Reviews of Volcanoes NP (From 8 Acclaimed Safari Experts)

Expert

Stuart Butler –

UK

Visited: Multiple times

Stuart is a travel writer and author of numerous Lonely Planet guidebooks, including 'Kenya', 'Rwanda' and 'Tanzania'.

2 people found this review helpful.

Luxury gorilla tracking

Overall rating

4/5

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For most visitors Rwanda means Volcanoes National Park, and Volcanoes National Park means mountain gorillas. This is the original Gorillas in the Mist destination, Africa’s most hyped gorilla park, and the place where famed American primatologist Dian Fossey spent many years studying the gorillas. Up-close (sometimes so close you can virtually feel the gorilla’s breath on you) mountain gorilla sightings are a given and the park’s vegetation (compared to some other gorilla parks) is comparatively clear and conducive to easy sightings. However, having been lucky enough to see mountain gorillas in every park in which they exist, the gorilla-watching experience at Volcanoes National Park feels a little too polished and, dare I say it, not quiet wild enough. When I tracked the gorillas here I was surprised to arrive at the park offices to find around 80 other tourists milling around, as well as souvenir sellers and a dance troupe. It didn’t exactly feel like the African wilderness.

Once you’re with the gorillas, however, the experience is every bit as wonderful as you’ve heard, and if I based my review on the hour spent with the gorillas alone, then Volcanoes National Park would be hard to top. And of course, Volcanoes has more to offer than just gorillas and it’s these other activities that perhaps reveal the best of the park – tracking golden monkeys, bird watching, visiting local communities and, best of all, tough hikes to the misty summits of volcanoes.

This is one of the best parks in Africa if you allow sufficient time to partake in the broader range of activities on offer. The gorilla tracking itself is amazing, and with its upmarket accommodation and ease of access, it’s best suited to those who want a taste of the African rainforest without too much discomfort.

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Expert

Dale R Morris –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Dale is a multi-award-winning writer and photographer with more than 500 published magazine articles featured in magazines such as National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa, and CNN Travel.

2 people found this review helpful.

Gorillas in demand

Overall rating

4/5

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When demand outstrips supply, things tend to get pricey, and that’s what has happened in Rwanda with its gorilla trekking permits.

It has become a grade-A bucket list activity, but there are only so many habituated gorilla families available. Strict rules mean that tourist groups are limited to 8 persons, with a time limit of just 1 hour with these big and gentle apes.

The rules are there for a reason though. They prevent excessive disturbance to the apes, and even though an hour flies by all too fast, and the fee of $1,500 is astronomical, you’ll unlikely walk away from the experience feeling short-changed.

I have been lucky enough to see gorillas on numerous occasions, and it never gets old. They are almost human (only nicer) and they are, for the most part, gentle, chilled, and beguiling.

Whenever I visit Rwanda, it uplifts me to see all the tourists flocking there, spending money that directly benefits the local communities surrounding the Volcanoes National Park. Without this support, it’s highly unlikely that these charismatic and extremely vulnerable apes would have survived the onslaught of poaching and habitat destruction that nearly consigned the species to oblivion during the 1970s and ’80s.

Uganda offers a similar experience (but at half the price) and I truly hope that in the future, people will travel to other locations in Africa to see (and support) gorilla conservation initiatives.

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Expert

Ariadne van Zandbergen –

ZA

Visited: Multiple visits

Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.

3 people found this review helpful.

Rwanda’s Gentle Giants

Overall rating

4/5

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Tracking mountain gorillas is one of Africa’s top bucket-list experiences. People often ask me whether it lives up to the hype. Is it worth the money (US$1,500 for a permit in Rwanda)? My answer is always YES… Being close to these gentle giants in their wild habitat is something you’ll never forget. Such a unique experience is priceless. Although chimps are more closely related to humans, gorillas seem to connect to us more. Nothing prepares you for being stared at by a gorilla. And that is exactly what they do: they seem to be looking at us as much as we are looking at them.

I’ve been privileged to track gorillas in Volcanoes National Park more than a dozen times, and each experience has been totally different from any other. One memorable encounter was when the whole troop followed me down the mountain to the boundary of the forest on our way out. I’ve seen a conflict between two silverbacks (very scary), youngsters playing in bamboo, a mother nursing a newborn baby, and lots of other interesting interactions. Budget-permitting, I recommend booking two gorilla tracking permits on consecutive days. Just one hour spent with these fascinating primates might just feel too short.

Aside from gorilla tracking, there is lots more to do in Volcanoes National Park. Most popular is spending an hour with a troop of habituated golden monkeys. If you haven’t spent much time at altitude, this is a great one to acclimatize before your gorilla trek. The hike to Dian Fossey’s Research Station is quite easy and especially worthwhile if you’re familiar with the famous primatologist’s heartbreaking story. As a keen hiker, I also climbed Bisoke Volcano and the views of the crater lake are more than worth the strenuous ascent.

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Expert

Sue Watt –

UK

Visited: Multiple times

Sue is an award-winning writer who specializes in African travel and conservation. She writes for national newspapers, magazines, Rough Guides and Lonely Planet.

5 people found this review helpful.

Magical mountain gorillas

Overall rating

4/5

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I’m fortunate through my work to have tracked mountain gorillas six times and it never disappoints – it is the ultimate wildlife encounter. In Volcanoes National Park it’s a very smooth and well-managed operation, with strict rules to ensure gorillas aren’t adversely affected by visitors. These include – but aren’t limited to – keeping a distance of 7m from the gorillas (although gorillas don’t know this), never tracking gorillas if you have a respiratory infection or diarrhea, and never touching the animals.

Volcanoes National Park is often considered an ‘easier’ trek than those in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the other main center for tracking mountain gorillas. However, if you’re allocated to Susa B group, this may not be the case – their home territory lies high up Mount Karisimbi and it’s an exhausting hike to reach them.

Another big difference between the two parks is the cost of permits. The Rwanda Development Board unexpectedly doubled its permit price to US$1500 in 2017, while Uganda’s is US$700. Rwanda has very high end, ultra-expensive lodges, seemingly aiming to make it the ‘Botswana’ of gorilla tracking and focusing on high-income, low-impact tourism. One consequence of this is that many potential visitors have turned instead to neighboring Uganda.

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