Are you looking for something to do in volcanoes national park? The park provides different activities that make you relax, explore, and enjoy your vacation in Rwanda. Watch out for the best activities in Volcanoes national park and how best they can be done in this article.
Activities in Volcanoes national park refer to things that a traveler/tourist can participate in when they visit Volcanoes national park. These are the reasons why tourists travel from their country of origin to volcanoes National park. Without these vital happenings, it would be impossible for travelers to be entertained or interested in the park. Numerous unique activities in Volcanoes National park provide tourists with all that they need to stay joyful at the park. African Adventure Vacations provide you with the list of tourism activities that might make your safari worth pleasurable in volcanoes National park
Mountain gorilla Trekking
This is an amazing activity that enables travel or tourists to move on foot into the forest in search of the endangered mountain gorilla families that are well habituated and once sighted they spend 1 hour with them in their natural home. Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda shelter about 18 gorilla families.
Tourists are allowed to trek only twelve gorilla families out of 18 habituated families found here while 6 gorilla families are reserved mainly for research purposes. The activity of gorilla trekking starts in the morning with a briefing from the tour guides about the does and don’ts while trekking gorillas. After this session, you will be grouped into 8 people and assigned a professional guide and the activity commences.
Gorilla trekking in volcanoes national park takes about 30 to six hours depending on the location of the trekked gorilla family and once the family is spotted you will be allowed to only spend 1 hour with it while learning more about behaviors, way of life in wildness and taking photos. It costs 1500 United States dollars per gorilla permit per person and part of this money is sent to the local development and infrastructure development around the park.
Golden monkey trekking
This is also another important activity that is done in the Volcanoes National Park. Volcanoes National Park houses two habituated families of golden monkeys that can be accessed by tourists for trekking. Like the gorilla trekking, golden monkey trekking starts early in the morning with a briefing from the park headquarters.
After the briefing, you will be allocated a tour guide who will show you the best trail to use to trek the gorillas. The activity takes between 30 minutes to 4 hours and once the trekked family is seen you will be allowed to spend only 1 hour while interacting with it as you enjoy good photo moments and learning behavior and lifestyles of these magnificent golden monkeys in Volcanoes National Park.
Bird watching
Bird watching activity in Volcano National Park is the most attention-grabbing and fascinating activity for birders and other tourists coming to the Volcanoes National Park. The Volcano National Park is also known as birders paradise apart from other prominent activities attractions it encompasses such as golden primate tracking as well as gorilla trekking.
Bird watching activities in Volcano National Park are facilitated by the presence of over 200 discrete bird species of which 27 of them can only be spotted here whereas sixteen are endemic to the volcanoes in the Virunga ranges of mountains.
For visitors/ birders to Volcano National park for Bird watching activity expect to see different bird species which among the most notable ones include; the Archer’s ground robin, Cinnamon bracken warbler, Grauer’s rush warbler, Rwenzori batis, White-tailed blue-flycatcher, Black and white manikin, strange weaver, collared Apalis, francolins among others.
To have a better birding experience in Volcano National Park, our clients should travel/move on birding safaris well prepared with high-quality binoculars, pointers, sturdy hiking shoes, a birder’s book, drinking water, snacks, and insect repellant.
Volcano Climbing
Rwanda is popularly known as the land of thousand hills offering magnificent best sceneries of folded hills to visitors on the African continent. The destination of Rwanda is well-positioned in the Virunga mountain region embracing the volcanic mounts as a result of vulcanicity that further led to the formation of eight (8) volcanoes well sheltered in the great Virunga Massif block.
It is because of this, that volcanoes national park provides the best destination for mountain climbing because of different volcanoes that the park harbors. If you need hiking you can do it from the following mountain volcanoes of volcanoes national Park;
Hiking Mt Karisimbi Volcano
Mt Karisimbi is a defunct Volcano that is highest among the volcanoes and its raised to 4,507meters. Hiking this Karisimbi Volcano is one of the best and among popular tourist activities in the Musanze province of northern Rwanda. Given its raised height, you need to be determined and physically strong to succeed.
Hiking this volcano entails moving through the forested before steep slope where they can relax to prepare for the next move. Hiking Karisimbi volcano will provide the hikers the outlooks of volcanoes national park, the snow-capped Ruwenzori dubbed the mountains of the moon in addition to Nyiragongo.
Hiking Mt Bisoke
Similar to Karisimbi is also an extinct volcano that forms a block of the Virunga ranges of several mountains. To reach this Volcano it will take you about three hours’ drive from Kigali capital city of Rwanda. You will need to pay around 75 United States dollars for hiking services of this volcano mountain. All activities start from the park headquarters wit briefing from the well-experienced tour guides about the does and don’ts.
Mt Muhabura hikes
Mt Muhabura is one of the fabulous magnification and adventurous volcano for travelers to hike whenever you visit Rwanda as your destination especially to volcanoes National Park. The Volcano stands at 4,127 meetrs and you start slowly at about 1200 meters and by the time you ascend to the peak, you have to experience the wider views of Virunga block with its magnificent land scopes.
Visitors can as well use one day for a Visoke hike, though it can be hiked for one day it’s a bit enthusiastic and you need to trust your fitness. You will spend 6 hours to reach the peak of this mountain and return to the starting point.
While hiking all these volcanoes you will be able to spot different wildlife animals which among others include the forest buffaloes, primates such as monkeys and warthogs. Book with Africa adventure vacations for the details.
Village/community encounters
This is one of the best activities enjoyed by tourists in the Volcanoes National Park. As visitors participate in this activity, they will get a chance to interact with local people living close to the park. Most tourists during this tour Ibyiwacu cultural village where they can learn the traditional style of living of people, local food, and local artifacts among many things. You can as well visit the king’s home, listen and participate in traditional music and dance called Entore, listening to stories and learn how local brew from bananas is made locally as well as being entertained by locals performing traditional dances and music.
Adventure tours to Dian Fossey tombs
This is the most interesting adventure hike in volcanoes national park, where you will take hike via in the middle of the jungle up to the grave of the Dian Fossey and have a clear view of it. Dian Fossey is one of the prominent primatologists in Africa all the time. She was behind the conservation efforts of mountain gorillas which reduced poaching of gorillas by the local community. She was murdered as she was carrying out her research on mountain gorillas in 1986. And as of today, very many people pay tribute and homage to her grave and it was turned as a great tourist attraction in Rwanda.
This hike lasts for about three hours and it provides spectacular views of primates, vegetation, tree species, and the grave of a great friend of Dian Fossey and other graveyards of about twenty gorillas killed by poachers.
All of the above activities in volcanoes National park can be done throughout the year but the best time to travel to this park is always in the dry season which happens in June to September then December up to the start of February. Book as soon as possible with African Adventure vacations for volcanoes national park memorable experience.