With so many destinations to choose from in Africa, here is some information about why you should go on gorilla safari holiday in Rwanda. Rwanda being “The Land of a Thousand Hills,” it is landlocked country located in East Africa bordered by the Uganda in the north, Democratic Republic of Congo in the west, Burundi in the south and Tanzania in the east.

On your day of gorilla trekking, you must get up early, carry your passport, gorilla permit with you as you leave your hotel that morning and make sure you have packed all the necessary gears like gloves, trekking boots, long sleeved wear, rain jackets, snacks, packed lunch, walking stick and water among others. This is what you should come with on the day of gorilla tours in Rwanda. You head to the park headquarters for an early morning pre- tracking briefing by the park warden.

Your gorilla permits will be cross checked with your passports early to verify that you are the right owner of the permit. At this moment, a cup of tea or coffee is served as you are being entertained by the local traditional Kinyarwanda dancers to give you a good start of a strenuous exciting day; this is done before the guide ranger gives you tips on how to conduct yourself on this gorilla trek.

After you are grouped in groups of maximum of 8 people and each group is assigned a one gorilla family to trek. Rwanda has 10 habituated gorilla families, hence 8 people each are the ones allowed to track on a particular day. Assigning a group highly depends on the fitness and age of the clients. For example those above 45 years and the ones with less fitness are assigned the easy gorilla families to find. However those with special interest about special groups may inform their guides to help them negotiate with rangers before assigning the groups such that they may be assigned those specific groups too.

Each gorilla tracking group consists of a main guide and two scouts, one walking in front and another behind the group. The reason for this is to protect you against the wild animals in the forest. These guides are trained to fire shots into the air first in order to scare away the animals but, it is done on rare occasions. The group will also have on trackers who will have been sent in the early morning to find the location of your specific gorilla family and to access where they may be headed. Trackers communicate the gorillas’ movements to the guides so he can decide on the best approach to meet the gorilla family. Please I advise you to hire a porter at $15 to $29 USD depending on what he going to carry.

The hours spent looking for gorilla is unpredictable depending on how far the gorillas have moved being wild animals. It may take from 2 hours to 7 hours to find your gorilla family.

Hiking in the forest with uncertainty about what to see is a characteristic of any African adventure. However the apprehension habitually shines once your eyes are set on a group. Once your group finds the gorilla family, the clock starts ticking. You are advised to stay quiet, move slowly and avoid sudden movements in order not to irritate the gorillas. The gorilla group will be spread over a minor zone of dense foliage. These giants will continue with their exchanges and also eat their food putting less concern of their visiting tourists though they will be noticing you with keen interest.

All you need to do is to prepare your cameras and get ready to take as many photos as you want but please remember to remove the flash lights and sounds. The gorilla may be feeding, resting, sleeping, up on trees, so try to get you the best photographs and learn all their behavior. You can follow them in case they are moving but at a recommended distance which should be not shorter than 7 meters. The most important thing is you staying near your guide and following his instructions always.