Daily Departures  

There may be nothing as exciting in the wild as trekking to see the mountain gorillas. The hour spent with these gentle giants is remarkable for the scenery, the joyous story of this conservation effort, and most of all, the unbelievable ability of man and beast to sit virtually within touch of each other! This program can be easily appended at either the beginning or the end to virtually any other safari in East Africa.

Mountain gorillas are found in two locations in East Africa, here in Parcs de volcans in Rwanda, and in Bwindi in Uganda. The experience in Parcs de volcans is far superior to Bwindi. The scenery, the number of gorillas, the travel to and from the park, is all better, easier and more rewarding in Rwanda than Uganda. For details of the actual trek and encounter, please read the description below.

The prices include: ** One permit for one gorilla trek; ** Meals as detailed in brackets following each day's description below; ** All park entrance fees, VAT and other government taxes; ** Comprehensive pre-trip material with discount coupons for travel gear and equipment. Additional expenses not included: - Meals not included; - All beverages; - Requisite visas and other travel preparations like inoculations; - Tipping.

Contact EWT for the best international air fares and for recommendations on how to use your frequent flyer miles.

After an early breakfast, you will be driven to the park headquarters, where all those travelers holding permits are assigned to one of the seven gorilla families habituated to tourists. Persons with any obvious illnesses such as a cold will be denied the experience and the cost of the permit forfeited. (In 1988, tourists transmitted human measles to the gorilla population, resulting in the necessity that every baby gorilla now be vaccinated against the disease. Several times over the last several decades, human influenza has decimated certain gorilla families.)

There are currently 65 permits issued daily and usually they are sold out well in advance. Rangers study the visitors, deciding which travelers are more fit and better able to tackle the more distant families. Please don't disguise your fitness! The longer and more difficult treks are usually the more beautiful ones.

Travelers are then assigned into groups of six or seven with a trained ranger. Depending upon which family is going to be visited, vehicle transfers are required to certain volcano bases. The trek begins on established walking tracks and may then veer overland over farmer's fields. At the forest's edge, the guide assembles the group and instructs them regarding the visit. Visitors are required to maintain a distance of 20 feet from the gorillas (although that is often up to the gorillas), to remain silent, to move slowly and to assume certain precautionary positions in the event of a charge. The ranger knows his particular group well, and will discuss current behaviors. Note that all the rangers speak French, and that only a certain number speak English. English groups are, of course, directed to the English-speaking rangers, but this cannot always be guaranteed, depending upon the overall makeup of that day's guests.

The ranger and his trackers know where the gorilla family was the night before, and this is where the trek heads. It is then a simple matter of following their trail. The object is to meet up with the family about mid-morning, a traditional time when they cease feeding and rest for about an hour. Most gorillas feed "on the run", so to speak, and they are able to move through the forest much more easily than we can! Some gorilla treks find the families in a half hour or less at lower elevations. Some have recorded treks for as long as nine hours into elevations as high as 11,000'.

The average trek takes 2-3 hours and usually finds the family around 8,000'. The ranger carefully positions everyone, and the hour's experience begins. This, too, is as varied as the animals themselves. Often juveniles are very active, not needing the rest that the aggressively feeding adults require. Close encounters with visitors are frequent, although discouraged, but rarely aggressive or violent. Nonetheless, these are extremely powerful animals, and over the half century of being studied in the field, about a dozen researchers and tourists have been killed and injured. Statistically, this looks favorable when compared with tourists and bears in, for example, American national parks.

After the visit the descent is always much easier than the ascent and can take a fraction of the morning's travel time. A meadow is located on the way down, and the porters provide the box lunch. Usually, visitors are back with their vehicles before 2 p.m. although depending upon your individual trek this could end up being much later. You will then be transferred back to Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

You'll be privately transferred from any place in Kigali city or from its airport to Parc de Volcans. This is spectacular drive. Almost the entire country is 5-7,000 feet high, and incredibly lush. You arrive the outpost of Kinigi for your overnight at Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge. There are walks in the area, as well as visits that can be arranged to the research facilities and nearby town. Dinner at the lodge.  [ - -d]

After breakfast you'll be taken to the airport for your departure from Rwanda.  [b- - ]

END OF EWT SERVICES

Another full day of gorilla trekking in Parc de volcans. With eight habituated gorilla families it is unlikely that you'll visit the same family, and it's likely that you'll even trek on a completely different volcano! At the end of the day you return to Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]