Cultural Encounters in Volcanoes National Park
Cultural Encounters in Volcanoes National Park are one of the top tourist activities carried out in the park by travelers interested in exploring the culture of the communities in Rwanda. Volcanoes National Park is famous for housing the half of the world’s remaining endangered mountain gorillas that are found along the slopes of the Virunga Mountains. While carrying out your Rwanda tour, you can participate in a number of activities in Volcanoes national park where you will have an amazing time while carrying out the tour to the park.
For tourists interested in having a great time while on their Rwanda tour, you can get to volcanoes national park in the safest and fastest way possible. Volcanoes national park is located in the districts of Burera, Musanze, Rubavu, and Nyabihu.
From Kigali international airport for foreigners, they can land at the airport where you will find transport means from your tour operator who will transfer you to the park. Alternatively, if you’re interested in driving yourself to the park there are car hire services at the airport where you will be able to hire a car at a relatively cheap price to cater for your transport to the park.
From Kigali international airport, the park is approximately 120 kilometers which will take you about 2 hours to reach the park in order to participate in the amazing activities that will keep you engaged throughout the time you spend in the national park. For budget tourists, you can use public transport means that can be got from Kigali city bus terminal or in the Gisenyi bus terminal where you get different buses heading to the park at any given time of the day, therefore, you can access the park any time you want because there are different means of transport that head to the park daily at any given time of the day.
Cultural Encounters in Volcanoes National Park
While in volcanoes national park you can visit the Ibyiwacu cultural village which can also be visited during the Rwanda cultural tours or during the Rwanda city tours where you will visit the different cities and their different attractions, for instance, you can visit Musanze city where you will visit the Ibyiwacu cultural village to have an amazing experience in Rwanda.
The Cultural Encounters in Volcanoes National Park in the Ibyiwacu cultural village will offer amazing experiences if you’re interested in knowing more about the culture of Rwanda. While you visit the cultural village, you will participate in a number of activities like community walks, banana beer making, subsistence farming, and preparation of local dishes among other activities.
The cultural village gives a looks back to a number of years ago when the country had was under the kingdoms. On reaching the cultural village, you will be welcomed by guards protecting a village where you will find a number of huts like in the old times and here you will be in the king’s palace for a day. You will have an amazing time in the village and if you’re lucky, you will be chosen to the king or queen for the day where you will be dressed in the traditional attire of the king and queens which is quite entertaining. After choosing the king for the day, a fire will be lit just like it was lit during the time when the kingdoms still existed and a medicine man will come in front of you making traditional herbs that were used as medicine a long time ago.
The king and queen will be entertained and also other tourists will be entertained through different cultural dances and plays, traditional marriages will be also be carried out to show how it was done during the old times which is quite interesting once you take part in the activity. You will also be taught on farming using traditional tools like hand hoes you will be taught how to harvest a number of crops, weeding, you will also be taught how to make banana beer which is a delicious drink that you will have a chance to taste if interested.
Visiting the Ibyiwacu cultural village will have amazing experiences with your encounters with the locals and you will be able to get to understand more about the culture of Rwanda.
Other activities in Volcanoes National Park
You can also carry out a number of activities in volcanoes national park and then visit the Ibyiwacu village as a supplement on your tour to the park which includes the following;
Gorilla trekking: Gorilla trekking in Rwanda can only be carried out in Volcanoes National Park where you will visit the different gorilla families in the park and enjoy the ultimate gorilla experience. Gorilla trekking in the park involves hiking the Virunga Mountains where you will find the different gorilla families like the Agashya gorilla group, Amahoro gorilla group, Ugenda gorilla families among other gorilla families in the park. During the activity, you will get to spend one hour with the gentle giants where you will get to know the different ways the primates behave while in the park, for instance, their feeding patterns, how they co-exist with one another while in the wild.
Golden monkey trekking: If you’re interested in carrying out Rwanda golden monkey trekking, then the park is the place to visit to ensure that you have an amazing experience while in Rwanda. Just like the mountain gorillas, the golden monkeys are also habituated for tourists to carry out golden monkey trekking. The golden monkeys can also be found in the bamboo trees of the different virunga mountains where you will find the beautiful golden monkeys that you have a chance to spend with golden monkeys one hour as well to understand more about their behavior in the wild.
Hiking the Virunga Mountains: There are different virunga mountains that can be hiked while in volcanoes national park including Mount Sabyinyo, Mount Gahinga, Mount Muhabura, Mount Bisoke, Mount Karisimbi which can be hiked to see a number of attractions, for instance, the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo that can be seen after hiking mount Muhabura, you can also see Lake Kivu among other attractions. Other Virunga mountains that can be seen include; mount Nyiragongo and Mount Mikeno and Mount Nyamuragira in virunga national park, you will also visit mgahinga national park.
Visiting Dian Fossey grave
Dian Fossey was an American primatologist that worked hard to ensure that gorillas in volcanoes national park where protected from poachers who were carrying out poaching in Volcanoes national park, Dian Fossey was found dead in her cabin and no one was connected to her murder. Before her murder, she established the Karisoke research station where she protected and treated the orphaned gorillas, and gorillas that were hurt during poaching. After her murder, she was buried in the gorilla cemetery with her gorilla friends that lost their lives during poaching, in your safari in the park, you can visit Dian Fossey’s grave.
