Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda: My Honest Experience
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda is a truly spectacular experience. With the dramatic backdrop of the Virunga Mountains, you hike through dense bamboo and layered forests (with the potential of crossing paths with forest elephants or buffaloes along the way, too!) Gorilla trekking is a high-investment memory that will last a lifetime.
Here is everything you need to know about planning your own trek, based on our experience.
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Practical Tips for Organizing your Trip
Where to spend the night in Musanze
I have visited Musanze countless times and have comprehensive guide on my favorite lodges and guesthouses in the area. Check out that guide to see which neighborhood and price point best suits your personal travel style.
When to Go Gorilla Trekking
The ideal window for Gorilla trekking in Rwanda falls during the primary dry months of June through August.
That said, we chose to go in April, when my friend Ursula was visiting. While April is technically the height of the wet season, we lucked out completely and had zero rain on the day of our trek (and none the day before, either). Keep in mind that even without fresh rain, sections of the trail were still quite muddy and slick.
How to Book Your Gorilla Trekking Permit
You must book your permits directly through the official Volcanoes National Park portal on the Rwanda Development Board website.
- International Guests: $1,500 USD
- Foreign Residents in Africa & African Citizens: $500 USD (for example if you live in Nairobi or Johannesburg, you qualify for this rate with proper visa documentation).
Our free coffee during the briefing at 7am.
Is It Worth the Price Tag?
This completely depends on your personal budget. Even though we have lived in Rwanda, it took us an entire year to finally decide if taking the costly trek was actually worth it. For foreign residents like myself who qualify for the $500 resident rate, I thought it was a memorable way to celebrate our one-year anniversary of moving to Rwanda.
If the $1,500 standard international rate feels too steep for your budget, I highly recommend booking the Golden Monkey Trek instead. You get to fully experience the jungle atmosphere of the Virunga Mountains and see some incredibly active, unique primates. I have done the golden monkeys in both clear weather and (light) rain, and it is a nice day out either way.
For something in the middle, you can travel down to Nyungwe Forest and book the Chimpanzee trekking experience for around $300. You will get to experience screeching primates (fun fact: chimps are actually closer to humans genetically than gorillas are). It requires traveling to a different corner of the country, but it is totally worth the trip.
People always say there is nothing quite like looking into the eyes of a gorilla. While I admit the encounter was incredibly amazing being near wild animals that are so like us, I didn’t personally find it life-changing (maybe I’ll reflect more on this later). Whether the high permit cost is worth it is entirely up to you!
Getting to Volcanoes National Park
You will need to drive yourself to the main national park headquarters for check-in at 7:00 am. Just like the other activities in the park, once you finish briefing, you must drive yourself from the headquarters out to the specific trailhead where your assigned hike begins. These trailheads vary wildly. Our gorilla trekking group didn’t use the same parking lot as any of the other tracking groups.
If you have your own vehicle, a standard SUV is fine. The road we took to our trailhead was mostly paved the entire way. That might not be the guaranteed case for every trailhead, but we have also successfully navigated much worse tracks up to Mount Bisoke using our RAV4.
If you don’t have your own car, you will need to hire a driver for the day (expect around $70 to $100 USD), as they will need to wait for you at the trailhead and transport you back to your accommodation after the hike.
Basic Questions about Gorilla Trekking
Can I Do This as a Day Trip From Kigali?
Yes, this is completely doable as a single-day trip if your itinerary doesn’t allow for a night in Musanze. It requires a very early 4:00 am departure from Kigali to make it to the park gates by 7:00 am. However, you will easily be back in the capital by evening. For this, I suggest organizing with a tour company so that you can sleep in the car.
Is There a Chance I Won’t See the Gorillas?
I asked our park guide this exact question before we set off, and he told me no. The park trackers stay with the families continuously, so there is a 100% success rate of locating them. Trackers spend all day with a family until they make their nests. Then, the trackers leave and arrive again the next morning to start tracking the gorilla family after they leave the nest for the day.
What Should I Bring
- Water: Bring plenty of water to stay hydrated. I recommend 1 liter per person.
- Granola bars: Essential for keeping your energy up during the hike, as you never truly know how long you will be out in the forest.
- Read my guide on what to pack for Rwanda
The Gorilla Trekking Experience
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda is the most intense primate trek available in the park. The hike to reach them can take anywhere from a quick 1 hour up to a strenuous 4 hours, depending entirely on how deep the gorilla family has moved away from the main park boundaries. Expect to hike through sections of forest that the trackers have freshly cleared with machete!
When you gather at park headquarters, you can ask the ranger about which difficulty tier you want before groups are finalized.
The medium-level hike
Our specific group told the rangers we wanted a challenging, intense hike to reach the gorillas (personally, I wasn’t looking to struggle, but the rest of our group was eager for a workout!). Despite that, we ended up on a medium-level trek that took just under two hours to reach the gorillas family. Honestly, the toughest part of the entire walk wasn’t any inclines, it was avoiding the stinging nettles in the dense bush!
On every other hike I’ve done in Volcanoes National Park, I always felt like I should have taken a porter but skipped it. This time, I hired a porter and ironically didn’t end up needing her much because our path was in such good condition. That said, porters are trail experts. They don’t just carry your backpack, they actively keep you balanced on slippery paths and are absolutely vital if you find yourself trekking through a heavy rainy season downpour. Expect to pay around $10 minimum.
Hiking up to the Family
Hiking groups are around 8 people per guide. We hit the trail around 9:00 am, spent the first leg of the hike walking through farmlands, and made a few stops along the way.
Stop 1
We stopped right before crossing the stone wall into the actual national park. Here the guides gave us a breakdown of park rules.
Stop 2
Inside the park before we entered into the bush, we learned about gorilla habits and social dynamics.
Stop 3
The final stop was directly before the gorillas.
At this stop, we could actually hear the branches snapping nearby and some gorilla grunts! We left our backpacks and walking sticks behind with the porters and put on our face masks, which are strictly mandatory to protect the primates from human illnesses.
Our guide also gave us a final briefing on how to handle interaction with the gorillas. You are told to maintain a 6-foot distance from the gorillas, but as we quickly learned, the gorillas themselves do not always care about your personal space…
We walked the final few meters through dense brush as the trackers cleared a path with their machetes. I pulled my hood up over my hat to keep stray branches and insects out of my hair. This is also where a few people pulled out their gardening gloves to protect against the stinging nettles. While many people swear by them to protect against the stinging nettles, in my experience, they were more of a nice-to-have than a necessity. (My gloves were also a little uncomfortable).
I didn’t have the right kind of gloves; these were too warm
The Encounter
Nothing truly prepares you for standing right next to a mountain gorilla. They are absolutely massive, especially when they decide to barrel down the trail right past you.
We spotted our first single gorilla tucked into the foliage, then another, and suddenly we were looking at several members of the family all at once.
When we first broke out into a bamboo clearing, one of the younger, rowdier blackbacks charged straight through our group and literally grabbed my pant leg as if he wanted to drag me down the path! I froze completely still until he let go, and as he kept running, he reached out and grabbed another woman’s arm!
Later on, we were also lucky enough to witness a mating scene, which our guides mentioned is a rare sight for tourists. It was quite funny because the pair started out a fair distance away from us. Then, they intentionally moved right into the open clearing to give us a better view. Haha. Look at how close they got to another visitor (she was told to move further away after and I wouldn’t have been comfortable to sit down because of the gorillas running around).
We also spent time watching a mom resting with a tiny baby, which was incredibly sweet.
There were a few young gorillas that were play fighting with each other as well.
And, later on we spotted the silverback!
You can watch clips of my gorilla trekking in Rwanda experience over on my Instagram highlights.
Heading Back
You get exactly 1 hour of viewing time with the family when gorilla trekking in Rwanda. Then, we hiked a short distance back to our gear, sat down for a quick snack break. We ate our granola bars and used the time to ask our guides any lingering questions about the specific family dynamics.
We tipped each of the rangers 10,000 RWF each via MoMo. You can also give cash.
Afterward, we hiked back down to the farm lands where the cars were parked. There were a few local craft and souvenir stalls set up by the trailhead. Ursula picked up a carved gorilla keepsake before we drove back to Musanze.
Along the trail, the guide spotted a chameleon! How fun.
What to wear to go Gorilla Trekking
Branches and leaves will be all over you so long, protective clothing is required when gorilla trekking in Rwanda. Here is what we wore!
The stinging nettles were the most dramatic part of this hike. I wore leggings, while others in my group wore standard hiking pants. That said, most of us still experienced the needles piercing right through our clothing.
The sting only itches for about five minutes, but it’s still a very uncomfortable experience! To avoid this next time, I would recommend doubling up your layers only when you stop before interacting with the gorillas.
Start with a pair of leggings or hiking pants. These simple water repellent hiking pants for guys with a zip and gals (I love the blue color) with a quick dry top (for guys and gals) would be a good base for hiking and trekking.
Then you can pull a pair of sturdy, waterproof hiking pants (guys and gals) over your first layer. Literally no one did this one our hike though. We all just made it through. I saw some people wearing jeans in other groups.
A note on the ants: fire ants climbed up several of us. For me, they stayed on my shoes… But my friend actually found ants had made it all the way up to her waist and even her neck. The guides helped to brush them away quickly as I stood like a statue.
Check out my full guide on what to pack for Rwanda.
Expectations vs. Reality
The Landscape
From some pictures I had seen online, I fully expected the gorillas to be lounging in an open, green field where I could see the entire family at once. That is definitely not the reality. Instead, we found them deep within a dense bamboo forest. We would spot two or three hidden in the foliage, then another single gorilla a bit further out, and then a couple more deeper in the brush.
Gorillas in the dense bushes and in the bamboo
The Interactions
I was absolutely not expecting any physical contact with the primates while gorilla trekking in Rwanda. Not only did that rowdy blackback brush past my leg when he ran down the trail, but a curious juvenile actually came right up and started untying my shoelaces! I didn’t think the gorillas would willingly get that close to humans, and it was a total shock.
Also, I didn’t realize I would be clinging to our park guide for dear life whenever a gorilla lunged or moved quickly near us! I was literally gripping the guide’s arm when the gorillas would come down the paths quickly.
Gorilla Speak!
Another surprise was hearing the guides actively “speak gorilla” to the family. They used low, guttural grunts to communicate that our group was friendly, and they used a different grunt later on to tell the juvenile to back away from my shoes.
My Pictures….
Getting the perfect shot is much harder than it looks. I am obviously no National Geographic photographer, but the dense leaves and branches were constantly blocking my lens. The forest paths are incredibly narrow, making it difficult to maneuver around other travelers to get a clear angle. Thankfully, everyone in our group was considerate and moved aside once they got their shot.
Our first gorilla sighting, just a peak through the bamboo and everyone took a turn to look
The gorillas also move incredibly fast when they want to. I didn’t manage to get a single clear photo of the silverback. We saw him twice, once while he was resting and again further down the trail. But when he got up to cross the path, I was stuck several people back in line and didn’t get a full picture besides the below.
It’s also hard to get good pictures of yourself in a mask haha. I feel like I look guilty or something. I swear I’m smiling!
