Volcanoes national park in Rwanda
This park is one of the three gorilla destinations located on the Virunga massif at the Rwanda in Ruhengeri. This is undoubtedly the most popular park of Rwanda. Volcanoes has the largest number of mountain gorillas on the Virunga massif and almost a third of the world population i.e. 320 gorillas. Volcanoes National Park has so much rich history about mountain gorillas as the famous primatologist Diana Fossey carried out most of her gorilla research in this biodiversity.
In this wonderful protected montane forest, seven habituated gorilla families exist. Gorilla trekking in volcanoes national park is much easier than any other destination as accessibility from the capital city of Rwanda Kigali is short as it only takes 2 hours by a vehicle to reach it.
More so, the gorillas in volcanoes national park are more habituated than in any other destination as these were habituated way back in the 1940s when Diana Fossey was doing her research on the huge primates. Still in volcanoes national park a visit gets a great depth of information about the history of gorilla and their lifestyle by visiting the Karisoke research institute that was established by Diana Fossey in the 1940s.
How to reach Volcanoes National Park
Volcanoes national park is situated in the north eastern part of Rwanda at the border of Uganda and DR. Congo; it is a two and half hour drive from Kigali the capital of Rwanda to Musanze district where the national park and the distance between Musanze Ruhengeri and Kigali is around 80 km by the main road. Due to the short distance of travelling to the gorilla habitats from the capital, this makes gorilla trekking in Rwanda at volcanoes national park much easier and quicker than Bwindi in
Tour operators in Rwanda also have a one day gorilla trek package for their client which is not the case with Uganda where you has to take a minimum of two days for an entire gorilla safari trip. Even though on a shoe string budget can easily access the park as they can catch up a matatu taxi (mini bus) from Kigali to Ruhengeri town.