Rwanda is one of the three countries in Africa acting as natural habitat to the world’s endangered mountain gorillas and these live in the Volcanoes national park. Strategically lying in the Virunga Conservation area, Volcanoes national park is one of the four national parks in Africa where Mountain gorilla trekking can be carried out effectively and due to the existence of mountain gorillas, potential travelers planning gorilla safaris keep asking what could be the best time to track the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. The information given below is meant to help you known the best time to encounter gorillas on your Rwanda safaris.
In spite of the fact that Mountain gorilla trekking can be done throughout the year in Rwanda the land of thousand hills, many visitors under taking gorilla trekking safaris to Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park often like trekking the mountain gorillas during the high season in the months of June to September and then December, January and February.
In Rwanda, the first rains start coming in late February through March, April and May and therefore most of the visitors tend to ignore booking gorilla safaris to Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park for fear of trekking the mountain gorillas in the slippery, muddy and impassable trails. However, during these months, because of the rains there’s plenty of gorilla food down slope and it’s much colder on the upper slopes and hence the mountain gorillas tend to rotate on the lower slopes where they easily get food and warms. Therefore if you track the gorillas during this season, you are most likely spend less time trekking the apes – many visitors find the gorillas after 2 hours hike and by 2:00pm local time they are back to their respective lodges.
The seasonality of the tourists on Rwanda gorilla trekking safaris also depends on the general weather back in the tourism generating areas. For instance during summers season in Europe, the number of gorilla trekking safaris to Rwanda increase and then in winter season, it safaris greatly lower or decrease.
Rwanda Safaris/Rwanda Safari News
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