Kigali · Volcanoes National Park · Mountain Gorillas
One hour with a wild mountain gorilla family, the easiest gorilla logistics in Africa
5
Days / 4 nights
1 hour
With the gorillas
$5,500
From, AUD pp incl. permit
2.5 hours on sealed roads from Kigali
Getting around
This is a sample itinerary, not a package. Every lodge, day and activity can change. Get in touch and we design your trip from scratch.
An example itinerary, built to flex
There are around a thousand mountain gorillas left on Earth, and Rwanda is the simplest place to meet them. No light aircraft, no rough overland slog: Volcanoes National Park sits 2.5 hours from Kigali on sealed roads the whole way, which makes this the easiest gorilla logistics in Africa.
Five days gives the trip room to breathe. A proper look at Kigali, a buffer day before the trek so a flight delay never costs you your permit, the trek itself, and a choice day in the foothills before you roll back to the capital. Permits are capped at 96 per day and are non-refundable once issued, so the dates get locked first and the rest is built around them.
Your Trip, Day by Day
Kigali up to the Volcanoes for the gorillas, and back. Scroll the days and follow the route from the capital to the foothills of the Virungas.
Map tiles: Esri, National Geographic. Routes are indicative.
Met at Kigali International and settled into the city. In the afternoon we visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial, two to three hours that are heavy going and, in our view, essential to understanding the country you're standing in. Rwanda today makes far more sense once you've been. Dinner at the hotel, early night.
OvernightKigali Serena Hotel
A 2.5-hour drive northwest on sealed roads, climbing through terraced hills to Musanze and the wall of the Virunga volcanoes. You're at the lodge by lunch with the whole afternoon to settle in, walk the gardens and sort your kit for the morning. Trek briefing over dinner.
OvernightFive Volcanoes Boutique Hotel
The headline. At the park headquarters you're allocated a gorilla family, then trek one to four hours each way depending on where they are that morning, through farmland and into the bamboo. Then the trackers signal, the forest opens, and you spend a strict, unforgettable hour a few metres from a silverback and his family. Afternoon back at the lodge to let it sink in.
OvernightFive Volcanoes Boutique Hotel
Pick your day: hike to Dian Fossey's tomb and the old Karisoke research site, track a troop of golden monkeys through the bamboo (a shorter, lighter walk than the gorilla trek), or spend the morning at Ibyiwacu cultural village with former poachers turned guides. Plenty of our travellers use it for a second gorilla permit instead, just say so early.
OvernightFive Volcanoes Boutique Hotel
An easy morning, then the same smooth road back to Kigali. Lunch in the city, a last look at the craft markets if there's time, and a transfer to the airport for your evening departure. Or stay on the continent, more on that below.
DepartFly home or on to Tanzania
Where You Sleep
That's the mid-range default and it's a genuinely lovely base. Fancy a step up? Virunga Inn Resort & Spa adds polish at the park, and for honeymoon-level budgets One&Only Gorilla's Nest and Bisate Lodge are two of the finest lodges in Africa. We swap and re-cost on the spot.
The Investment
Twin share, excluding international flights. That includes your USD $1,500 gorilla permit, the single biggest line on the trip.
What's included
Not included
From-pricing is a starting anchor on a two-person sharing basis. Permits are capped at 96 per day across the whole park and are non-refundable once issued, so booking early matters more here than anywhere else we operate. Every Kingse quote is built live against the day's lodge and permit availability for your exact dates and group, never from a brochure.
Get this costed for your datesAdd a safari
Gorillas and the Serengeti belong in the same trip. RwandAir flies Kigali to Kilimanjaro direct, so you can finish your trek in the morning and be in northern Tanzania that evening, no backtracking through a hub. Most of our travellers bolt this trek onto the front of a week on safari, our own crew and vehicles waiting on the other side.
Start here: The Serengeti in Comfort, 7 days
Two countries, one seamless trip
Combining Rwanda with Uganda and Kenya instead? The East Africa Tourist Visa covers all three on one USD $100 sticker. Tanzania sits outside it and uses its own eVisa, we flag all of this in your pre-departure pack so you land prepared.
Good to Know
Moderately. The trek runs one to four hours each way at altitude, on muddy, uneven ground, and the length depends on which family you're allocated. If you can manage a solid half-day bushwalk you'll be fine, and we can request a closer family for anyone who needs it. Porters are cheap, brilliant and put money straight into local villages, take one.
Yes. Rwanda is consistently rated among the safest countries in Africa, Kigali is clean and orderly, and every trek is led by armed national park rangers and trackers who are with the gorilla families daily. The gorillas themselves are habituated, you keep a respectful distance and follow your ranger's lead.
Trekking runs year-round. June to September and December to February are the driest windows with the easiest walking, the wetter months are greener, quieter and the gorillas don't go anywhere. Permits sell out months ahead in the dry season, which is the real constraint on dates.
The minimum age for gorilla trekking is 15, and Rwanda enforces it strictly, no exceptions on the day. Younger kids can do the golden monkeys and the cultural village, but if the gorillas are the point of the trip, wait until everyone qualifies.
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we'll lock the permits and build the rest around them, or tweak it however you like. No obligation, no pressure, just a real quote built live.
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