Silverback Gorilla, Rwanda

Dominic is a Naturetrek tour leader and one of Britain's
best known and most prolific natural history writers.

Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas are found in Volcanoes National Park, within the Virunga Mountains on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is in the north-west of this country, only two hours by road from the Rwandan capital Kigali. The park is famous as the site where Diane Fossey carried out her pioneering studies on Mountain Gorillas and brought their plight to the world. It is a lush rainforest above farmland, within rough and hilly terrain. Other highlights include the very rare Golden Monkey as well as a fabulous range of birds.

Gorilla trekking is a relatively arduous activity, often involving long walks over difficult terrain to find one of the eight groups of habituated animals. Very early in the morning you meet at the park headquarters and are allocated one of the groups to find, together with porters, if required. The walk begins in the surrounding farmland but you soon enter the forest, where the vegetation can be thick and difficult, while the hilly topography and thin air can present a challenge. It can take anything from less than an hour to several hours to find your Gorillas, and once you meet them you have a magical hour to enjoy in their presence, cameras clicking!

You can go at any time of year, since the equatorial climate is stable and temperatures don’t vary much. Heavy rain may fall at any time. Much of Volcanoes National Park is above 2500m, so the air has a fresh feel.