Five things to do in Volcanoes National Park — and how to get there by car

Volcanoes National Park, in Rwanda's north-west, protects the Rwandan side of the Virunga Mountains and is the reason most visitors come to the country. It is famous for gorilla trekking, but a rental car and a couple of extra days open up a park that has far more to offer. Here are the five things we would plan around, and how to reach each one.

1. Gorilla trekking

Volcanoes is one of a handful of places on earth where you can spend an hour with mountain gorillas in the wild. Treks start from the park headquarters at Kinigi after a 7am briefing and take anywhere from forty minutes to four hours, depending on where your allocated family moved overnight.

Getting there: sleep in Musanze or Kinigi the night before. The approach roads to the trailheads are murram and rough after rain — take a Prado or another proper 4x4, or let a driver-guide handle the early start.

2. Golden monkey tracking

Golden monkeys, with their bright orange backs, live only in the Virungas and the Albertine Rift forests. Tracking them is shorter and easier than the gorilla trek, which makes it the right activity for families or for the day after the gorillas.

Getting there: the same headquarters at Kinigi, so it slots neatly into a second morning with the same car.

3. Hiking the volcanoes

Beyond the wildlife, the park is a hiker's mountain range. Bisoke, with its crater lake, is a strong day hike; Karisimbi, the tallest at 4,507 metres, is an overnight climb; Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo each have their own trails through bamboo and heath with views across three countries.

Getting there: hikes start early. Having your own vehicle means you leave when the guide says, not when the bus does.

4. Dian Fossey's research camp

The trail to the site of Karisoke, between Karisimbi and Bisoke, honours the primatologist whose work protected Rwanda's gorillas. It is a scenic and moving walk through gorilla habitat with the story of her research told along the way.

Getting there: start early from Musanze or Kinigi in a 4x4; the trailhead road is muddy in the rains.

5. Bird watching

More than 200 species live in the park, including Albertine Rift endemics such as the Rwenzori turaco and the handsome francolin. Bamboo, montane forest and swamp give a birder several habitats in one morning.

Getting there: a car lets you carry the gear and stop at the good spots along the park boundary at your own pace.

How to get there from Kigali

Drive north-west on the RN4 to Musanze, about two and a half hours on good tarmac. Kinigi and the park headquarters are a short drive beyond the town.

Recommended vehicles: a 4x4 such as the Land Cruiser Prado, Fortuner, Hilux or, for the tarmac-only traveller, a RAV4. A 4x4 matters most in the rainy months — March to May and October to November — when the trailhead roads turn to mud.

Our advice: book the car and the permits together as soon as your dates are fixed. Permits are limited each day and sell out first in the dry season, and a car with unlimited kilometres gives you the freedom to add the twin lakes at Burera and Ruhondo or Gishwati-Mukura on the way home.