Rwandan Gorilla Trek Virunga

Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda · Rwanda

Moderate7 daysAfrica~£3,200 est.

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Overview

Volcanoes National Park protects Rwanda's share of the Virunga massif — a chain of bamboo-cloaked volcanoes holding roughly a third of the world's remaining mountain gorillas. Trekking starts at dawn from park headquarters at Kinigi: trackers stay with each habituated family overnight, and the hike to reach yours can be forty minutes or four hours through nettles, mud and hagenia forest between 2,500 and 3,500 metres. Then the hour begins — the single, strictly rationed hour with the family. A silverback feeding an arm's length away is unlike any zoo encounter; the guides' low grunts of reassurance, answered by the gorillas, tell you who is really hosting whom. The permit is the budget: US$1,500 per person per trek, booked months ahead for the June–September and December–February dry windows. Add golden monkey tracking in the bamboo zone and the hike to Dian Fossey's Karisoke research site for the story of how close this species came to vanishing. Kigali is under three hours away by road, so a week is unhurried. Expect £3,000–4,000 all-in with one gorilla trek, good lodges and transfers. Gardening gloves and waterproof gaiters are the two items everyone wishes they had packed.