Volcanoes National Park



The intore dancers and drummers before we head out for the hike.

One of the many gorgeous trees in the rainforests of Volcanoes National Park.

The dangerous buffaloes watch us from a safe distance.

Time to eat!

The big silverback looks over the Kuryama group of gorillas.



Eating in the trees.

Being herbivores of a prodigious size, gorillas spend a lot of their day eating.



When people think of tourism in Rwanda, the number one destination is Volcanoes National Park.  It has a lot of the elements that make a successful park: only two hours on a paved road from the capital of Kigali, located amongst gorgeous tropical volcanoes, and (most important of all) has some of the last rare mountain gorillas in the world. 

Volcanoes National Park is an extremely small park, and shares a national park boundary with Virungas National Park in the Congo and Bwindi Impenetrable Park in Uganda.  These three countries have combined with various other organizations around the world to preserve the last mountain gorillas in the world.  Current estimates state that there are less than 800 mountain gorillas left.  If it wasn’t for the efforts of Dian Fossey’s studies and conservation efforts between 1967 and 1985, it is possible that the gorillas would be extinct today.  Most of Fossey’s time was spent in Rwanda at Volcanoes National Park, at a camp between Karisimbi volcano and Visoke volcano (the camp name was a combination of the two volcanoes, called “Karisoke”).  She raised awareness through her research and book “Gorillas in the Midst” which details her time and research with the gorillas.  Her death changed her novel into a movie about her life, and (combined with the poaching of other gorillas) raised further awareness for conservation efforts of these amazing animals.

The conservation is a daunting task for several reasons: poachers, land encroachment due to gorillas living in a country with a density of 600 people per square mile, and gorillas having 97% of the same genetic makeup as humans.  When visiting the gorillas, tourists can only stay for one hour due to the stress of humans being in the gorilla’s natural environment.  Tourists cannot take flash photography, must turn away and sneeze due to the fear of transmitting viruses/colds to the gorillas, and cannot eat, drink, or bring anything unnecessary around their habitat. 

My family and I visited the gorillas at the beginning of January.  It was a long climb through villages and rainforests to get to the “Kuryama” group (“kuryama” is Kinyarwanda for “to lie down”), but was well worth the $500 ticket, harsh dirt roads, and long hike.  We had a great time, but were exhausted afterwards.  Attached are pictures of our day which took place on the west side of Visoke volcano.