The Volcanoes National Park is one of the most popular destinations that attract visitors all year round. Situated in Northern Rwanda, the bamboo forested park draws thousands of travelers thanks to its healthy population of the endangered mountain gorillas. The mountain gorillas live in the high altitudes of Volcanoes National Park, where tourists hike to encounter these Giant Apes.
The Volcanoes National Park covers an area of 160 square kilometers, and is situated about 105 kilometers West of Kigali town. With this short distance of Kigali to the Park, it is about 2-3 hours drive to Volcanoes National park. This magnificent Park was gazetted in 1925, making it one of the oldest Parks in Africa.
Where is the Volcanoes National Park?
Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda is lying in the Ruhengeri area, and forms part of the Virunga Conservation Area (VCA) in the far Northwest. Besides Parc National des Volcans, other protected areas that make up the VCA include Uganda’s Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Virunga National Park in the D.R. Congo.
The iconic attractions in Volcanoes National Park and the rest of the Virunga Area are the mountain gorillas. About 30% of the existing 1063 mountain gorillas on earth reside within Volcanoes with currently 12 habituated gorilla groups all open for tourism thus making it a must-visit park for gorilla trekking.
Gorilla Trekking
Rwanda is one of the only three destinations where mountain gorilla trekking is conducted. Gorilla trekking is therefore the key reason as to why thousands of tourists flock Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park.
There are currently twelve habituated gorilla groups in Volcanoes National Park hence Rwanda Development (RDB, the governing body) sells a maximum of 80 gorilla permits per day (based on the maximum of 8 persons who can visit the group).
On a gorilla safari, tourists are allowed to spend only one hour with the mountain gorillas but the process of tracking can take between 30 minutes and over 6 hours before the gorilla group is sighted.
