Best time to visit Rwanda for gorilla trekking – Top gorilla trekking spot in Africa – Gorilla trekking permits at $1500 per person – when to gorilla trekking in Rwanda?
The best time to visit Rwanda for gorilla trekking is during the drier period from June to September, when you have the best chance of spotting the country’s undoubted highlight: the Mountain Gorilla. The rainy seasons, from March to May and in November, are the optimum times for tracking Chimpanzees.
Temperatures hardly vary throughout the seasons due to Rwanda’s position just south of the Equator. The days are warm, sitting comfortably in the late teens or mid-twenties depending on which area of the country you visit. The nights can be cool, especially at altitude.
March is the beginning of the longer rainy season which goes on through April and May. The end of May can often be drying already, however, and yet still devoid of visitors avoiding the ‘big rains’. June to mid-September is the long dry season and the most popular time to visit. You may still get showers during this time though.
September sees a very special event take place in Musanze: Kwita Izina, which is a gorilla naming ceremony and celebration of Mountain Gorilla births. The Kigali International Peace Marathon takes place in May and is a very special event. There are three races, a full marathon, a half marathon, and a 10km run for peace.
Tutsi Genocide Memorial Day is 7 April, a public holiday and understandably a very solemn day indeed. If you are going Mountain Gorilla trekking, things have dried up again in December after the short rains of October and November. So if you are looking for alternative Christmas holiday ideas then you could do a lot as you are heading to Rwanda to go Gorilla watching.
The same thing goes for January for a spectacular New Year celebration. The Tour du Rwanda is a spectacular country-wide race run by the Rwanda Cycling Federation. It keeps changing dates, however, so keep an eye on their website. At the moment it is scheduled for February/March, although it originally ran in November and has also taken place in August. It’s a good one though, just a bit of a moveable feast. Independence Day takes place on 1 July every year in Rwanda, celebrating the day in 1962 when Rwanda was freed from Belgian colonial rule.
If you’re researching when to go to Rwanda then the chances are that it’s for a Mountain Gorilla tracking adventure. Although it’s regarded as a year-round activity, the best time to visit Rwanda for a Gorilla trekking is during the short dry season from mid-December to early February or over the long dry season months of June to September. These periods offer by far the easiest hiking conditions and the lowest malaria risk.
