The part nobody describes
Everybody shows you the hour. Here are the three before it.
Not to put you off — every couple we have sent said it was worth it. To make sure you schedule it as what it is.
The morning
You are at the park headquarters by seven. There is a briefing, and groups are allocated to families — eight visitors per family, and the allocation takes account of fitness if you say something, which is a reason to say something.
Then a drive to a trailhead, and you start walking.
What the walking is like
- Altitude. Roughly 2,500 to 3,000 metres, which makes the same walk noticeably harder than at sea level.
- Gradient. Steep, and sustained. This is the side of a volcano.
- No path, often. Trackers cut through vegetation with machetes and you follow in single file.
- Mud. Difficult to convey. People describe it afterwards as the muddiest they have ever been.
- Stinging nettles, which is why gloves are on the packing list.
- Unknown length. Twenty minutes or four hours each way. The family moved overnight; the trackers radio its position but it changes.
The hour
You stop, leave the bags, and walk the last stretch with nothing in your hands. Then one hour at about seven metres.
Infants play and tumble. A blackback watches you. The silverback, almost always, ignores you completely — and that indifference is the thing most people find affecting, because it is not a performance and you are not the point of it.
The hour is strictly enforced. It goes very fast.
Fitness, honestly
It is not a technical climb and there is no time pressure — the group moves at the pace of its slowest member and the guides are entirely unhurried about that.
What it asks for: the ability to walk uphill on uneven, slippery ground for a couple of hours, and to keep going when it stops being fun. People in their seventies do it. People who train regularly find it harder than they expected, because altitude does not care about your gym.
Take a porter
Inexpensive, and worth it for three reasons. They carry your bag. When a slope is genuinely bad they will take your hand and pull you up it, without being asked and without making anything of it.
And the money goes directly to people living around the park, which is the mechanism that makes the conservation work — a community with an income from gorillas protects them.
There is no argument against, and you should take one each rather than one between you.
What to bring
| Item | Why |
|---|---|
| Waterproof walking boots, already broken in | Ankle support and grip. Trainers are not adequate. |
| Gaiters, or trousers you can tuck into socks | Mud, and fire ants |
| Gardening gloves | You will grab vegetation and some of it stings |
| A waterproof jacket | It rains most months |
| A warm layer | It is cold at the start and hot an hour in |
| Water and a snack | It may be four hours before you are back |
| A camera you can work one-handed | The other hand will be holding something |
| A dry bag or liner | For the camera, in rain that arrives quickly |
Scheduling it
The single most useful thing on this page.
- Never the morning after a long-haul flight. A night in Kigali costs less than a compromised trek.
- A soft day before, to arrive and settle at altitude.
- A soft day after, because you will be tired and elated in roughly equal measure.
- Three nights at Volcanoes rather than two, which is what makes both of those possible.
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