Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari
1 Days Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari, Start/End: Kigali, Rwanda Volcanoes National Park
Overview
Rwanda gorilla trekking Safari for one day is specifically for visitor with limited time to spare in the country, but with dream to follow gorillas in the mist and meet the famous mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park Rwanda.
An early morning start, after your morning breakfast, One of our experienced Gorilla Trekking Safari driver / guide will pick you from your hotel at 04:00 Am and drive you to volcanoes national park Rwanda for your day gorilla tracking experience, the journey will be for approximately 3 hours, arriving there in good time for registration and briefing.
You will then rest for a short time allowing your guide driver to register you and get you assigned to the gorilla family that you will have to visit. You will then attend a pre-trek briefing by the park guide who will take you to the mountains for your Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari experience. Follow the gorillas in the mist trail to find the mountain gorillas. On return back from trekking, you will be driven back to Kigali enjoying the best views of the country side passing through different villages arriving back to Kigali, if time allows you may go to visit Kigali genocide memorial centre to get knowledge about Rwanda genocide that happened in 1994. Proceed to your hotel, residence or to the Airport if it’s your scheduled flight time.
This 2 Days Rwanda Gorilla Safari Vacation is an easy to plan trip perfect for you. Contact our team of Gorilla Safari Experts to help you get started.
Included in the price
- Airport transfer
- Kigali city tour
- Gorilla trekking Ruanda permit
- Transport cost in a 4wd vehicle
- Full time English speaking and knowledgeable Driver/guide
- Accommodation and meals
- Drinking water during the tour
- Government local tax on Accommodation
Excluded in the price
- Any domestic or International flights
- Visa fees
- All optional activities
- Medical and travel Insurance
- Tips and gratuities to the guide/driver and hotel staffs.
- Any item not mentioned in the itinerary of personal nature like laundry and beverages, souvenirs and telephone bills.
Detailed Itinerary
DAY 1: Transfer to Volcanoes National Park. [Approx. 3 hours’ drive]
Rwanda gorilla trekking Safari for one day is specifically for visitor with limited time to spare in the country, but with dream to follow gorillas in the mist and meet the famous mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park Rwanda.
An early morning start, after your morning breakfast, One of our experienced Gorilla Trekking Safari driver / guide will pick you from your hotel at 04:00 Am and drive you to volcanoes national park Rwanda for your day gorilla tracking experience, the journey will be for approximately 3 hours, arriving there in good time for registration and briefing.
You will then rest for a short time allowing your guide driver to register you and get you assigned to the gorilla family that you will have to visit. You will then attend a pre-trek briefing by the park guide who will take you to the mountains for your Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari experience. Follow the gorillas in the mist trail to find the mountain gorillas.
On return back from trekking, you will be driven back to Kigali enjoying the best views of the country side passing through different villages arriving back to Kigali, if time allows you may go to visit Kigali genocide memorial centre to get knowledge about Rwanda genocide that happened in 1994. Proceed to your hotel, residence or to the Airport if it’s your scheduled flight time.
END of Gorilla Trek Rwanda Safari.
What to Expect on A Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Safari
Meet you guide/ driver who will handle gorilla trekking formalities on your behalf as well as registering you for the activity with your gorilla permit (USD $1500), make sure you have packed all the necessary gears like gloves, trekking boots, long sleeved wear, rain jackets, snacks and packed lunch, walking stick (very necessary), among others, this is what you should expect the day of your Rwanda gorilla tour excursion.
Carry your passport with you as you head to the park headquarters for an early morning pre-tracking briefing by park officials. Your gorilla permits will be crosschecked with your passports to verify that you are the right owner of the permit. At this moment, you are expected to be ready with your packed lunch since no one is certain about the time you will take to see these gorillas.
A cup of tea/ coffee is served as you are being entertained by the local traditional Kinyarwanda dancers to give you a good start of a strenuous yet exciting day, before the ranger guide gives you tips on how to conduct yourself on this trek. After a quick briefing on safety measures and what to expect during the day, you will be grouped in groups of 8 people maximum and each group is assigned one gorilla family to trek.
Rwanda has 10 gorilla families, hence 10 groups of 8 people each are the ones allowed to track on a particular day. Rwanda gorilla tour through the forest is very interesting, Assigning the groups highly depends on the fitness and age of the guests. For example, those above 45 years and the ones with less fitness are assigned the ‘easy to find’ gorilla families which do not wander far away from the trail heads.
However, even those with special interests about specific groups may inform their guides to help them negotiate with rangers before assigning the groups such that they may be assigned those specific groups too. Being wild animals in their natural habitat, what may be regarded as easy to find may not necessarily be, as the animals may wander far as they search for food and therefore, it is not a guarantee that they must be near or easy to find. Even those which are allocated to the physically fit and energetic tourists, that are always regarded as strenuous to track, may be easily tracked on a particular day which makes the total experience interesting and unpredictable.
While on your Rwanda gorilla trekking safari, each gorilla tracking group consists of a main guide and two scouts who carry AK-47 guns, one walking in front and another behind the group. The reason for armed scouts is for protection in the forest against wild elephants or angry, wild gorillas. The scouts are trained to fire shots into the air first in order to scare away the animals but this is only done on rarest occasions when all other options like hiding away from such dangerous animals have been done. On Rwanda gorilla trek in Parc nationale des volcanoes PNV, We’ve never heard of any case where such animals attacked the tourists and the scouts had to fire bullets though on many occasions, they advise to hide or remain still until the animals go away.
However the policy of the Volcanoes National Park is to be safe rather than sorry. Your group will also have a pair of trackers who will have been sent out in the early morning (prior to your arrival in the park) to find the location of your specific gorilla family and to assess where they may be headed. Trackers communicate the gorilla’s movements to the guide so that he can decide on the best approach to meet the gorilla family.
If you do not trust your fitness, please endeavor to let your guide know such that he may help you to hire a porter at the park gate.
A porter is hired between $15 to $20 depending on what he is going to carry.
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