Gorilla trekking in Rwanda is done in volcanoes National Park. You can choose to do it as a group of friends or a family as long as it does not go beyond eight people. Members in this group will get the same services throughout this gorilla trek safari in Rwanda and always starts from Kigali or any other Rwanda town or you can take it as an add on after your Kenya Safari in Masaai Mara and other safari parks.
The unique opportunity to see gorillas in their natural habitat is unforgettable, some even say life changing. Encounters with gorillas as they go about their daily lives are carefully managed, with expert trackers and guides leading small groups of tourists up bamboo-covered slopes to spend a precious and awe-inspiring hour just a few feet away from the gentle creatures.
There are 10 mountain gorilla groups habituated making it 80 gorilla permits for visitors to Rwanda available every single day. 8 people per group can trek these endangered apes. With a gorilla permit costing US $ 1500 per person per Rwanda gorilla trek, part of your contribution goes to conserving these mountain gorillas.
These gorilla families living in the Volcanoes National Park, which are fully habituated, with a few others habituated solely for scientific research. The groups, or troops, consist of at least one silver back along with several females and youngsters.
You have to wake up early morning, meaning that you must find accommodation closer to the park entrance. Your African gorilla guide will be briefing you at 7 am about safety precautions as well as the etiquette.
Together with other members of the group, you proceed to the forest and start the hike which may be tiring depending on your physical strength. Remember they are called mountain gorillas so an element of hiking is a must.
The anxiety normally disappears once you set eyes on the group. Normally the gorilla group will be scattered over a small area of thick vegetation. They will carry on with their interactions and even feed without any concern of their human visitors although they will be observing you with interest.
Rarely one, normally a playful youngster, will boldly approach you with inquisitiveness, at times coming really close that you will need to move away.
After the trek, go for the famous Kwita Izina ceremony of naming gorillas for Rwanda safaris and it is a yearly event where various celebrities are invited to this occasion as well as the Dian Fossey Foundation to The International Gorilla Conservation Project. Her tomb is a 30-minute drive from the park headquarters and then two or three hours hike through the forest, to above 3,000m altitude.