Volcanoes National Park

About Volcanoes National Park

Volcanoes National Park protects Rwanda's share of the Virunga Massif, five volcanoes wrapped in bamboo and hagenia forest that shelter roughly a third of the world's remaining mountain gorillas. Trekking from the Kinigi trailheads, small groups climb the misty slopes to spend one strictly guarded, utterly unforgettable hour with a habituated gorilla family: the encounter that defines African travel for many. The park is far more than its headline act. Golden monkeys flash through the bamboo zone, the Dian Fossey tomb trail climbs to her Karisoke research site in the saddle between Karisimbi and Bisoke, and Mount Bisoke rewards a day's hike with a perfect crater lake. Add the Gorilla Guardians cultural village and the Musanze caves, and, with Kigali barely two and a half hours away, this is the world's most accessible great-ape experience.