Volcanoes National Park - Rwanda Gorillas and Adventure Tours
Volcanoes National Park is strategically placed near Kigali City Rwanda’s Capital, it is home to 30% of the worlds remaining population of mountain gorillas, besides the mountain gorillas it hosts golden monkeys the conservation area stretches about 160 square kilometers it is part of the great Virunga Volcanic region hosting 5 of the eight series of the volcanoes these include Mountain Gahinga, Mountain Muhabura, Mountain Bisoke, Mountain Karisimbi, and Mountain Sabyinyo, the Volcanoes national park is one of the first ecosystems to be gazette of Africa, in 1929 it was known on the Rwandan side and protected during the reign of the Rwanda government, it was made famous by the great works of the American primatologist Dian Fossey due to her great research on mountain gorillas and the shooting on the film “Gorillas in the mist”.
The park is located in the Musanze district, it is rich with Flora and Fauna, the slopes of the mountain are covered in montane forest, bamboo forest, heath, and moorlands, and the beautiful farmlands at the foothills of the park, some of the Volcanoes of the national park are shared amongst the other East African countries of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The highest of the Volcanoes is the Mountain Karisimbi (4,507m) above sea level, besides hosting the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys, the park is home to other animal species like bush pigs, duikers, forest elephants, spotted hyenas to mention a few, despite these being present in the park they are rare and shy to see and over 200 bird species have been recorded in the national park to date some of which are endemics to the destination.
The main attractions of the conservation area include Mountain gorillas, mountains of the park, Golden Monkeys, the Dian Fossey trail, and the Iby’iwacu community, gorilla trekking experience is the most prominent of the park activities permits are sold at $1500 per permit, and gorillas live peacefully in the national park without being captivated, they live in families of up to 20 members led by a male silverback, gorillas are the world’s largest living mammals and very few are left in the wilderness, they are herbivores feeding on the forest plants, dead tree backs, mushrooms, and a few insects on rare occasions, the trek can take 2 or more hours depending on how far the gorilla Family has moved, the trek is strenuous and hence may require some level of physical fitness.
Golden monkey tracking begins at the park headquarters with a briefing from the park rangers they will brief you about the park and how to conduct yourself while with the primates, the walk to the bamboo forest is a scenic one as you walk through the different vegetation points of the park the bamboo forest is not as further as it is to see the gorillas, they are pretty creatures and if you may require to take a picture, it is important to set your Camera read.
Hiking the Dian Fossey as a way of paying tribute to the late American primatologist who lost her life in the protection of mountain gorillas as much as she loved and protected the species, mostly she must have made some enemies around who oppose these, it said that she was murdered in cold blood and her death remains a Mistry to date, this said her great works have proceeded to date though the government of Rwanda and organizations, she was buried in the park together with the primates she loved the most, the walk through the forest is beautiful on a lucky day you will be changed to see mountain gorillas and other primates of the park.
