Gorilla Trekking Vs Chimpanzee Tracking - Rwanda Primates Safari

For decades, Rwanda has been known as the land of a thousand  hills due to the gentle slopping hills all  over the area, the country has been also known for gorilla trekking as the major attraction taking visitors to see gorilla in Rwanda Volcanoes national park part of the virunga conservation area shared across the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic republic of Congo, however, the chimpanzees in the Nyungwe national park a  tropical rain forest in the south western  part of the  country has become another interesting adventure which can be an add on to a complete Rwandan safari adventure. Both being apes and almost with the same features, many people wonder the differences between these two intriguing apes, which adventure to choose over the other. Lets look at their differences below

Trekking for gorillas in Volcanoes NP

Mountain gorillas are found in the volcanoes national park, which is only 2 hour drive from the international airport of Kigali, the rare endangered mountain gorillas are the major attraction in the national park, the park is one of the four national parks in the whole world where the rare mountain gorillas are found. The other national parks are Bwindi impenetrable forest national park and Mgahinga gorilla national park in Uganda and in the virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Trekking mountain gorillas requires advance preparations and the physical fitness of an individual, it’s a real jungle experience hiking through the thick dense rain forest before meeting these intriguing animal species taking   arrange of time between 45 minutes to 7 hours depending on the location of the mountain gorillas.

A gorilla permit in Rwanda is sold at 750usd for per person for non-nationals, 375 usd for foreign residents and 30,000 Frw for Rwandan citizens.

 Travellers can secure and buy their gorilla permits through a Rwandan based tour operator or book and pay online with the Rwanda Development Board(RDB)  http://www.rwandatourism.com/things-to-do/gorilla-tracking. Its very much advisable to book your gorilla permit at least 6 months in advance as gorilla permits are on demand and sold out at first come first serve basis.  

Visitors going on gorilla safari in rwanda are allocated gorilla families of their choice during briefing on the trekking day and here trekkers aged 45 years and above are normally allocated the nearby gorilla family.

Presently, there are only 10 gorilla families in the volcanoes national park available for trekking each family headed by a silver back who defends and protects the entire family from external attacks, a maximum of 8 people is allowed to interact with one gorilla family for a maximum of one hour keeping in mind the caution of keeping a distance of seven meters from the endangered species, this distance is due to the close relationship between human beings and the mountain gorillas that make them so susceptible to human diseases.

Trekking mountain gorillas is a real jungle as trekkers enter a thick forest of bamboo, hiking over the deep puddles of viscous mud that can block the path and passing the deep imprint of a just-missed elephant and other animal species, it is tiresome as trekkers break into real sweating, puffing and panting, however, a mere setting of one’s eyes on these magnificent mountain gorillas is a great experience one can never forget.

Chimpanzees Tracking in Nyungwe NP Rwanda

Still in Rwanda another opportunity available is the chimpanzee trekking which is so much interesting carried out in the Nyungwe forest national park in the southern area of Rwanda. The national park is the tropical rain forest in the south western part of the country which is ever green; it is a home to over 400 chimpanzees with two wild chimp communities which are the cyamdungo and the other community found around uwinka. Chimpanzee trekking is the most tourism activity carried out in the park.

For all travelers interested in trekking chimpanzees in the Nyungwe forest national park, a chimpanzee permit is sold at 100usd, only people at the 15 and above years are the only ones allowed to trek, the chimps, trekkers are reminded to keep a distance of 8 meters, switch off all the flashed cameras, avoid provoking the chimps, no feeding the rare chimpanzees and trekkers with sicknesses such as flue and cough are not allowed to trek the chimpanzees.

Note: Rwanda is a destination with more opportunities for the travelers, gorilla trekking in the volcanoes national park and chimpanzee trekking in the Nyungwe forest national park. The trekking experiences is not so different but it would be good to trek in both national parks,  chimps are trekked in the tropical rain forest of Nyungwe national park, the experience is different for the one who trekkers in the bamboo vegetation of the volcanoes national park (mountain gorillas).

Volcanoes National Park Rwanda’s oldest Silverback Cantsbee ; monitored by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund facing succession Leadership challenges

Mountain gorillas live in groups headed by a dominant male Silverback, a name derived from the silver lining that develops at the back with old age. There are many gorilla families in the mountain gorilla world which are divided across Virunga Mountain ranges and in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park in Uganda. The gorillas in Virunga Mountain ranges live in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, Virunga national park in Democratic republic of Congo and Mgahinga national Park in Uganda.

There are less than 800 mountain gorillas remaining in the world, half of which live in Bwindi impenetrable national park and the rest in Virunga mountain ranges.

Volcanoes National park in Rwanda currently has 10 habituated gorilla families for gorilla trekking in Rwanda and a number of other gorilla families still under research. On the other hand, Virunga national park has five habituated gorilla families with the rest of the groups still under research.

Research about the mountain gorillas behavior was started by American Primatologist Dian Fossey in 1967 who studied the behavior of the mountain gorillas, how they live, mate, behave in their natural wild.

Studies show that the gorillas share 98% DNA with human beings which makes them closer cousins to human beings and behave almost in the same manner as human beings.

With death of Dian Fossey in 1985, her work was carried through by the fund called Dian Fossey gorilla Fund that has continued to monitor and conserve the mountain gorillas in Virunga mountain ranges.

The dominant male gorilla called silverback will always head the group each day on where to move, and take general charge of the discipline of all the gorillas in the group. In case there is a rising conflict by another silverback, there will be a rebellion, which always lead to splitting of gorilla family with the silverback leading away the supportive gorillas to start another family.

The other way the silverback loses leadership is when there is death of the silverback or serious illness that he can no longer perform his leadership duties to steer the family. The second active silverback will take over from leadership of the group. For over the years of gorilla research and observation, that has been the way the gorilla families are led and formed up.

However, the currently, there has been a new observation on the largest group of mountain gorillas monitored by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund which has been led by a 37 year old Silverback named Cantsbee, a name given to him by Dian Fossey when he was born in 1978.

This group has 30 members now and originated from a group of 65 members which was led by Pablo before it split into two.

With Cantsbee reaching an elderly status but still healthy and strong, his leadership has come under serious challenge coming from his son Gicurasi.

This challenge has one up and down over the years as has been observed by Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

For the large part of this year, Gicurasi who is still young and energetic has taken active role in protecting the family and also performing mating duties but without official recognition from the rest of the family members.

Gicurasi has been observed crossing in front of the leader and trying to head the group. This has in several cases led to serious fights between Gicurasi and Cantsbee, the group leader and most fights have been won by Gicurasi.

Another Silverback in the group name “Kureba” who has always taken clear stance supporting Cantsbee in his leadership role has since stopped intervening in the fights between Cantsbee and Gicurasi.

Often times, Cantsbee has been seen fighting Gucurasi not to move in front of him and forcing him to the ground.

However, Gucurasi has been observed to now be supported by many group members who support him in the movements and with Cantsbee aging, he may soon give up to Gucurasi and start benefiting from subordinate position with Gicurasi being accountable for the group protection and movements.

With over 50 years of observing the behavior of the mountain gorillas, this will be the first kind of succession observed with the younger silver back taking over leadership from an existing and still active dominant silver back.

A 2016 typical Gorilla trekking Safari in Virunga Volcanoes national Park Rwanda

As you steep down from the plane at Kanombe (Kigali international airport), the only thing that goes through in your mind is what the gorilla safari in volcanoes national park will be like. The nervousness and curiosity continues until you encounter these rare apes in their natural habitants.
Though greatly negatively affected by the 1994 Rwandese genocide that claimed the lives of million local Rwandese, the people of Rwanda are very hospitable today and very determined to stay with their past no matter how bitter it is. Various memorial genocides today in Rwanda display the remaining’s of some of the people who were killed some which include skulls, many displays of exhumed dead bodies, murder weapons that were used and many others. 

These can be seen in the various genocide memorials for example the Kigali memorial genocide, the Murambi memorial genocide and many others. A visit to any genocide memorial museum assures you that Rwanda is done a lot to reach where it is now as the cleanest country on the African continent and having one of the fastest growing economies in east Africa.

From the city center, the journey to Virunga volcanoes in volcanoes gorilla national parks takes about 2-3 hours enabling you to view various attractions en route especially the large tea and coffee plantations and the gently sloping hills covered with terraced gardens of bananas and other major arable crops grown by the local Rwandese.
In volcanoes national park, you will find the Virunga lodge that offers standard luxury services. Being at the lodge gives you fresh breezes from the jungles of the evergreen forests. The lodge has standard rooms that are self contained and well decorated with clean linens. On arrival at this lodge, tourist are directed to their rooms, left to relax a little and then served dinner in a restaurant offering views of the forest. 

Sleeping early is very recommended in order to wakeup early enough for the big gorilla trekking day the next morning. You are then woken up as early as 5:00 am for and early morning breakfast. You then head to the volcanoes national park head quarters at Kinigi for briefing. This from Virunga lodges takes approximately 40 minutes drive. On arrival, you are greeted and subdivided in to groups of 8 to track the various gorillas groups in the national park.

The groups are allocated to the different guides and the specific gorilla families each group will be tracking. You are then briefed about the trek and codes of conduct while in the forest especially keeping a reasonable distance from the mountain gorillas.
There are 10 habituated gorilla groups in volcanoes national park and only 8 tourists visit each group a day. Gorilla group allocations are based on the tourists’ physical capabilities and preferences. Some tourists prefer to trek gorillas that are hard to find while others like trekking gorillas that can be got after short times of tracking like 30 minutes.

You are then led to the thick forests with great views of other wildlife species like birds and different vegetation types as you look around for your gorillas group. Walk sticks, strong shoes or boots and long pants and long sleeved t-shirts are very essential for successful gorilla trekking in Rwanda forest. The long sleeved pants and t-shirts enables you to easily move through the thorny vegetation without being scratched or pierced and the shoes or boots makes it easy to cross from one muddy slope to another.

As you approach the gorilla groups, you are reminded of the instructions especially keeping a reasonable distance away from the gorillas, avoiding the use of flash photography when taking mountain gorilla photographs, avoiding making a lot of noise and keeping all kinds of snacks and food away from the gorillas.

Seeing and getting to close to these apes as they relax in the bushes leaves you astonished and amazed by God’s great work. Without being disturbed by humans’ presence, the mountain gorillas continue feeding as the young ones play around. The sliver back however always keeps a close look since he is the head of the family with an important role of protecting the female and young mountain gorillas from any intrusion of their territory. You are given an hour to view the gorillas as you take as many photographs as you wanted. The park authorities give an allowance of an hour in order to minimize impacts and disturbances of the mountain gorillas as well as reducing chances of disease spread and exposure of sickness to the highly endangered animals.

Sadly the hour ends within a blink of an hour and as much as you would want to remain with the gorillas, you are not allowed to do so. You are led back to the park headquarters to be given your certificates of participation. Gorilla permits are sold at $750 and can be obtained from the Rwanda Development Board offices in Kigali or from a trusted tour operator.
For successful gorilla safari expeditions in Rwanda, I highly recommend Africa adventure safaris limited a safari company that has over the years enabled tourists to carry out gorilla safaris in the land of a thousand hills.