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Tracking Gorillas in the Parc National des Volcans
Day 1
Depart at 2000 from London Heathrow Airport on Kenya Airways flight KQ101 to Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Days 2 to 5
Arrive at 0630 and connect with a scheduled flight departing at 1000 to Kigali. On arrival at 1020 you will be taken three hours through beautiful scenery to The Parc National des Volcans where you stay for four nights at Virunga Lodge (fully inclusive of meals and activities).
Parc National des Volcans is part of the Virunga Conservation Area, a region of towering conical volcanoes covered in lush afro-montane forests, watered by fast flowing rivers, which flow into beautiful lakes. This utterly remote and beautiful area is one of the last homes of the endangered mountain gorilla, of which 350 are managing to thrive on the volcano's slopes.
The Parc National des Volcans is also an excellent place for bird watching and for viewing primates and other smaller creatures, and the nature of the wildlife and, in particular, the setting contrasts spectacularly with almost all other safari destinations in East Africa.
Virunga Lodge is located on a mountainside with amazing views of the towering forested Virunga volcanoes, and Lake Ruhondo and Lake Bulera. You will stay in one of just five comfortable thatched bandas with furniture and en-suite w.c and shower with magnificent views of the forested volcanoes and surrounding lakes. In the afternoon you can explore the area around the lodge on foot.
On Day 3 you will set off with an expert gorilla tracker as part of a group of up to six people walking up the densely forested slopes of the Parc National des Volcans. Tracking the gorillas through the misty forests requires patience and stamina, sometimes walking for hours in the mud and the wet. Finally meeting them in the undergrowth is an inspiring moment. Quietly chewing away at their vegetarian delicacies, they seem like a marooned human family. The tender grooming and firm disciplining of their offspring seems all too familiar. The family cast a wary glance at the sudden human intrusion into their private world but are comforted by the clucking made by the trackers. When provoked, the noisy, but harmless silverback grunts, screeches, bares his fangs and beats his chest, before slithering off with attendant females, offspring and other mature males.
On Day 4 you can relax in the lodge admiring the spectacular views, and will be taken on a safari to see the very rare golden monkeys which only exist in this little corner of Africa. Two groups of these rare and beautiful primates live within a couple of hours walk of the camp, and you can set off with a guide to see the Sabinyo group which has about forty monkeys and, rather higher up on the slopes of the Karisinbi Volcano, there is another group of about one hundred golden monkeys.
Set off again on Day 5 with your gorilla tracker up the forested slopes, this time in search of a different gorilla family spending another unforgettable hour watching these primates chew bamboo and play. Perhaps a gigantic curious silverback will walk right up to you and look you in the eyes creating a wonderful adrenalin charged moment you will never forget.
Day 6
Today you will return late morning to Kigali Airport for a scheduled flight departing at 1350 to Nairobi. Arrive at 1610 and connect with flight KQ102 departing at 2350 to London Heathrow Airport, arriving the following morning at 0645.