1 Day Rwanda Gorilla Trekking trip

You will be picked up from your hotel in Kigali at 4:30 am for the 2.5-hour drive to Volcanoes National Park in northern Rwanda. Arriving at the park office in Kinigi by 7:00 am, you will be on time for the allocation of the gorilla families.

Volcanoes National Park is home to a third of the world’s mountain gorillas, with around 12 gorilla families habituated for trekking. After a briefing from the park guides on the dos and don’ts of gorilla trekking, you will head to the starting point of the trek at the park’s edge. Here, you can hire a porter for $10 to carry your daypack (recommended) and receive a free trekking stick. As you begin your hike into the volcanic terrain, enjoy the stunning views of the Virunga Mountains while searching for the gorillas.

The time required to find the gorillas can range from 1 to 3 hours, although it may be less than an hour or exceed 3 hours, depending on the location of the gorilla family assigned to you and their movements. Keep in mind that advanced park trackers enter the park early in the morning to determine where the different gorilla families nested the previous night. They then relay this information to your guides, who use it to plan the most efficient route to reach the gorillas.

While the guides generally have an idea of the gorillas’ locations before the trek begins, it’s important to remember that the gorillas are constantly moving, so they may have moved further away or closer by the time you start. Be prepared for any situation.

You will spend on hour with the gorillas.

You will trek back to the starting point to find your driver and leave for Kigali.