Volcanoes Safaris Was the First to Bring International Travelers to Rwanda’s Gorillas — Here’s Why It’s Still the Best

When viewed in pictures, the silverback gorilla is a foreboding beast: a hairy, barrel-chested warrior weighing as much as 600 pounds with an arm span that can stretch more than eight feet. But, when observed in their native habitat of Sub-Saharan Africa, there is nothing menacing about Earth’s largest living primate. Juveniles are as playful and innocently curious as their human counterparts, while adults are wholly enveloped in a zen aura. It is a spellbinding spectacle.

So, it’s no wonder that approximately 50,000 visitors a year make the trek to experience it for themselves — and despite the steep cost of entry (a permit is $1,500 per day in Rwanda and $800 per day in Uganda), that number is rising. They’re arriving not just for the silverback but for all the great apes of the region, which includes chimpanzees and critically endangered golden monkeys.

Still, despite the interest in the region and its incredible ecosystem, with increased tourism comes the continual risk of over-tourism. Sadly, the communities and ecosystems directly threatened by such are largely denied the added revenue it generates.

One man, however, is working hard to ensure a more equitable — and sustainable — outcome. Praveen Moman, a native Ugandan and a successful hotelier and passionate activist, leads Volcanoes Safaris, founded in 2000 as the first international safari company to take clients to Rwanda. Five years later, it became the only safari company to sign the United Nations Kinshasa Declaration on Saving the Great Apes. By 2009, Moman had started a non-profit trust dedicated to promoting their conservation while simultaneously enriching the livelihoods of those in surrounding villages.

“We believe that responsible tourism can be a powerful force for positive change,” says Moman, who was listed as an A-List Travel Advisor for chimpanzee and gorilla safaris earlier this year by Travel + Leisure. “We are proud to support the communities and habitats that make gorilla trekking experiences possible.”

What exactly does that look like in practice? For one, the lodges he operates — which now include five properties spread across the high mountain jungles of Rwanda and Uganda — are built by a local labor force who are paid salaries that exceed the going market rate. They also rely on locally sourced materials and incorporate eco-friendly technologies, including water recapture, to reduce energy consumption and waste.

Through the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust, a litany of ongoing projects improves infrastructure in the remote villages that border conservation land. In recent years, it has donated water tanks to these towns, improved road conditions, and set up solar energy sources, all while rewilding wetlands and ensuring the safety of the gorillas and chimpanzees that bring the tourists here.

Because Volcanoes Safaris was the first to bring five-star luxury to gorilla trekking two decades ago, with its now-legendary Virunga Lodge, the brand enjoys an edge of expertise over its competition. It’s had extra years to train and develop a knowledgeable workforce comprised exclusively of local talent.

Propping up these communities while protecting the wildlife is a complicated task. It is often viewed as an either-or supposition because these small villages turn to any form of tourism as a potential lifeline — even those that don’t employ best practices. But Moman is proving that you can serve both. When Volcanoes Safaris established its Kyambura Gorge Lodge back in 2009, it opened concurrently to an ecotourism project fueling conservation efforts in and around its namesake ridge. Within the immediate area is an isolated community of chimpanzees, and by creating a nearly two-mile-long buffer zone around the canyon, the population of these animals has climbed from 15 to 33 in the ensuing years.

On July 1, the company cut the ribbon on its latest offering, Kibale Lodge. Positioned along the Albertine Rift in southwestern Uganda, the eight-villa estate reinforces the ethos of its sister property at Kyambura Gorge. It will partner with the Jane Goodall Institute in the town of Kibale to help ensure the safety of neighboring primate populations, and it’s working with the Rwenzori Sculpture Foundation to support and showcase the output of local artisans.

None of these brand missions sacrifice anything to the quality of the hard product. In fact, they only enhance a sense of luxury routed in an authentic vernacular. A deluxe banda at the new Kibale Lodge brandishes plush kingsize bedding, a stone-ringed fireplace, and an unfettered sightline of the Rwenzori Mountains climbing high above the distant plain. It’s all contained charmingly under a vaulted ceiling thatched with exposed wooden beams. Personal butler service is offered to all guests, along with access to a pool and spa.

In many ways, the look and feel of the latest addition to the portfolio is an extension of what was laid down at Virunga Lodge two decades prior. That original property, suspended high on a spine between two of Rwanda’s largest lakes, remains a vibrant icon of five-star forest trekking. Each of its 12 spacious villas is appointed in a decor that Moman originally coined as “Rwandese Afro-chic.”

Rates there start at $1,030 per person during the low season of October through May and climb up to $2,230 for single occupancy if you book from June through the end of September, on par with the pricing you’ll find at the Kibale Lodge. It includes food, drink, post-trek massages, laundry, and butler services. There are cheaper places you can stay — indeed, the jungle trekking landscape is crowded with options in this day and age — but you’ll be hard-pressed to find an operator fully committed to the sustainable cause.

“Volcanoes Safaris is the pioneer of great ape tourism in East Africa and, for the last 25 years, has been solely focused on providing the premier gorilla and chimpanzee trekking experience,” Moman says. “But that’s all pretty hollow if we’re not providing social support for local communities.”

In this particular pursuit, Volcanoes Safaris wasn’t just the first; it remains the best.