I did the Golden Monkey Trek in Rwanda Volcanoes National Park which costs 75 USD.

It is an easy trek that lasts between 3 to 5 hours depending on the movement of the Golden Monkeys.

I was very lucky that both groups of Golden Monkeys gathered together so we had at least 50 of them running around, swinging through bamboo trees, wrestling, digging for bamboo shoots, eating, playing, and doing their usual day to day activities.

Here are some photos from my trip.

I hope it will inspire you to visit this endangered golden monkey and help the local community to increase its population.

Check out the video below!

PS: It’s my first time putting a video together and taking one. It was quite challenging due to the vegetations around and the hyperactive golden monkeys that continuously move around and being their cute and notorious self that my eyes can’t set on one. I kept moving around not wanting to miss a sight.

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I was stunned by pleasant surprises when I arrived in Rwanda.

1. Eco Friendly – Did you know that Rwanda is one the first African countries to enforce plastic ban? It’s not just a title, this is enforced diligently.

When I arrived in Kigali Airport, I had 2 donation bags that was safe wrapped. I was called to open the bag assuming that it was a security check. Then the lady shook her head and said ‘No I don’t need to check, I just need to dispose the plastic wrap”. I was surprised and lightly asked “But why?” She gave me an answer that I did not expect to hear “Plastic is not allowed to enter our country. We are Eco friendly”

Surely I was happy to hear that but I had doubts. Is this only implemented in the airport but individuals and rural areas still use plastic bags? NOPE! Country wide. Not a single plastic bag. This is evident once I was on the road and driving around the city, villages, and visiting some shops. Paper bags only and not a single trash being littered on the streets.

Is Rwanda the Singapore of Africa? I believe so!

2. Education System – I was driven around the city of Kigali towards Nyungwe Forest. The streets were empty. I asked my guide “Why are the streets so empty? Where are the children?” I thought this is another country with a low demographic of children like Armenia where I only saw a handful of children.

By noon, the streets were swarmed with children in bright blue, beige, and yellow school uniforms walking together and having a laugh. It was a sight to hold on.

3. Banana Everything – Expect a lot of banana meals while in Rwanda. They surely love their bananas that they also have banana beer!

4. Eucalyptus Tree & Tea Plantations Everywhere – Rwanda is surrounded by these fast and easy growing tall trees. Believe it or not, Eucalyptus is not native to Rwanda. In fact, it was brought from Australia. The trees serve many purposes which helps the agriculture and economy of the country.

5. Volcanoes National Park – This is the main reason for tourists to visit Rwanda where the park arranges a trek for mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, golden monkey,s and many other activities.

I did two of the activities; Golden Monkey Trek and Mount Bisoke Climb. 

The park is extremely organized with many well-experienced guides, rangers, and wonderful porters.

6. Nyungwe Forest – Nyungwe is a vast rain forest and also one of the oldest in Africa. The narrow canopy walks 60 meters above the forest floor is not to be missed! Don’t forget to stop, look around and look below you. 😀

7. Iby’iwacu Cultural Village – It’s a great place to learn about history, culture, and traditional life.

The cultural village was designed to eradicate poachers and change them into conservationists.  Barora Leonidas who poached for 40 years showed and talked about how he used to poach to earn money and survive; following the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and generations before.

Thank to Edwin Sabuhoro’s initiative to eradicate poachers by addressing the prime problem; money. Hence the cultural village was born where ex-poachers show visitors traditional medicine, dance, royal palace, arts & crafts, and other entertaining yet authentic shows.

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So I decided to give it a try. I mean, you never know until you try right?!

After reading BeMyTravelMuse’s post on Rwanda, she recommends climbing Mount Bisoke. I thought that this would be a perfect trial, a day climb, and the permit is reasonably priced at 75USD.

Mount Bisoke is one of the eight Virunga mountain ranges and shared between Rwanda and Congo. In the photo below, Bisoke is the second from the left.

It stands at a height of 12,175 ft (3,711m) above sea level.

To be honest, I doubted my stamina and strength considering I haven’t worked out in over a year.

I read so many reviews of visitors turning back around and not reaching the peak due to the difficult terrain. I just stopped reading because it only built up more worries. I did not have the proper gears. The only thing I had was hiking shoes. I didn’t have any gaiters, warm jacket, or gloves as what other reviewers have mentioned as a must-have!

I was dressed pretty casually as you can see.

How it went

I got to Volcanoes National Park at around 7 am where they serve complimentary coffee and tea.

The park organizes a briefing with all their guides and then they allocate the visitors to the assigned guide for each activity.

After that, our guide briefed us on what to expect, what we need to do and shouldn’t do. Then we got back into our 4×4 for a 45 minutes bumpy drive to the starting point.

Once we reached the starting point, there was a line of porters ready to be hired if you need one. I HIGHLY recommend one. It costs 10USD.  He will pull and push you when needed, especially when there’s a slush of mud.

Then we set off to begin the climb with our guide, porters, and rangers equipped with their AK47.

We walked for about 10 minutes past a farm and into the jungle. I thought we had begun our trek as we walked through the jungle, but nope! We needed to get to the base of the volcano.

There is a break spot with benches at about 2,700m above sea level. Only 1! Other than that we get only water breaks that last about a minute or less. Of course, I had to take so many of them and mine would last at least 3 minutes.  😛

The ascent is an unrelenting uphill with slushy and slippery mud. It had rained just the day before the climb.

The others went way ahead of me with a guide while my porter and 3 rangers stayed back with me.

They were very understanding and advised me to take it slow, POLE POLE as they like to say 😀 It means slowly-slowly in Swahili.

The climb is very steep and muddy. As we got higher, the terrain changed to a rocky one which only means bigger steps and pull-ups.

I took more breaks but I found a weird trick that helped me push myself through. Smile! I tried to keep a positive mind, think happy thoughts, and just smile as wide as I can. I probably looked so weird but it distracted me from panting and taking breaks. It kept me going. 😀

Once you start to see these vegetations, know that you are almost there!

I read a lot of reviews where those who climbed Bisoke couldn’t see the lake. I went on a pretty sunny day but the clouds were coming in. The rangers kept pushing me to go faster so I could see the lake.  I climbed to see the lake, I MUST SEE THE LAKE!

I made it just in time to see the lake. Once I saw the lake; shortness of breathing, increased heart rate, and what not disappeared. I was happy; the kind of happiness that blooms from within.

I quickly asked the porter to take some photos as the clouds were coming in. A few minutes later, the lake was covered. We sat down and had some snacks while celebrating our accomplishments.

It’s a breathtaking view once you’re at the top and overlooking the lush green province of Musanze.

It’s pretty chilly up there but not too chilly. When it was time to descend, I ran my way down. Descending? No problem! I didn’t need a single break to descend.

The trek must be escorted with rangers as it is the habitat of wildlife animals and the endangered mountain gorillas. Don’t expect to see any wildlife so when you do see them, it’s a great plus to the climb!

Some have seen mountain gorillas while I encountered a bushbuck. Don’t worry guys, animals are afraid of humans. They won’t attack you for climbing up Bisoke.

What you need

1. 2 Liter of water

2. Snacks

3. A jacket – This is only needed when you are on the peak. Other than that, it’s not needed at all.

4. Walking stick (optional) – I ditched mine. It was weighing me down. I used the trees and vegetation around me to assist me if needed.

5. Gloves (optional) – There are nettle leaves which sting for about 5 to 10 minutes but then you’ll be fine. I didn’t use any, got stung twice but it’s all good!

Fee

Permit: 75 USD

Porter: 10 USD

Time Required

Experienced: 3 – 4 hours

Inexperienced: 6 – 7 hours – I completed in 6 hours and a half.

Recommendation

1. Check the weather! – Make sure it’s a clear day

2. Get to the peak before the clouds come in. The best time would be around 12 noon.

Will I climb again? Maybe. Is climbing my thing? I don’t think so haha!

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