Many visitors ask several reasons why they should visit volcanoes national park instead of other gorilla trekking national parks in Africa. Volcanoes is located in the heart of central Africa in the north west of Rwanda. The park protects the steep slopes of different mountains of virunga namely mountain karisimbi, mountain bisoke, mountain sabyinyo, mountain gahinga and mountain muhabura. Volcanoes national park is a home of almost a half of remaining population of endangered mountain gorillas, other primates such as golden monkeys, black and white colobus, over 700 bird species, 218 mammal species, tree species, twin lakes burera and ruhondo among others. While in volcanoes national park you will get to participate in a number of different activities such as birding. Hiking, gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking among others.

Reason to visit volcanoes national park.

Home of Virunga Mountains.

Virunga national park is a home of 5 out of 8 of Virunga Mountains that are shared by mgahinga national park of Uganda. The mountains are mountain karisimbi, mountain gahinga, mountain mubahura, mountain bisoke and mountain sabyinyo which you see while on your volcanoes national park tour in Rwanda or virunga national park when you get to visit democratic republic of Congo. When you visit volcanoes national park you will hike different virunga mountains where you will get to find different families of endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

Hiking different virunga mountains in the park, tourists can find different attractions that can be seen like the golden monkeys, vervet monkeys, and black and white colobus monkeys. You will also get a chance to see a number of bird species while in the park such as Ruwenzori batis, strange weaver, red throated alethe, blue turaco, Ross’s turaco, pockefeller’s sunbird, grey crowned crane, bubbling cisticola, miombo wren warbler, chubb’s cisticola among others. You will get to see different wild animals such as lions, elephants, antelopes, warthogs and okapis among others. At the top of virunga mountains you will see twin lakes of burera and ruhondo as well as Lake Kivu, coffee plantations among others.

Unique primate destinations

Volcanoes national park is a best tourism destination for primate safaris in Rwanda where you will see a number of different primates during some activities in the park. While on your safari in volcanoes national park you will see a number of primate species such as mountain gorillas when you participate in gorilla trekking, vervet monkeys, golden monkeys, Mona monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys among others which you can trek down during nature walks in the park.

Golden monkey trekking

Just like gorilla trekking, during golden monkey trekking you will have to hike any of Virunga Mountains to see golden monkeys that are found in bamboo trees on different virunga mountains. Golden monkey trekking enables you to trek down these monkeys spend time with them as you identify their behaviors while in the park. You will get to learn how they feed, play, hunt for food among others.

Gorilla trekking

Gorilla trekking in volcanoes national park is the most done and quite rewarding activity in the park because you will get time to spend time with these gorillas and it’s usually an hour as you learn about them. Volcanoes national park has over 18 gorilla families and you can visit any of them.  The gorilla families in volcanoes national park include hirwa gorilla family, agashya gorilla family, Ugenda gorilla family, karisimbi gorilla family, tusi gorilla family, sabyinyo gorilla family, amahoro gorilla family, bwenge gorilla family, umubano gorilla family and kwitonda gorilla family.

Home to Dian Fossey’s grave

When you visit volcanoes national park, you can visit Dian Fossey’s grave between mountain karisimbi and mountain bisoke while accessing karisimbi family and Susa family. Dian Fossey was an American primatologist who spent part of her life try to research about mountain gorillas in volcanoes national park. Dian Fossey fell in love with mountain gorillas while researching about them, she carried out a number of patrols in the park to ensure that poachers don’t kill the gorillas, burnt down their houses and that is why the number of mountain gorillas increased in Rwanda but unfortunately Dian Fossey way found dead in his cabin and she was buried at the gorilla cemetery in the park

Safety in park

Volcanoes national park is one of the national parks in Rwanda where safety is guaranteed. The park has got a number of safety precautions and measures put in place to ensure that you have an amazing time inside the park. some of the safety precautions put in place in volcanoes national park include briefing of tourists before taking part in any activities with in the park, patrolling of the park by rangers to ensure that tourists and animals are protected from any attacks and lastly security check up at different checking points to ensure you don’t have any security threats like knives, fire arms which can be a threat to human life and wild animals.

Easily accessible

Easy accessibility of volcanoes national park is another reason as to why you should visit the park. Volcanoes national park can be accessed by travelers using different means of transport. The park is 120 km away from Kigali international airport taking you about 2 hours to reach the park, when you land at Kigali international airport in Kigali city you will be picked by a tour operator to the park.