Gorillas and more in Rwanda

Helpful tips for visiting Rwanda

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RwandaA BIT OF BACKGROUNDWe primarily went to Rwanda because it is one of only two countries where it is possible to see gorillas and is safe for tourists, the other being Uganda; the Democratic Republic of Congo also has gorillas but is not really recommended as a tourist destination.Prior to going I read several books about Rwanda and most concentrated on the time of the Genocide in 1994 so I wasn’t sure what to expect on arrival. I have an old school friend who works for the Red Cross and he said he had been several times in the last few years and found it a really safe place compared to some countries he has been. In fact he said he felt safer walking around Kigali at night...Read More

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Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Grinding Corn,Shooting arrows and Dancing"

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This is the second part of our visit to this Cultural Village.THE BLACKSMITHThis man sat in a very small hut and had a pair of bellows worked by two sticks which I had to go and try. He popped his furry hat on my head and so I looked even more ridiculous in the tent with him. Amazingly this small fire got iron hot enough the shape into different things for the villagers.GRINDING SORGHUMHaving operated the bellows so skilfully I was shown how to grind the grain on a stone and had to go and try my hand at this skill too. It wasn’t that hard to grind and so it was actually a pretty efficient method but quite hard work if you had to do any great quantity....Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 10, 2011

Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village

Rwanda, Africa

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Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Queen for half an hour!"

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Iby Iwacu Culture Village – RwandaNormally my husband and I steer clear of places like this having been caught out badly by the ‘Maori Experience’ in Rotorua, New Zealand and the Masai Village in Kenya where I had to join in the dancing, the Moroccan Bely Dance that my husband had to join in this list goes on of the cringe worthy experiences we have been forced to attend and many others where we have disappeared to the toilet just prior to them hauling people up to join in. We were rather reluctant to go to this but our guide seemed quite determined so we agreed.The Village is just outside the National Park and was set up to give poachers and their families a means of earning m...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 10, 2011

Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village

Rwanda, Africa

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Mountain Gorilla View Lodge

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Hotel | "Much more than just a huge room"

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I have described the room and the welcome in a previous reviewTHE GROUNDSThe view from our large picture window was of the mountain that was the border of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. If you climbed to the top you could stand in each of the countries but it would have been some climb as I think it is about 5,000 feet but through rainforest jungle terrain.The grounds were lovely with plants flowering, a lot of blue hydrangeas and many others that I didn’t recognise. An ibis was sitting in front of our ‘house’ on the grass and the next morning with had two large heron sitting on our roof. The sounds of animals calling in the distance plus the birds singing and sounds from ...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 10, 2011

Mountain Gorilla View Lodge
Volcanoes National Park
Ruhengeri, Rwanda

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Mountain Gorilla View Lodge

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Hotel | "Wow! What a big room!"

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Mountain Gorilla View Lodge – RwandaWe stayed here for two nights in order to see the ‘Gorillas in the Mists’. We had flown from Heathrow at 8pm via Nairobi and on to Kigali. By the time we arrived in Kigali we had been travelling about 23 hours. We then did a few things in Kigali before driving two hours to get here. We were pretty sleep deprived by the time we arrived as you can imagine so we very happy to get to the hotel.ARRIVINGAs we turned off the main road onto the driveway to the hotel we both commented in the fact that had we been driving ourselves we probably wouldn’t have driven up that road. It was rocks about 6 inches square. It really had to be seen to be believed...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 10, 2011

Mountain Gorilla View Lodge
Volcanoes National Park
Ruhengeri, Rwanda

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Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre

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Attraction | "A very Powerful Memorial"

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Genocide Memorial Centre – KigaliThe centre was set up by a joint partnership of the Kigali City Council and the Aegis Trust which is based in the UK. The Aegis Trust was the inspiration of two Jewish men after they had visited sites in Israel.The centre has a number of aims. One was to provide a respectful place of rest for the many bodies found in the area after the 1994 genocide. The second was to be a place of education so that future generations of Rwandans will not forget the atrocities and understand what families went through and by this hopefully prevent it happening again. The third was to inform abut other genocides and once educate people so that it might never happ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 9, 2011

Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre
Gisozi
Kigali, Rwanda

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La Fringale Restaurant

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Restaurant | "Eating Chez Lando"

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We stayed almost a whole night at the Chez Lando hotel prior to leaving for our flight at some ungodly hour from Kigali.DINNERDinner was part of our deal so having washed and rested for a while we made our way over towards the restaurant. What is nice about this hotel is that the bar is popular with local people who enjoy a drink or two after work and also the restaurant is used by non residents of the hotel too. We chose to eat at the restaurant as the bar was very busy and we didn’t want to sit outside in case there were mosquitoes and we hadn’t put repellent on.The restaurant was quite busy but we were seated despite being dressed like weary travellers as opposed to so...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 9, 2011

La Fringale Restaurant
Chez Lando Hotel
Kigali, Rwanda

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Hotel Chez Lando

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Hotel | "Lovely grounds and okay bedroom"

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We stayed almost a night in this hotel. We arrived about three in the afternoon and were collected for our 1 am flight at 10pm in the evening. The hotel is in a perfect location for this as it was only ten minutes drive from the airport.First impressions of the Reception area was a bit chaotic as someone was complaining about the fact that they were quoted $60 US a night and now they were saying it was $70Us. Another couple were checking in and our guide was talking to the Receptionist while he was trying to keep our passport and my husband said no he wanted it back. The area wasn’t large and there was a seating area but not really the place where you would want to sit for too long....Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 9, 2011

Hotel Chez Lando
B.P. 1519
Kigali, Rwanda

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Volcanoes National Park (Parc des Volcans)

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Attraction | "Gorillas in the Sunshine - Part 2 we get there"

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Once you find your gorilla group you stay with then an hour but no longer and this is so that the gorillas do not become stressed. All the time we were with our group the guides made happy gorilla noises to keep them feeling content. You are told that if one charges you then you should sit down and look away – easier said than done I would imagine.Our group were perfectly happy and ignored us most of the time. They continued to eat and move through the forest with us behind. Then a couple of them found a tree with huge round squash and climbed up to pick them. They then sat and turned their backs on us to eat them. A mother and her baby sat and ate close by them baby went off with her sist...Read More

Once you find your gorilla group you stay with then an hour but no longer and this is so that the gorillas do not become stressed. All the time we were with our group the guides made happy gorilla noises to keep them feeling content. You are told that if one charges you then you should sit down and look away – easier said than done I would imagine.

Our group were perfectly happy and ignored us most of the time. They continued to eat and move through the forest with us behind. Then a couple of them found a tree with huge round squash and climbed up to pick them. They then sat and turned their backs on us to eat them. A mother and her baby sat and ate close by them baby went off with her sister and Mum took a rest almost under our feet. She lay flat out and stretched her legs then had a scratch, closed her eyes and slept. At the same time the younger silverback was just to our left and he watched us for a while then decided it was all too much of an effort and he went to sleep too. He slept a bit like a cat or dog and had his nose on his arm and his back legs sort of under him so not quite as relaxed as Mum on her back spread out.

The hour we were with the group went really quickly and then we machete our way through the forest and back to the porters to collect our things. We were so lucky as we had bright sunshine all the way up the climb and with the gorillas but as we began to come down thunder could be heard. The mist came over and just before we got back to the village the rain started. The way down was quicker and less breathless making but I found it was much harder on my knees and quite slippery at times. Had it been raining I think it would have been even more slippery and certainly in the park it was very muddy in places so you do have to be prepared to get wet, muddy and also be quite sure footed. A good strong pair of walking boots is essential although one woman in our group did have trainers I think she would have really had trouble if it has been very muddy and wet.
Some tour agents seem to give better advice than others. We booked with Rainbow tours who are very knowledgeable about this part of the world and they use local tour companies such as Magic Tours in Rwanda (our guide was from Magic Tours) and Za Tours in Madagascar. We were given excellent advice on clothing, temperatures, what to expect, visas, and so much more. They other people in our gorilla group were with different companies and neither had been told about the gloves and the Australian couple hadn’t realised that walking boots were really needed so she was very lucky.

My husband said he wouldn’t bother with the gloves but as you are sliding your way over the vegetation there are some pretty big thorny plants and sting plants so I was quite glad of mine. I just took some thin leather gloves and they were perfect. The advice about blue and black clothes was pretty irrelevant as the porters all wore blue so presumably they were not bothered by tsetse flies. Some people at the meeting place were wearing bright coloured clothes and they were not turned away but I would suggest this was pretty thoughtless as they must stand out like sore thumbs to the gorillas.

WHAT DOES IT COST?
To get a gorilla permit costs $500 US per person for one visit to the park so that this is not a cheap visit. You obviously have to get to Rwanda or Uganda and stay in a hotel too. If you want to visit Diane Fossey’s grave it is a six hour trek and you have to pay $75 US so we decided to give that a miss as it was up on top of a mountain hard trekking and expensive. Gorilla trekking is not something you would do every year as it is VERY expensive but they charge that to limit the numbers and also to pay the trackers and all those employed to protect the gorillas.

GORILLA CARE
Within the park there are three types of groups. There are some groups who are protected but are pretty much left without human contact. There are those like we saw who are free to wander and live wild but are used to people visiting, they have vetinary care when needed and are pretty closely watched. There are others who are tagged and used for research they are still allowed to roam pretty freely but are much more closely monitored.

Vets from overseas often come and volunteer to work with the gorillas for the experience and presumably there are some who are on site at all times to put the volunteers in the picture.

WOULD I RECOMMEND?
Well yes whole heartedly this is something we have wanted to do for some time but the price and the difficulty getting here has always been a bit off putting. It would not be everyone’s cup of tea and certainly wouldn’t suit those whose idea of a holiday is sitting on a beach all day then the bar at night. This is the sort of holiday for people prepared to be flexible, pretty fit, and put up with a few inconveniences. However if you are keen on wildlife then I would say this is a dream holiday. The chance to spend an hour with a gorilla family in the wild and be so close that you could touch them is an experience that cannot be bettered in my view.

If you are planning a trip then do PLAN it carefully. Take the right precautions, the health advice; be prepared for less than perfect food, possibly no electricity and wifi and not least some very long flights, lots of waiting at airports and then long uncomfortable drives along very bumpy roads.

Having said all that if you are happy to be adaptable and you love wildlife and seeing creatures in the wild then this trip would take a lot of beating. Save up and go for it!
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 9, 2011

Volcanoes National Park (Parc des Volcans)
Bordering Virunga National Park
Ruhengeri, Rwanda

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Volcanoes National Park (Parc des Volcans)

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Gorillas in the Sunshine - Part 1"

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Gorillas in the MistWe came to Rwanda specifically to see the Mountain gorillas that live in the mountains shared between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In fact the hotel we stayed in ‘The Mountain Gorilla View Lodge’ looked out to the mountain that had the border of these three countries at the top. The area where we saw these wonderful creatures was in the Parc des Volcans National Park near Ruhengeri in Northwest Rwanda.BE PREPAREDPrior to leaving home we were given a list of dos and don’t s for the gorilla trek. We were advised to wear strong walking boots, warm clothes, a waterproof jacket and trousers if you wanted and to wear long socks to tuck ...Read More

Gorillas in the Mist
We came to Rwanda specifically to see the Mountain gorillas that live in the mountains shared between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In fact the hotel we stayed in ‘The Mountain Gorilla View Lodge’ looked out to the mountain that had the border of these three countries at the top. The area where we saw these wonderful creatures was in the Parc des Volcans National Park near Ruhengeri in Northwest Rwanda.

BE PREPARED
Prior to leaving home we were given a list of dos and don’t s for the gorilla trek. We were advised to wear strong walking boots, warm clothes, a waterproof jacket and trousers if you wanted and to wear long socks to tuck your trousers in. We were advised not to wear blue or black as these colours attract Tsetse flies and also not to wear camouflage colours as the army wear those. A pair of gardening gloves or thin leather gloves are also suggested as being handy when in the forest to protect your hands.
The gorillas are not found below 3000 feet and so you are walking at altitude which is more tiring and it is also quite cool and very often raining or damp and misty.

ON THE DAY
We were collected at 6.30 am from our hotel and driven to the Mountain Gorilla centre for a briefing and to be put into our groups. This seemed to take ages but we were entertained by a group of local dancers who were very good. While we were waiting there was coffee on offer, toilet and a small gift shop with postcard, books and some T shirts. We decided to forgo the coffee because we knew there were no toilets on the trek so it was a quick hide behind the bush if you needed to go.

After what seemed ages but was probably just over half an hour we were called together into our groups. We were introduced tour guide, and then each other then told which group we were going to visit. Our group was called Ugenda named after the silverback who was the boss of the group. This was quite a small group as two of the females had died. I believe there were about ten in total as a couple of the group moved between this and another group depending on their loyalties at the time. The group had two silverbacks which was unusual but the younger one had to obey Ugenda as he was the alpha male in the group.

A maximum of eight people are in each group and they assess your fitness by a quick look at you, and probably from information passed on from your guide too. We were put in the medium level group and one couple also supposed to be in our group decided they were better than that and asked to be put in a higher level group. Frankly so long as we saw gorillas we really didn’t care which group we were in but they were put in another group so we only had six people in ours which was even better. There were some pretty enormous Americans and also quite a few elderly looking fold but none were turned away and they all went off to see gorillas. Our guide did say that he saw a large woman being helped back into the lodge by a lot of people but they must have gone to the closest gorillas as this woman struggled to even walk on flat ground around the restaurant.

WE SETOFF
We got back in our own vehicle with our Rwanda guide and he drove us to the village where the trek begins which was an hour away over fairly rocky dirt roads. When we arrived at the village we met the porters and these lovely people carry your bag and help you along the way. You give them a tip of $5 at the end of the trek, as we only had one we gave her a bit more as she was very sweet. One lady in our group had a walking stick as she had a muscle wasting disease and her porter held her hand/arm the entire way and supporter her all along the route. She did very well but the guide took it pretty slowly so she could sit and have breaks as we climbed upwards. At the village they offer you a wooden walking stick to help with the walking but we declined as it was something extra to carry but the other people accepted and said that it was handy.

The first 1000 metres is all up hill and out of the National Park, it is quite a steep trek and over stony paths and rough ground. We stopped just outside the wall of the park to recover and take photos of the view. The wall entrance has a very narrow long gap so that large animals such as buffalo and elephants do not get out of the park and destroy the villager’s crops. Anyone fat might actually have difficulty squeezing through as it was a very tight fit for us and I wouldn’t describe either of us as fat!

Once in the park you are in a bamboo rainforest and initially there is a path or trail of sorts which is muddy and rough. Once you get close to the gorillas you leave your porter and everything except your camera and what you are wearing with them. You then continue with the guide and the tracker who has a gun in case you meet an angry buffalo or similar. You then are no longer on a path but you follow the guide through the bush as he machetes his way through.

I had naively imagined the gorillas would be in a clearing and we would watch from afar but no they are in the forest moving through eating as they go and we followed them, stopping when they did. We were so close we could have touched them. Obviously you do NOT touch them and in fact if you have any illness such as cold you are not allowed to go to see the gorillas as they are susceptible to human illness. You are also instructed not to spit anywhere in the National Park so many footballers would not be invited in! They also tell you not to eat near the gorillas but you can take food into the park so long as you bring back what you don’t eat. Sometimes it can take up to three hours to get to the gorillas once in the park so you could be away a long time.

In the next part we get to the gorillas! Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 9, 2011

Volcanoes National Park (Parc des Volcans)
Bordering Virunga National Park
Ruhengeri, Rwanda

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