Volcanoes National Park: The Complete Guide

Volcanoes National Park covers the Rwandan flank of the Virunga Massif, a chain of eight volcanoes shared between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Five of them stand in Rwanda, and the forest wrapped around their bases is one of only two places on earth where mountain gorillas still live.

It is a small park, steep and frequently wet, and it is the single reason most visitors come to the country.

The five mountains

Karisimbi is the highest at 4,507 metres and takes two days to climb. Bisoke, at 3,711 metres, carries a crater lake at the summit and can be done in a long day. Sabyinyo's jagged ridge is where the three countries meet. Gahinga and Muhabura complete the Rwandan side.

What you can do here

• Mountain gorilla trekking — the reason to come, and one strictly enforced hour with a habituated family.
• Golden monkey trekking — easier, cheaper, in the bamboo zone, and a completely different animal to watch.
• The hike to Dian Fossey's grave and the Karisoke site.
• Mount Bisoke, a long day to a summit crater lake.
• Mount Karisimbi, two days with a cold night at altitude.
• Musanze caves, a lava tube beneath the surrounding farmland.
• The Twin Lakes, Burera and Ruhondo, by boat.

Dian Fossey and Karisoke

Fossey established the Karisoke Research Centre in 1967 in the saddle between Karisimbi and Bisoke, and spent eighteen years studying the gorillas she made famous before her murder in 1985. She is buried there, beside the gorillas she studied, including Digit.

The hike to the site is shorter than a gorilla trek and steeper than people expect. It is worth doing, and it explains a great deal about why the park exists in the form it does.

Where to base yourself

Kinigi, right by the park headquarters, or Musanze town about thirty to forty minutes away. Briefings start around seven in the morning, so proximity matters more here than almost anywhere else in Rwanda.

Accommodation runs the full range, from simple guesthouses in Musanze to some of the most expensive lodges on the continent at the park gate. What you spend here is the biggest single variable in the cost of a Rwandan trip after the permits.

Getting there

• Kigali: two to two and a half hours on sealed road via Musanze.
• Lake Kivu at Rubavu: about ninety minutes to two hours.
• Akagera: five to six hours, usually broken in Kigali.

How long to stay

Two nights is the working minimum: arrive, trek, leave. Three lets you add golden monkeys, the Fossey hike or Bisoke without stacking two hard days back to back, and gives you a buffer if the weather is against you.