Golden Monkey Trekking in Rwanda

First the tourist must have purchased a golden monkey trekking permit or ticket in advance.

There is only one session in a day for the golden monkey trek and takes place in the morning like all other activities in the Volcanoes National Park. Visitors have to report to the Kinigi Park Headquarters (at 7am) where they will meet the park ranger guides for some briefing and then drive to the start of trek which is 15 minutes away at the edge of the park.

The monkeys will be easily found as they live at the bottom of the volcano mountains in the bamboo forest, and by following clues of fresh leftovers from eaten bamboo shoot and leaves the trackers are able to locate them in less than an hour. Visitors spend a maximum of one hour watching closely these incredibly beautiful monkeys as they skillfully pick bamboo shoots and young bamboo leaves while making huge jumps from one bamboo tree to another which is enabled by their extra long tails that provide great balance. The long tails can get trapped by the bamboo and cut off as you will see some monkeys with short tails. The monkeys spend a lot of time at the top of the bamboo, but also do climb down along the tree to eye level and even move on ground. They are some of the least shy monkeys as you can get so close to within a meter. They are wonderful for photography and flash is permitted which is not allowed for other primate adventures  like gorilla trekking and chimp trekking in Rwanda. Apparently even these monkeys love camera flash. Sometimes the monkeys will venture out of the park into the open potate fields to eat the irish potatoes left behind after the harvest. The monkeys’ act of digging and cleaning the potato before eating is amazing to watch!