Rwanda, known for its breathtaking scenery, Rwanda is often referred to as le pays des mille collines (French: "land of a thousand hills"). One of the smallest countries on the African mainland, its capital is Kigali, located in the center of the country on the Ruganwa River.
1,000,000 Rwandans were brutally killed over 100 days, more than 25 years ago?
As far as I know, Kigali is built on four hills, is the most dynamic, impressive city in Africa outside African borders. Perhaps the most important 'attraction' is the Kigali Genocide Memorial & you should pay a visit, preferably at the start of your holiday, to understand the history & the DNA of this country.
Rwandans have made great strides & efforts in moving past the tragedy of genocide in 1994. I spent the first night at Mille Collines Hotel, aka Hotel Rwanda, but please do not call it by that. Hotel Rwanda was a Hollywood blockbuster movie that highlighted the atrocities during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. ... However, the story told in the award-winning film is pure fiction and does not provide a real and accurate picture of the events between April and June of 1994. Many locals will get upset if you call it Hotel Rwanda. It has plenty of history as well as beautiful views over the capital.
The excitement starts building up as we set off to Volcanoes National Park Head Quarters. The town itself, located only 25km from the Uganda border, is relatively a small city of about 70,000 people. Here, we registered to track the rare Golden Monkey.
The elusive Golden Monkey is a beautiful and distinctive bamboo-associated primate of the blue monkey family, endemic to the Albertine Rift Valley.
Then we headed to Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge, which would be our base for the next two days.
The big day for gorilla-tracking in Rwanda has finally arrived. We leave the lodge at 6.30 am the next morning to be at HQ for 7 am registration. There are 80 gorilla permits available each day, with a maximum of eight trekkers visiting any one group. Once the trekkers are put into groups, each group's Lead Guide briefs the trekkers of the trekking procedures and the "do's and don'ts" while you are in the presence of the gorillas.
After the briefing, the trekkers return to their respective vehicles to drive up the mountain to the starting point. Trekking can take two to six or more hours if the gorillas move before the park rangers locate them the next morning.
We drove 20 minutes and started gorilla-trekking at 9.30 am. The first hour of the trek was outside the forest with easy walking. We then headed into the forest, which was a little harder but not too tricky.
We got to the top, but then we needed to hike down into the crater. There was no path. The trackers created a path with machetes.
That will give you an idea of how thick the forest is; there is no path other than our patch we opened with a machete.
It took us 2½ hrs to find gorillas, including the challenging hike into the crater. Finally, we came across the Susa group, the most fascinating group of the Gorilla Families in Rwanda and the largest in Volcanoes National Park. The group contains two twins known as Impano and Byishimo born to Nyabintondore. This group had an internal conflict in 2008, and 15 split from 42 with two silverbacks. This was the first group where Diane Fossey, the famous primatologist, studied mountain Gorillas. This group is the most preferred by tourists and also the hardest to track. They live at the base of Mount Karisimbi ( which we climbed earlier). The name Susa was derived from River Susa, which runs through the Susa family home. Susa group also boasts of the oldest gorilla born in 1976, known as poppy. The first encounter we had was silverback matching past us.
A very young one came up behind me playing on an elevated hillock, and yes – he did do the whole chest-beating too…..just because he can.
The silverback is the center of the troop's attention, making all the decisions, mediating conflicts, determining the group's movements, leading the others to feeding sites, and taking responsibility for the safety and well-being of the troop. Younger males subordinate to the silverback, known as blackbacks. They can serve as backup protection. Blackbacks are aged between 8 and 12 years and lack silver back hair.
The bond that a silverback has with his females forms the core of gorilla social life.
The silverback took the path we had cut open, and a few of the others followed too. We started to follow them. Halfway up, trackers told us to stand to the side as more gorillas were following the silverback (as they do). A most fantastic experience to see a few gorillas marching through…almost squeezing past us.
We followed them to the top where they were camping out, playing, rolling, young doing chest-beating, spending an hour in their presence. We then reluctantly hiked back and, once outside the forest, took the short route to Sabinyo for a second night.
Mountain Gorilla Families
In the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, there are over twenty families of Mountain Gorilla, comprised of around 280 individual gorillas living on the Virunga Volcanoes slopes. Of these twenty families, twelve families are visited, with ten families being visited each day. The Parks Authority rotates the families that you trek to see daily. For many, seeing gorillas in the wild offers a wildlife experience of a lifetime.
For those interested in seeing the Mountain Gorillas in their natural habitat, Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge in Rwanda offers the perfect location to base yourself. Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge is located only 15 minutes drive from the Volcanoes National Park headquarters, the Gorilla treks' starting point.
Gorilla treks take place in the morning and depart from the Park Headquarters at around 07:30 am. Before departure, you are given a briefing by park staff, assigned a gorilla family to visit, and rangers to guide you. The treks take place on the Virunga Volcanoes slopes, and clients should be in the good physical condition as some of the treks can be physically demanding. The treks typically start in the cultivated land on the volcanoes' base, and then you are guided up into the beautiful dense misty forests. The trek typically lasts between 2 and 5 hours depending on the gorilla family's location, and a maximum of eight visitors is allowed per gorilla family.
Once you reach the gorillas, you are permitted to stay for one hour to view them. The minimum age for gorilla trekking in Rwanda is 15 years. A maximum of 80 gorilla permits are issued per day, and during the high season, these sell out far in advance. It is therefore essential to book gorilla permits as early as possible. Gorilla Permits currently cost USD$ 1500 per person per trek.
If you are interested in planning a gorilla trekking safari, please contact us. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have, advise you of the current availability of gorilla permits, and help you plan your safari.
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Quick Facts:
Spanning on a 160sqkm area in the northern part of Rwanda, Volcanoes national park is the oldest national park in Africa, first gazetted in 1925. It was initially a small area around Karisimbi, Mikeno, and Visoke volcanoes to protect the Mountain gorillas from the threat of extinction due to poaching.
Details
In 1929, the park's borders were extended further into Rwanda and into the Belgian Congo to form the Albert National Park. During the early 1960s, the park was divided as Rwanda and Congo gained their independence and by the end of that decade, the park was almost half of its original size.
The park was the base for the zoologist Dian Fossey who researched mountain Gorillas. She established her research base between Visoke and Karisimbi volcanoes in 1967 and spearheaded the conservation campaign of the mountain gorillas and mobilized resources to fight against poaching in this area, a fight she put up until her murder in 1985.
The Volcanoes National Park became a battlefield during the Rwandan Civil War, with the park headquarters being attacked in 1992. The research center was abandoned, and all tourist activities (including visiting the gorillas) were stopped. They did not resume until 1999 when the area was deemed safe and under control. The park continued to suffer at the mercies of poachers though conservation efforts were also underway. In the early 1990s, the park became a battlefield for Rwanda's civil war.
Volcanoes national park is home to Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei); golden monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis kandti), Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta), buffaloes (Syncerus caffer), elephants, black-fronted duiker (Cephalophus niger), and bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus). The park also harbors 178 bird species, including at least 29 endemics to Rwenzori mountains and the Virungas.
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