Overview
How to acquire Rwanda gorilla permit, Rwanda like its counterpart Uganda, it has no sea port, this small country becomes big when it comes to its tourism potentials. It out-competes many other big nations when rating what each country has on table in terms of tourist attraction Rwanda is one of the few countries in the world that houses the rare mountain gorillas. Rwanda is also ‘’the land of a thousand hills’’ due to very many hills that inhabit the country.
Countries that host the mountain gorillas
Its only three African countries that host these endangered apes the other two include Uganda and the Democratic republic of Congo, one can even combine Rwanda, Uganda and DRC on the same safaris. Gorilla tracking is Rwanda’s number one selling activity attracting a huge number of travelers who leave their beautiful homes and offices and come and spend some precious time with these apes in their natural habitat deep in the forest. Gorilla trekking activity is incomparable attracting a huge number of visitors to Rwanda. Over 80% of travelers to Rwanda go gorilla tracking in Volcanoes national park.
Volcanoes National Park
Volcanoes national park is the only remarkable park in Rwanda for hosting these endangered mountain gorillas. The park is located in the north western part of Rwanda near Lake Kivu and it’s just a drive of about 2 hours from the capital city Kigali. A professional ranger guide leads the gorilla trekking activities. All of them begin very early in the morning after a short briefing about the dos and don’ts while with the gorillas. Trekkers also get the gorilla family to trek (through allocation)and each gorilla family is for only 8 members per group.
Gorilla families
Rwanda has around 14 habituated gorilla families ready to receive visitors daily. To mention some of the habituated Rwanda gorillas include Susa Gorilla Group (Susa A Family), Karisimbi Gorilla Group (Susa-B), Sabyinyo Gorilla Group, Amahoro Gorilla Group, Umubano Gorilla Group, Agashya Gorilla Group, Kwitonda Gorilla Group, Hirwa Gorilla Group, Bwenge Family Group, Ugenda Gorilla Family.
Gorilla trekking permit
No one can enter deep into Volcanoes national park without owning a gorilla permit. Possession of a gorilla permit is a guarantee for trekking, however sighting is not a guarantee since gorillas are wild animals, they move freely in their national habitat while looking for food, and sometimes the gorillas may turn to be very violent making sighting a bit very difficult. Although this may look like this, but Chances of sighting these endangered apes are very high about 97% and above. Rwanda gorillas are habituated and they are under monitoring 24/7 by the ranger guides. They always know their whereabouts and where they were last seen. There are few cases where a visitor goes on a gorilla trekking safari and misses sighting them, thanks to the ranger guides.
Make your booking
In case you have interest in gorilla trekking, you should book your gorilla permit in advance to avoid disappointments of last minutes booking. Gorilla trekking is the most famous safari activity in Rwanda meaning very many people yearn for this activity so, gorilla permits get over easily. Book a gorilla permit from as early as at least 2-3 months prior to your trekking dates.
You can book your gorilla tracking permit either from the recognized tour and travel company organizing gorilla tours or from the tour agent, they have easy access of the gorilla permits and they are given a gig chance of purchasing and selling them in advance for over 2 month than an individual booking for themselves. Or you can book a gorilla permit directly from the Rwanda tourism board offices (ORTPN) in Kigali or direct at the park headquarters in Kinigi, although this may take long for them to book your gorilla permit for you.
Cost of a permit
A gorilla permit in Rwanda costs usd1500 per person per tracking, the fee charged includes park entrance and ranger guide fee and in case you need a porter, they are every day available at a fee of $5-10 per person, so advise in time if you will need a porter and they get one or two for you in cease needed, they help to carry your personal items including bags, camera among others.
How to acquire Rwanda gorilla permit, The procedure for obtaining a gorilla permits applies to all the three counties where gorilla tracking takes place.
Contact us to secure a gorilla permit
If you are interested in gorilla tracking please send us an inquiry on info@mumanddadugandatours.com /info@gorillasafaritrails.com and please try to specify your travel dates, year, and the number of people interested in this tour. Also indicate the days you would love to see the gorillas so that we can arrange and book them for you on that exact date if they are available. After acquiring all that information, we will go ahead and check for you whether the gorilla permits are available on those exact dates you would love to trek the gorillas.
If the gorilla permits are not available, we will as well advise accordingly and choose the nearby dates and if the permits are available on those specific dates, we will go ahead and book them for you. If it happens that the gorilla permits are available on the desirable dates we will advise you to pay accordingly because permits come on first come first serve basis.
We will send you our bank account details and make the bank wire transfer (add 20$ of the total money bank charges). Not only bank wire transfers but we do also receive money through pesapal, credit card, visa card, you will notify us on which method preferably to use. It will take about 12-24 hours from your bank to our bank, and immediately after receiving the money, we will notify you accordingly.
Conclusion
After securing the gorilla permits, we will request you to send us your passport copies. Here, we much interested in getting details of your full name nationality, and passport number. So that we have the permits booked in your real names.
Once the permits are secure we will send you a copy through an email confirming that we have fully your gorilla permits and that you are among the eight members legible to visit the gorillas per gorilla family in their natural habitat on the trekking day. Afterwards, we will be eagerly waiting to receive you on the arrival dates at Kigali International airport, or in Kigali city. How to acquire Rwanda gorilla permit
Related gorilla safaris
7 days Uganda and Rwanda fly-in safari
3 days Rwanda gorilla trekking tour
2 days Rwanda gorilla trekking safari
6 Days Serengeti and Rwanda Gorilla tracking