Volcanoes National Park

The #1 attraction for tourism to Rwanda is Volcanoes National Park and its Mountain Gorillas. The park forms the Rwanda section of the Virunga Mountains which spans across Uganda, the DRC and Rwanda. The mountain range encompasses six active and three extinct volcanoes and, of course, is home to about half of the remaining Mountain Gorilla’s which are the star of the show. The area was made famous for its long history of Gorilla conservation and was the base for Dian Fossey, the primatologist. Her grave is located here and its possible to hike to the location in honour of her great work.

Today, the conservation of Gorillas continues to be a success, with the numbers slowly climbing but they are still far from being out of harms way. Due to the pressures on Gorillas from habitat loss in the region, the cost of viewing them on trekking experiences is quite steep (USD$1500 per person) with all proceed going directly into their protection and into the surrounding local communities. Tourism thus plays a major role in the protection of these Great Apes and one should rather view the cost of trekking for Gorillas as a direct contribution to their continued survival.