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Wilderness Sabyinyo Lodge

Rwanda

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Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge is situated in the foothills of the Virunga Mountains on the edge of the Parc National des Volcans. The lodge sits at an altitude of 8,250 feet, with fabulous views of the volcanoes, mountains and countryside. Sabyinyo is a great lodge to stay at as a base for trekking to see the gorillas, as it is just a 20-minute drive from the national park headquarters, where you start the gorilla treks each morning.

Sabyinyo is not an overly fancy lodge, but it is very comfortable and run by a friendly team offering high-quality service. Guest accommodation consists of six cottages, two suites and a family cottage.

There are lots of steep steps between the rooms and up to the main area from the entrance, they do have a small 4x4 buggy to help guests who need it up the steep hill!

The main area consists of an outdoor deck, bar and dining room. A large sitting room with comfortable seating sofas leads out to a verandah areas with stunning views across to the Virungas.

Gorilla Trekking
In the morning you will wake early for breakfast & then transfer to the park headquarters for your gorilla trek.

A standard Gorilla trek is a strenuous hike of between 1-4 hours each way (2-3 hours is more usual). You will be tracking through thick forest at heights up to 3,000 metres, traversing steep sided mountains – if the Gorillas are high up it can be arduous and wet.

It is important that you are fit and in good health and properly equipped. This is not a technical climb but it can be a scramble/slide/swing up steep inclines. You follow as the gorillas make their way through the forest, huge trees, clinging vines and undergrowth adds to the challenge of swift streams and slippery red mud underfoot. Basically where the gorillas go you must follow! The guides carry machetes to help clear a path when the undergrowth gets dense. Each visit is by permit and limited to one hour with a professional Gorilla tracker in charge who will coach you in the safety rules and body language required to come close to the Gorilla troops.

About This Area

Parc des Volcans, Volcanoes National Park, is the area of the Virunga Mountain chain found in Rwanda. The park encompasses five of the eight volcanoes of the Virungas and covers 62 square miles. The five peaks are Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo. The Virunga mountain chain straddles the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda. The mountains are covered in the most beautiful forests and have some unique fauna and flora, the most famous of which is the Mountain Gorilla. It is here that Dian Fossey eventually settled and set up the Karisoke Research Center in 1967, supported by Lara’s grandfather, Louis Leakey.

The land around the national park in all three countries bordering these mountains holds some of the highest densities of humans per acre globally. The land outside the park is intensively farmed, and over the last century, the future of the mountain gorilla was made increasingly grim due to the ever-increasing pressure on their habitat as farmlands were expanded.

However thanks to the work of the Rwandan government, its supporters, and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund the tide has been turned over the last three decades since Rwanda’s civil war. Mountain gorilla populations have been and are increasing to the point that habitat expansion is now vital to support the growing populations. The Rwandan government has set the ball rolling for expansion of the national park, but is doing this with the utmost of caution to make sure that the livelihoods of the people that live around the park is put first.

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