take it for these muddy bits of the trail. It will seem unnecessary at first, but it quickly becomes helpful to have another limb that reaches the ground for balance and stability. Plus, it is useful for testing the depth of the muddy patches before committing.

Once you are close to your family, your guide will begin to call to them and listen for responses. As you approach, you’ll be asked to whisper and leave anything you don’t need to photograph them behind. You’ll approach slowly and quietly, following your guide and then settle into an area a few dozen feet away from them and spend a glorious hour watching them eat, play, sleep and interact.

We were lucky enough to receive a rather large family with over a dozen individuals and several babies, including a 2-week old, and it was a truly otherworldly experience. The babies were quite curious about us, but our guide warned them off with a series of verbal commands. The adults could not have cared less, including the giant Silverback male, who fell asleep while we looked on!

WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS WILL I SEE?

When you head out on this adventure, you’re in search of mountain gorillas, which cannot live in captivity at low altitudes, making them extremely difficult to view outside of their natural habitat. The male gorillas can weigh over 400 lbs (181 kg) and are not considered “Silverbacks” until they are in their teens and begin to show the silver patch on their mid back for which they are named.

In addition to the mountain gorillas, the park houses golden monkeys, buffalo, elephants, hyenas, numerous bird species, and bushbucks. We spotted adorable, puffy-cheeked golden monkeys on our way up, a few minutes into the bamboo forest at the base of the volcano.

Guests who do not want to make the trip all the way to the mountain gorillas can also trek to see the golden monkey families, which reside at much lower altitudes and are usually found near the park’s entrance.

WHAT TO WEAR

Gorilla trekking can involve a rather strenuous hike if you’re not an avid outdoorsman, especially considering that it could be several hours uphill. I’d recommend waterproof hiking boots with ankle support or galoshes, which is what your guide will wear. If you don’t have appropriate footwear, you can also rent galoshes/rain boots at the park headquarters during your initial assembly and briefing for only a few dollars.

In addition to hiking boots, some of the other travelers we encountered were wearing waterproof ankle covers, which you can purchase at an outdoor sports store. Some of the lodges in the area, such as Bisate, also provide them to guests. I was just fine in hiking boots but did get a considerable amount of mud on my socks and the bottom of my jeans.

In addition to sturdy footwear, you’ll want to wear long socks and thick pants, such as jeans, to prevent bites from bugs and pricks from sharp plants along the trails, such as stinging nettles. I’d highly recommend Danner’s Warm Weather Hiking Socks for wicking away moisture and preventing blisters.

You’ll need to pack gardening gloves to prevent inadvertently grabbing onto a stinging nettle with your bare hands and a raincoat that can get muddy for sudden showers. Wear a thin long-sleeved shirt for coverage, as well as a hat to protect you from sun and rain. I wore a wide-brimmed Brixton hat with a strap to keep it around my neck, while others in my group sported baseball caps and we all faired fine.

Put on sunscreen and bug lotion (NOT spray) in the morning before putting on your clothes to ensure complete coverage. You’d be surprised how sunny it is in the open areas of the hike and how buggy it can be in the thicker vegetation.

WHAT ITEMS TO BRING

The most important item to bring is a small waterproof bag, ideally a backpack. If your bag isn’t waterproof, consider picking up a plastic cover from an outdoor supply store, which stretches over the top. Some lodges, such as The Bishop’s House, provide a backpack for day use for their guests.

Inside the bag, you’ll want to pack about 30 ounces of water, snacks, sunscreen, bug repellant, chapstick, your rain jacket, your gardening gloves, your camera gear, and a change of flip-flops for after the hike. I also packed an extra water bottle for my porter, which I will get to in a few sections.

You don’t have to pack binoculars, but if you have them with you on your trip, I’d recommend packing them just in case.

WHAT PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR TO BRING

My family traveled to multiple countries in Africa and used only their iPhones to capture the experience, but as someone with an interest in photography, I went all in on the camera gear. I brought along my Fujifilm XT2, 18-55mm lens, 35mm prime lens, and 10-24mm wide angle lens. I also rented a 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 zoom lens to make photographing animals a bit easier.

While a 100-400mm zoom lens might seem excessive for photographing gorillas who are quite close to you, I found it advantageous for capturing members of the family who were a bit further away and for capturing detail shots of their faces and hands. Since you’re going to want to narrow down your camera gear for the hike, I would recommend packing an 18-55mm zoom lens as well as a 50-140mm zoom lens with a teleconverter lens or a 100-400mm zoom lens.

HIRING A PORTER

When you track gorillas, porters are individuals who assist by carrying your gear/backpack. You are not required to hire a porter, but both your local guide and the park will recommend it. The porters do not receive salaries from the park, so by hiring them, you’re providing them with work for the day.

I purposely packed light, knowing we would be hiring porters, to make it as easy for them as possible and packed extra water for them. We paid $10 per porter and tipped them on top of that. Another advantage to hiring a porter is that they will help anyone in your group who is struggling make it through the steeper, muddier parts.

I even heard stories of someone who broke their leg on vacation before arriving in Rwanda and several porters insisted on them making the trek on a stretcher that they carried!

Before you begin the hike, at the entrance to the park, your guide will stop to get you walking sticks and hire porters for anyone who would like to hire one.

TIPPING

Tipping is not a huge practice in most African cultures, but it is ever-present in the tourism sector and it is an important part of the livelihood of the industry professionals you are encountering. While tipping isn’t mandatory, it is appreciated and something you should do. You can tip in any currency, but the local currency is easiest for the people you are tipping. In Rwanda, you’ll want to have Rwandan Francs on you.

You’ll want to tip the following people:

Driver and guide – the equivalent to $10 USD/person in your group/day
Gorilla trekking guide – the equivalent to $15 USD/person in your group/day
Gorilla tracker – the equivalent to $5 USD/person in your group/tracker/day
Security personnel (protects the group from other animals while trekking) – the equivalent to $5 USD/person in your group/day
Trekking porter – the equivalent to $5 USD/bag

WHERE ELSE CAN I TREK FOR GORILLAS?

There are only two mountain gorilla populations in the world, totaling around 1,000 individuals. There are those in the Virunga conservation area in central Africa, which includes Volcanoes National Park, as well as those in bordering parks in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rest reside in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda.

As of May 2018, visitors are not currently permitted to visit the populations in the DRC because of the unrest in the country. This means that the areas open for tourist trekking are Volcanoes National Forest in Rwanda, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda.

WHY RWANDA?

Rwanda’s permits are admittedly more expensive than those in Uganda, which are around $600 USD, but the cost of the permit goes to protecting and improving the park, protecting the gorillas, and caring for them. When the gorillas fall ill, expensive vets are needed to hike into the forest and treat them. When they pass away, a team of people is needed to collect the deceased gorilla, bring it down the mountain, and bury it so it does not pass any contagious diseases on to the rest of the population.

None of these procedures are cheap or particularly easy and they require staff to hike hours into the forest for a single check-up. A portion of the proceeds also goes to the villagers who reside at the base of the park to ensure that they benefit from tourism and thus feel involved in protecting the gorillas and their habitat. The permit price contributes directly to a communal conservation system and attitude that has been instrumental in the park’s success.

Volcanoes National Park is home to the largest mountain gorilla population in the conservation area which means a better chance of seeing gorillas and more tourist permits available, though half of the families are only visited by researchers, so we can continue learning about these incredible creatures. In addition to the mountain gorillas, the park houses golden monkeys and numerous other species of animals.

Not to mention, VNP is the most easily accessible park from a major international airport, which means an easier trip for tourists. Because of its proximity, we were able to do a morning hike and fly out of Kigali that evening. On a personal note, I would highly recommend time to rest after your hike, if you can spare the evening, but it is possible to depart that same day.

Lastly, while I have not been to Uganda and tourists are not permitted to visit the gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo because of the unrest (as of May 2018), I felt a very personal connection to Rwanda that will be difficult to match in my lifetime. The country has come out on the other side of a horrible genocide and become one of the cleanest countries in Africa, if not the world.

It has more women than men in government, emphasizes education, peace, and community, and has created some of the most innovative social and economic reform programs of our time. From employing former poachers as wildlife guides to having monthly cleaning days within communities, Rwanda has taken incredible strides forward and has become an example of the good that human beings are capable of doing.

Connecting with the people, many of whom are survivors of the genocide, was the single greatest experience of my entire trip and it made the journey to visit the gorillas that much more impactful.

For any additional questions or information, I’d encourage you to visit the Volcanoes National Park website, which does an excellent job of breaking down the entire experience and informing prospective visitors.

If this has you curious about the other animal encounters I’d recommend in Africa, check out my post on The Best Animal Encounters in Africa!