Rwanda's gorilla trekking in the Virunga volcanoes — Dian Fossey's forest, the most accessible mountain gorilla habitat on earth, and the most extraordinary conservation success story in Africa
Volcanoes National Park (160 sq km, northwestern Rwanda on the borders of the DRC and Uganda, part of the transboundary Virunga Conservation Area that also includes Mgahinga Gorilla NP in Uganda and Virunga NP in DRC) protects the Rwandan portion of the Virunga volcanoes — the chain of eight volcanoes (five extinct, three active: Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira in DRC, Karisimbi at 4,507m is the highest in Rwanda) that form the most famous mountain gorilla habitat on earth. The Rwandan gorilla trekking program (Rwanda Development Board issues permits at USD 1,500/person — the most expensive gorill…
The Virunga volcanoes' human history includes the Batwa/Twa pygmies (who inhabited the Virunga forest before the Bantu agricultural expansion and were displaced from the Rwandan Volcanoes NP at its establishment in 1925 — the Volcanoes NP is the oldest national park in Africa), the Rwandan monarchy (the Mwami — the Rwandan king — maintained the Volcanoes forest as a royal hunting ground before colonialism), and the German colonial administration (the Deutsch-Ostafrika administration established the Parc National Albert, spanning the current Rwanda/DRC/Uganda park complex, in 1925). The mounta…