Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda offers gorilla trekking tours as the main activities and others like golden monkey trekking, bird watching are equally fascinating. Scaling or Climbing Karisimbi, Climbing Bisoke, Climbing Muhabura, visiting local communities, is activities that you can participate in.
Gorilla Trekking Experience
Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park is one of the thrilling magical experiences one can never miss on her trip to Africa. Looking straight into eyes of a gorilla, experiencing a close encounter with tranquil mountain gorillas is a gratifying experience that will remain memorable, neither is a hike through the moist fertile undergrowth, frequently dense with mist. However the challenges you go through while hike will all be forgotten when you set eyes for the first time on the Rwanda gorillas and the impression of affiliation is very overpowering.
The habituated gorilla group can be visited by a maximum of 8 people in a day and the minimum age for visiting the gorillas is 15 years and this is the start standard limit. It applies in Uganda and DRC Congo and it is strongly enforced in all the Gorilla National Parks. It is such a great privilege to book gorilla trekking tours to come face to face with our distant cousins.
Golden monkey
Trekking the golden monkey through the bamboo forests they live in, is another unique experience. The golden monkey is an endangered species. Once spotted Watching them you will realize how aptly named playground equipment such as monkey bars and jungle gyms are; only here the equipment is bamboo. Seeing these endangered animals in their natural habitat is worth an extra day in the area. There’s only one tour per day for the monkeys and one overlapping tour for gorillas, so you can’t visit both the big and small primates in the same day.
Birds in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Volcanoes National Park brought together a sum of 180 bird species in 1980. Close to 15 formerly recorded bird species were noted during a biodiversity survey conducted in 2004, however it is probable that a number of additional forest specialists have actually gone off track since the year 1980. The Grauer’s rush warbler a vulnerable local bird species living in the swamp, whereas at least sixteen Albertine Rift endemic are also present, including the handsome francolin, Archer’s ground robin, dusky crimson-wing, Rwenzori turaco, red-faced woodland warbler , Rwenzori double collared sun bird, collared apalis, Rwenzori Batis and the strange weaver.
Dian Fossey Tomb Trail
The American primatologist Diana Fossey arrived in Rwanda to study mountain gorillas in 1967, supported by the eminent Kenyan paleontologist Louis Leakey, who had earlier been responsible for placing Jane Goodall at Gombe stream in Tanzania. She founded the Karisoke Research Centre high on the forested slopes mount Karisimbi, and for next 18 years used it as the base for her ongoing studies of volcanoes National Park. Thanks to Dian Fossey, a researcher who was buried at her research centre alongside these mountain gorillas to which she dedicated her life. The trail heading to her tomb and Karisoke Research Centre is a beautiful one yet challenging 1 hour 45 minute hike up steep slopes where orchids, bird life and even occasional mountain gorillas can be seen.
Mount hikes and nature trails
Mount Bisoke
Hiking to the Crater Lake requires four hours up a steep trail from the Bisoke departure point to reach the summit. The walk around the Crater Lake rim is highly recommended. Allow seven hours for the entire trip. Lake Ngezi, a small, shallow crater lake, is the easiest hike in the park. It takes 3-4 hour round trip from the Bisoke departure point.
Karisimbi volcano hike
Karisimbi mountain name in Kinyarwanda means ‘’white shell”, which refers to the white capped summit which is often seen, Karisimbi is the fifth highest mountain in Africa which is a 2 days hike. The climb starts early in the morning and takes 6 hours. You will climb further via the Bisoke side, before reaching the first stopping place at an altitude of 3,700m for overnight (camping)
