Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda
This may be one of our most exciting adventures we have done to date- maybe even surpasses diving with sharks… here is our trek from start to finish.. *Videos at the end*
First, as I said in our previous post we used Shadows of Africa to set up our trip. They took care of EVERYTHING including our park permit (the park permit is the expensive part of the experience- around $700 each), our accommodations, Paul, a tour guide at Volcano National Park, and most of our meals. We only had to get our visa at the airport upon arrival, and dinner one night.
We stayed at Mountain View Lodge within miles from Volcano National Park. In the morning we had breakfast (a yummy buffet) and then headed off to our trekking orientation.
When we arrived at orientation there was a nice Rwandan show for everyone to view while waiting for the guides to put us all in groups.
Then we were assigned our hiking groups. Gus, our park guide, told us a little background and what we should expect while trekking for gorillas. He told us that some treks may take longer than others, and that ours was predicted to be one of the longer ones. Groups were formed based on ability, age, etc. and from there they assigned the hike types. We were buddied up with some young Australian couples.
After the orientation we drove up a realllyyyyy bumpy road, parked our car, and headed up the volcano.
It took about 45 minutes just to get up to the edge of the park. Our group was given the Mafunzo family to trek, which was named after the silverback of the family.
It had poured the night before, so the trail was very muddy and slippery. However, the mud, the natural beauty of the jungle, and the stinging nettles (OUCH!) really added to the adventure! We were no longer in the city of Lagos- we were in a scene out of Jurassic Park.
We hiked for about 2 hours until it started pouring and we needed to stop because the trekkers could not find the gorillas. We stood under trees for cover as we waited to hear word on the Mafunzo family’s whereabouts.
We ended up having to circle back because the gorillas were later found a little further back from where we came and through the brush. Our guides cut through the grass using machetes until we were about 50 yards away from the gorillas. Some of the guides took our backpacks (totally safe) as we walked to go see the majestic animals. We were told to leave our walking sticks because they would view it as a weapon, and to leave our backpacks because they might interpret it as a bag to steal the baby gorilla.
It was still pouring at this point, but luckily I had a GoPro and Russell had a gallon sized Ziploc bag for his camera.
THIS WAS THE MOST INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!!! Completely worth the hike, the rain, and the mud. We were feet away from these beautiful human-like creatures in their natural habitat. There were about 8 gorillas in total, and we witnessed the silverback showing how strong he was by beating his chest!
Even in the rain we chose to stay for our full hour (time limit on how long you get to spend with the gorillas). We hiked back down, went back to the lodge for a well-deserved meal, and left for Lagos that night.
An important thing to consider is going during the rainy vs. dry season. It rained the majority of the time we were in Rwanda, and apparently we were lucky to see the gorillas walking around and being active while it was raining (usually they are hiding by the trees).
Russell and I would love to go back to hike for a different family in the DRY season! 🙂
Gorilla Trekking Packing List:
- Long pants
- Long sleeve (Wore a tank top underneath as well)
- Long socks
- Boots (Holly had just sneakers because her boots didn’t come in on time- and they were okay but not recommended)
- Jacket (It was cold at the start)
- Rain Jacket
- Waterproof Camera
- Gloves (We didn’t use them but was suggested)
*After our experience in the rain we suggest:
- Extra pair of clothes/shoes for afterwards
- Towel for afterwards
♥ & xx
→Check out these videos I took while on our trek!!!! Shot with GoPro 4
Silverback gorilla moves girl out of his way
Silverback beats his chest in front of Russ
