Rwanda Gorillas and Primates tour

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION
The itinerary runs entirely by road: gorilla, golden monkey and chimpanzee tracking, and the Nyungwe canopy walk, are all done on foot, and there are no internal flights between Kigali, Nyungwe, Lake Kivu and the volcanoes, only private road transfers. Serena Hotels, which operates the Lake Kivu property, states group-wide use of fresh produce bought from local farmers.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE
National park permits and fees for both Nyungwe and Volcanoes National Park are included in the price, and Rwanda's own tourism revenue-sharing programme returns 10% of that park revenue to communities living around the parks (raised from 5% in 2005 to 10% in 2017), split 35% to Volcanoes National Park and 25% to Nyungwe, funding mostly schools, water points and housing. The included Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project presentation introduces Gorilla Doctors, the NGO whose vets carry out regular health checks and emergency care for habituated gorilla groups in Volcanoes National Park and across the wider Virunga massif. Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel states that gorilla permit fees also fund ranger patrols, anti-poaching work and veterinary care directly, and separately quotes a 15% local revenue-share figure of its own.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY
Heaven Boutique Hotel in Kigali is a Rwanda-based business that has trained more than a thousand people now working across the country's major resorts, and its own tours connect guests directly with local artisans and craftspeople rather than souvenir shops. Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel is owned by a Rwandan entrepreneur, and Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel arranges visits to local artisans and farmers whose income supports community projects around the park. The final morning in Kigali includes Kimironko Market and the Inema Art Center, putting spending directly into independent stalls and a working artists' cooperative rather than a retail chain.
EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY
Heaven Boutique Hotel is one of the few employers in Rwanda offering full medical coverage and a private company physician for staff and their dependents, and Gorilla Doctors runs a Gorilla Conservation Employee Health Program offering annual health screening and health education specifically for people working inside the national parks. Guiding throughout is by a private, English-speaking Rwandan driver-guide. The trip includes several physically demanding days, gorilla tracking that can run several hours over steep, muddy, high-altitude terrain, and a chimp-tracking morning on steep slopes, so it will not suit every traveler with limited mobility.