Why visit Volcanoes national park? Plan to visit volcanoes national park located in the northwest of Rwanda. Volcanoes national park is one of the few national parks with endangered mountain gorillas alongside with Mgahinga national park and Bwindi impenetrable forest national park of Uganda as well as Virunga national park of DR Congo in the whole world. Volcanoes national park is a forested area with 5 out of 8 Virunga mountains (bisoke, gahinga, muhabura, karisimbi and sabyinyo). The park is found at the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo and it is regarded as the most visited and popular national park in Rwanda with the most preferred tourism attractions.
The following are the reasons why you should visit Volcanoes national park in Rwanda
Face off with the mountain gorillas
Volcanoes national park is the only national park in Rwanda where you can meet and encounter with mountain gorillas, trust me you will love witnessing mountain gorillas in the natural habitats. Volcanoes national park is a home to 10 habituated gorilla families and your gorilla permit allows you only one hour with these endangered mountain gorillas as you learn about their behavior, watch them play, breast feed, hunt, feed and make nests where they will sleep that day.
Trekking mountain gorillas is a once in a life time experience as you get a chance to see mountain gorillas in their natural habitats. Mountain gorilla trekking in volcanoes national park starts early in the morning with a pre gorilla briefing at kinigi headquarters of volcanoes national park where you are told about the dos and the don’ts of gorilla tracking. After the briefing, trekkers are grouped into 8 and led by an armed ranger guide into the forest in search for these endangered mountain gorillas. Trackers are the forest to head into the forest to tress where these mountain gorillas slept, when they come across them, they inform guides using radio calls and tell them of which trials to use. When you locate mountain gorillas, you a given one full hour to be with endangered mountain gorillas, get to know more about their behaviors, watch them play, feed, young ones breastfeed, the silverback patrol, hunt and make nest for the night. Gorilla trekking is Rwanda is $1500 per person per trek. You can book your gorilla trekking permit through any trusted tour operator or through Rwanda development board.
Meet and track the golden monkeys
While many of the tourist visit volcanoes national park to meet face to face with mountain gorillas, other come to see golden monkeys. Trekking golden monkeys is another most done activity in volcanoes national park because this is the only park where you can meet these primates eye to eye. Golden monkeys are subspecies of the widespread Sykes monkey also called the blue monkeys and these monkeys are only found in the high altitude forest of the volcanoes national park Rwanda. Volcanoes national park has only two habituated golden monkey groups, the first group is made up of 80 – 100 members and it has its home at the starting point of mountain sabyinyo. Trekking golden monkeys is done in the morning with a briefing at the park headquarters. Number of people trekking golden monkeys is not limited like that of gorilla trekking and the cost of a golden monkey trekking permit is $100 per person per trek. Golden monkey trekking in Rwanda takes you about 3 – 4 hours depending on the location of these monkeys and the speed at which you are hiking. You can book the golden monkey trekking permit in advance or pay for one at the park headquarters at the day of trekking. In east Africa, another place to trek golden monkeys is Mgahinga national park in south western Uganda.
Hike mountain bisoke
Mountain bisoke is one the 8 Virunga mountain alongside mountain karisimbi, mountain nyamuragira, mountain gahinga, mountain mikeno, mountain muhabura, mountain nyiragongo and mountain sabyinyo. Hiking mountain bisoke can be done in just one day taking you about 7 hours for whole round trip. Hiking mountain bisoke is very rewarding with amazing scenery and great views of the lush Virunga and Rwanda’s beautiful hilly landscape, a cloud experience at the summit of the volcano. Apart from mountain gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking in Rwanda, tourists can spare some time and hike mountain bisoke.
Visit the Musanze cave.
Musanze caves is found in the Ruhengeri northern province in Musanze town of Rwanda. The Musanze caves are 2 km long and were formed by centuries of geologic activity from mountain sabyinyo and mountain bisoke. Driving from Kigali international airport to Musanze caves takes you about 2 hours.
Musanze caves have huge opening, the greenery outside spilling over into twilight within makes the best photo opportunity. Although the caves today act as tourism attractions, they used to act as shelters during times of war for a number of centuries which lead right up the modern era, and as such, it’s a good site to the local people of Rwanda. Accessing Musanze caves is only limited to guided visits. Exploring Musanze caves is led by expert guides with head helmets and the torch and these guides can clearly explain to you the history of the caves using their information to present day. The tour can be memorable when you start your day with gorilla trekking or golden monkey trekking in volcanoes national park and in the afternoon you visit the Musanze caves.
Dian Fossey trek
Dain Fossey was an American primatologist who was famous for her research and study about mountain gorillas. Dian Fossey fought hard to stop poaching of these gorillas by chasing away poachers from the park and burning their houses. Dian Fossey was later found dead in 1985 in her cabin. During research, Dian Fossey raised awareness of the mountain gorilla vulnerability and promoted conservation of these apes, including setting up of the karisoke research foundation. Getting to Dian Fossey group can take you up to 5 hours and visiting her grave costs $70 per person. The grave of Dian Fossey is found on the slopes of mountain karisimbi near the gorilla graves she studied for many years.
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