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Seeing mountain gorillas in Rwanda takes one morning, but it needs planning months ahead. Here is how the permit works, what happens on the day, how fit you need to be, what to wear and where to stay. If you are still choosing between countries, start with our guide to gorilla trekking in Uganda vs Rwanda.
All gorilla trekking in Rwanda happens in Volcanoes National Park, on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes in the northwest. A permit currently costs US$1,500 per person for international visitors, according to Visit Rwanda, the Rwanda Development Board's tourism site. Lower rates apply to Rwandan and East African Community residents. One permit buys one trek and one hour with one gorilla family.
Twelve families in the park are habituated for tourism, and eight permits are issued for each family per day. That is 96 permits a day for the whole country, and it is why a group is never more than eight people. The minimum age is 15.
Permits are sold through the Rwanda Development Board's booking portal and Irembo, the government's online services platform, or through a licensed tour operator. We secure permits first and build the rest of the trip around those dates. June to September and the Christmas weeks sell out earliest, and the few lodges near the park can fill even sooner than the permits do. For those months, six to twelve months ahead is sensible.
Every trek starts at the park headquarters in Kinigi, where everyone gathers at 7am. Rangers split the morning's trekkers into groups of up to eight and assign each group a family. Fitness is part of how they do that, so this is the moment for your driver-guide to mention it if you want a shorter walk, or if you would happily take a long one. Nothing is guaranteed, but it is taken into account. The briefing then covers the rules and the family you will visit.
From headquarters you drive on to the start point for your family and walk up through farmland to the edge of the park. Trackers go out earlier in the morning to find the gorillas and radio their position to your guide, so the group heads straight for them.
Visit Rwanda says hikes last anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours or more, depending on where the family has moved overnight. Most of the park lies above 2,000 meters, so you feel the altitude on the climbs. Expect mud, stinging nettles and bamboo, often on narrow paths, with the guide stopping regularly to let people catch their breath.
When you reach the family, you leave bags and food with the porters a short way back and go in with your camera. From then on the ranger keeps time, and you get one hour. The rules are simple:
The hour goes quickly, and on most days you are back at your lodge for a late lunch.
You do not need to be an athlete, but you should be comfortable walking uphill for a couple of hours on uneven ground at altitude. Regular hill walks in the months before help most. Our founder has trekked gorillas in Uganda, and the advice here on boots, gloves and porters applies just as much on the Rwandan side.
Porters wait at the start point and can be hired for the day to carry your bag and give you a hand on steep or slippery sections. We suggest everyone takes one, however fit. The fee goes to people from the villages around the park, and a steady hand on a muddy slope is worth having. For travelers with limited mobility, porters can carry you on a stretcher-style chair, and the rangers can try to assign a family that is closer to the park edge.
Visit Rwanda's own list is short and sensible. Ours adds a few details:
Our safari packing list covers the rest of the trip.
The lodges around the park are some of the best in Africa, and they are small, so choose early. Our three favorites suit different travelers:
The drive from Kigali takes about two and a half to three hours, so most trips start with a night in Kigali. Hemingways Retreat Kigali is our usual pick, and it leaves time for the Kigali Genocide Memorial before you head north.
One trek is enough to see gorillas. Two is better, and we recommend it to anyone who can manage the cost. You visit a different family each time, so the second hour is a new group with its own characters and setting. The first trek also tends to go by in a rush of adrenaline. On the second you notice more, and photographers get a second chance after a day of rain or heavy cover. Plan three nights near the park, which gives you two trek days and a spare day for golden monkeys, a rest or bad weather. Our eight-day Rwanda itinerary follows that pattern.
Volcanoes is also home to golden monkeys, which the IUCN lists as endangered. Treks start from the same headquarters at Kinigi and head into the bamboo on the lower slopes, and you again get about an hour once the troop is found. Where gorillas are calm and slow, golden monkeys are quick and noisy, leaping through the bamboo and feeding on young shoots. The walk is often easier than a gorilla trek, and it fills the day between two gorilla treks well. Other options for that day include the hike to Dian Fossey's grave at the old Karisoke research site and the full-day climb of Bisoke to its crater lake.
Nyungwe has chimpanzees and a canopy walkway, Akagera has game drives and the Big Five, and Lake Kivu is about an hour from the park for a quiet night or two. We cover all three in Beyond the Gorillas: Akagera, Nyungwe and Lake Kivu.
If you would like help planning a gorilla trip to Rwanda, get in touch.
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