I packed my bags in the spring of 2023, kissed my kids goodbye, and took a round-the-world journey to Rwanda, Africa. The quickest trip to Rwanda is typically with a stop in Amsterdam. We arrived at night in Kigali and, the next day, set off for a tour of Kigali and the National Genocide Museum. The history of Rwanda is both heartbreaking and inspiring. A country brought to its knees by genocide and human cruelty no longer resembles its ill-fated past. Rwanda is one of the cleanest countries I have ever seen, and the kindness of the beautiful people will never be forgotten. It is a country that has learned from a horrific past and will not allow history to repeat itself. As a travel advisor in Mountain Brook, AL, I often travel the world, but some trips still make my bucket list.

Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda

After some time in Kigali, our guide drove us to Volcanoes National Park Rwanda. Here, we stayed at the fabulous One&Only Gorilla’s Nest. Depending on budget, there are a few fantastic spots around the national park for travelers, some closer to Volcanoes National Park Rwanda and even some in the park.

Prepping For Our Trek

The morning of our trek, we rose early and gathered with all the trekkers. It was such a fun vibe with coffee and music. Everyone was super excited to meet their gorilla family. Our guide was amazing! He was so funny and told such beautiful stories along the way that we forgot how hard we were working along the way. Remember, the guide makes the trip!

Learn more about what to pack for Africa.

To see the gorillas in Rwanda, each tourist must have a permit for Gorilla Trekking. These permits cost $1,500 per person and must be booked at least six months in advance. Trekkers must also be over 15 years old. The cost of this permit is to support and preserve the gorillas, and there are only 96 permits available each day because they do not want too many people in their parks daily.

Meeting The Gorilla Family

For our trek, we got to meet The Muhoza Family. It is the largest gorilla family with one silverback, seven females, and nine children. Daily, a team of people goes out to locate the gorilla families. This allows the guides to take the trekkers in the right direction when they set out in the morning. The hikes vary depending on who is hiking and how intense they want it to be. Some can be quite difficult and up steep hills, while others can be long but flat. It depends on how deep in the jungle the gorilla family lives. After a few hours of hiking, our leader let us know the gorilla family was up ahead. I truly felt like a child on Christmas morning, I was so excited to see who I was about to meet. The following day, we did another hike to see the majestic Golden Monkeys! What a surprise, seeing so many in their jungle element.

Finally, we headed to West Rwanda, near the Congo border, to One&Only Nyungwe House. This hotel is situated in the amazing tea plantation country. In this area, we did chimpanzee trekking to round out our final look at primates in the wild.