4 DAYS GORILLA TRACKING AND| GOLDEN MONKEY TREKKING RWANDA
This Gorilla trekking tour takes you to Rwanda’s most visited national park -Volcanoes NP which is also known as Parc Des Volcans. This park is famous for having been a research area for Dr. Dian Fossey which is now known as the Karisoke Research Centre. Dr. Dian established and founded the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda’s Virungas Mountains in 1967, to safe guard and examine the rare and then threatened mountain gorillas. Although her life was short lived, the Karisoke Research Center continued with the work and it had developed into conservation labors for other wildlife and initiatives for people who stay near the Mountain gorillas. You will indulge into two trekking tours in this park which are both strenuous but feasible .
Day 1- PICK – KIGALI CITY TOUR – TRANSFER TO MUSANSE( FORMALLY KNOWN AS RUHENGERI).
Our tour guide will pick you up from Kigali. If you arrive early enough, you will go for a Kigali City tour . Visit the Genocide memorial . Note that the memorial centre is never open on Rwanda’s bank holidays so this is only possible if it is a working day . The Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre was launched in April 2004 on the 10th Centenary of the Rwandan Genocide. The Centre is set on a spot where more than 250,000 people were buried. These graves are a lucid aide memoire of the cost of ignorance.
The Centre will always be an everlasting monument to those who fell victim to the genocide and works as a place for people to mourn the loved ones that they lost. Stories of what happened will be narrated to you .
You will later transfer to Musanze for dinner and over night at
Budget- Kinigi Guest House
Moderate- Gorilla View Lodge / Gorilla Nest Camp/ Hotel Gorillas/ Le Bambou Hotel.
Luxury- Sabinyo Silver Back lodge / Virunga Lodge
Day 2- GORILLA TRACKING IN RWANDA AFRICA.
You will take an early morning breakfast and then your guide from AA safaris and tours will pick you up and take you to the starting points of gorilla tour after clearing with ORTPN . Leave the formalities at Ortpn to the guide because he has the experience. You will then go gorilla tracking in Rwanda’s Volcanoes Np.
Trek the gorillas through the light mountain rain forest on the slopes of the Virungas a memorabl experience. The time taken to do the trek and encounter the gorillas is unpredictable but the chances of finding gorillas are 90% . On encounter with the gorillas, you will be allowed to spend an hour with them . Return to the lodge for a late lunch! You are advised to take packed lunch/ enough snacks because some gorilla families are more indefinable and gorilla tracking may take a full day, especially when it is rainy or Muddy. Return to your lodge for dinner and over night at the lodge or your budget.
Day 3- GOLDEN MONKEY TREKKING RWANDA
Wake up relatively early for breakfast and then again assemble at Parc des Volcans ‘ ORTPN offices for briefing and formalities for this time Golden monkey trekking. You will then start the search for golden monkeys in the forest . The Golden Monkey is the is a sub-species of the Blue Monkey which is only found in the bamboo forests of the Virunga volcanic chain that bestrides the three countries of Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC. The search will give you an array of encounters of other primates in this forest before encountering Golden monkeys. The golden monkey scientifically known as Cercopithecus mitis kandti is an erratic and inimitable primate . Just like its great ape relatives-the mountain gorillas, the golden monkeys can only be found in three countries Rwanda, Congo’s Virunga National Park as well as Uganda’s Mgahinga National Park which are all found on the foothills of the Virunga Volcanoes. The Golden monkeys weigh 10 – 25 pounds, have a golden coloured body, cheeks and tails with black limbs. It also has a crown on its head and tail end. The number of Golden Monkeys harboured in this region has never been well established , yet researchers believe that they are among the threatened primates species since they face the same problems just like the Virunga Mountain Gorillas . They are threatened by poachers , snares set for small antelopes, people entering their habitat for firewood among others. Golden Monkeys are somehow not easy to take catch on camera however , you are advised to use a fast shutter speed and low light since you are in a dense forest .Golden Monkey tracking is a vivacious experience, not to be missed by those interested in Chimpanzee and Gorilla tracking in Uganda and Rwanda. On encounter , just like after gorilla tracking , you spend an hour with them and you may get a close look at the golden monkeys in their natural habitat. You can see them play in the bamboo forest. It is an exhilarating experience to see mothers carrying their children just like human- Other golden monkeys are found feeding on bamboo leaves and totally at ease while you enjoy watching Africa’s only left few golden monkeys.
If your Golden Monkey trekking ends early , you may go for an optional visit to the beautiful twin lakes of Ruhundo and Bulera at an extra cost as advised by your tours consultant in AA safaris and tours ltd.
Retire for dinner and over night at the lodge of your budget .
Day 4 – Transfer to Kigali .
Having experienced an awesome adventure in Rwanda the country of the Thousand hills, you will leave Musanze for Kigali . If you missed your city tour on day 1, you will be taken for a city tour in Kigali before you proceed to the airport for your next flight back home .
End of the 4 days Rwanda gorilla trekking tour Africa.
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