Volcanoes National Park

Rwanda's gorilla-trekking park set among the dormant volcanoes of the Virunga Massif, with permits also available for golden monkey trekking.

Volcanoes National Park occupies Rwanda’s share of the Virunga Massif, a chain of eight volcanoes straddling the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Five of those peaks rise within Rwanda’s boundary, their slopes cloaked in bamboo forest lower down and Afro-alpine moorland higher up — terrain that happens to be ideal habitat for mountain gorillas, and it’s here that the species was first studied at length by researcher Dian Fossey, whose former camp still sits within the park.

Treks here tend to be shorter and less physically demanding on average than in Bwindi, since several habituated gorilla families range at lower, more accessible elevations, though conditions still depend entirely on where a given family has moved that day. Rwanda issues a limited number of permits daily, which keeps group sizes small and sightings uncrowded. Beyond gorillas, the park is also one of the very few places left where golden monkey trekking is offered, a livelier, easier-paced alternative or add-on to a gorilla permit.

Most visits are based from Kinigi or nearby Musanze, both a comfortable few hours’ drive from Kigali on good tarmac roads, making Volcanoes National Park one of the more logistically straightforward gorilla-trekking destinations in the region.

By Road

Around 2.5-3 hours from Kigali to the park headquarters at Kinigi, on paved roads for most of the route.