Rwanda is a beautiful country situated south of the equator, it is commonly referred to as the land of a thousand hills five of the series of the great Virunga Mountains are placed in the country and also being shared with the neighbouring states of Uganda and the democratic republic of Congo, it has an extra ordinary range of wildlife and landscapes despite its small size. Popular destinations in Rwanda include volcanoes, Nyungwe, Akagera national park, Lake Kivu, and the Kigali city. Due to the COVID 19 outbreak, the country suspended gorilla trekking activities till further dates.
Tourism in Rwanda is one of the big sources of revenue, the country’s projection of over 800million USD by 2024 all put on hold due to the spread of the COVID 19 as all of the tourism activities are suspended including airports being closed, Rwanda Development Board was forced to close and suspend all gorilla trekking activity in order to protect the critically endangered species of the mountain gorilla population living in the volcanoes national park, as a result of the pandemic tour operators and travel agencies were advised to reschedule gorilla permits to 2021 and 2022 with no penalties and extra charges. During the closure, Rwanda has come up with strategic ideas to mitigate the spread of the virus for example deploying the use of robots to monitor patients and take temperatures, supporting local communities and improving on the domestic tourism in the post COVID 19 recovery, the Rwandan government plans to give loans of beneficiary to tour operators.
Gorilla safaris in Rwanda are luxury safaris worth not missing on a bucket list, meeting the mountain gorillas (gorilla beringei) is an approximately 3 hours’ drive to the volcanoes national park a continuation of the Virunga mountains in Rwanda , the park interconnects with the Mgahinga national park in the western part of Uganda. Mountain gorillas live with the thick bamboo forested areas the magnetic creatures don’t live in captivity and are herbivorous feeding on plants and mushrooms. Tracking is done in groups of eight led by a well-trained ranger guide. There are rare cases of the visitors not being able to see gorillas at the end of the trek in this situation they are allowed to track the following day without being charged.
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda begins at the Kinigi park headquarters where traveller are briefed on the do’s and don’ts, guidelines while with the mountain gorillas, it is advisable to carry permits, avoid eye contact with the mountain gorillas, keep a 7 meter distance rule, avoid flash photography, carry warm clothes, water prof covers for phones and cameras. The Rwandan permit was hiked to 1500USD in order to promote conservation, and support the local communities which automatically qualifies the destination a luxury safari. Tailor made trips can be organised depending on the number of days one wishes to spend in the field. It is important to purchase permits prior to the tracking date for convenience.
Please book with Lionking safaris Uganda.