“Before I saw my first mountain gorilla he brushed my shoulder as he bounded from the canopy above and went somersaulting down the track behind me,” says Bruce Hodge, President of 35-year-old Goway. “There was another gorilla in the undergrowth to the left and one to the right and even more in the bamboo canopy above. Wow…were we ever close!” That was last March. The place was Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, East Africa the region where Dian Fossey became famous.
Today, Goway’s AFRICAExperts offer travellers two programs where they can encounter gorillas up close. One is for 3 or 4 days and another for 6 days. “I feel privileged to be one of the very few travellers who have ever encountered mountain gorillas in their own habitat. In fact they don’t live in captivity and there are less than 700 left,” said Hodge.
In Rwanda, only 8 permits costing US$375 are issued each day to visit each of five families habituated for tourists. This means prospective visitors should book well in advance to be able to go on the day of their preference.
The trek into the volcanic slopes through bamboo and rainforest is moderately strenuous and varies in length. You spend an hour with a group of wild gorillas going about their daily social activities.
AFRICAExperts’ 4-day Mountain Gorilla Encounter features meet and greet and transfers from Kigali Airport (which is 1 ½ hours flying time from Nairobi). A city tour of Kigali includes the very moving Genocide Memorial & Education Center. Accommodation in the capital is at the first class Intercontinental Hotel or similar. Morning gorilla treks occur on days two and three and you overnight at the Gorilla Nest Lodge. Travel through the beautiful Rwandan countryside is by luxury 4WD.The per person cost is from CAD$2189 pp/twin, permits not included.
The 6 day Best of Rwanda program costs CAD$3771 pp/twin, permits not included.