To trek mountain gorillas in Rwanda, you need to acquire volcanoes National Park gorilla permits which allow you to spend one hour with mountain gorillas in the wild. Volcanoes National Park is one of the four national parks where mountain gorillas leave in their natural habitats and can be visited during day time as long as you hold a valid gorilla permit.
Rwanda offers discounted gorilla safari where by permits are reduced to see mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park from May to November of every year. This means that one can book gorilla permits in Rwanda and benefit from a 30% discount.
The only condition is that you must at least visit one of the two national parks of Akagera National Park or Nyungwe Forest National Park. You should be able to pay for any activity in the mentioned national park and also spend at least two nights in Rwanda.
This therefore me that instead of paying $1500 for a gorilla permit, you will pay $1050 and save $450 per permit booked during any month from November to May any year. More so, for travelers in Rwanda attending the seminars and conferences enjoy the 25% discounted gorilla permits and here you have to present the conference details and your confirmation number of hotel to stay before and after the conference in Kigali or any city of Rwanda where the seminar could be taking place.
Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda has 20 habituated mountain gorilla families out of which 08 are reserved for research and 12 for gorilla trekking. This means that tourists and visitors are limited to 12 gorilla families per day. Each gorilla family is visited by a maximum of 08 people per day for one hour. Then 120 gorilla permits are therefore available daily to trek habituated mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park.
Thereafter, transfer to Nyungwe which is a remarkably rich centre of biodiversity. More than 1,050 plant species, 250 Albertine Rift Endemics and 200 orchids, along with at least 120 butterfly species. The vertebrate fauna includes 32 amphibians, 38 reptiles, 85 mammals and 310 bird species of which about 15% are Albertine Rift Endemics.
At Nyungwe primates are the main attraction, 13 species are present including chimpanzee with a population estimated at 500-1000 which is usually tracked at a short notice or even the sound they make in the jungle, several other monkeys are readily seen; including the L’Hoest’s monkey and acrobatic Ruwenzori colobus.
Nyungwe is also highly alluring to birders, botanist and keen walkers, with its 130 network of walking trails and the only sight for suspended canopy walk, the park features few tourist itineraries, because the forest trails require a lot of stamina than Volcanoes National Park.
Nyungwe is a home to 13 species of primates the park is the only destination in Rwanda that offers chimpanzee trekking. Chimpanzee tracking starts in the morning and its best to carry a day pack where you have a couple of liters of water, have long trousers, the long-sleeved shirt, rain jacket, the hiking boots and a hat.
