On foot
A steep forest climb between Karisimbi and Bisoke to the research camp where Dian Fossey spent 18 years, and the quiet graveyard where she rests beside her gorillas.
The Dian Fossey hike is less a trek than a pilgrimage. In September 1967 the American primatologist founded the Karisoke Research Center in the saddle between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke — the name joins the two — and spent most of the next 18 years there, studying mountain gorillas, confronting poachers and writing Gorillas in the Mist. She was murdered in her cabin at Karisoke in December 1985, and the question of who killed her has never been conclusively settled.
She is buried at the camp beside Digit, the young silverback she was closest to, killed by poachers in 1977, in the gorilla graveyard she made there. The hike climbs to about 3,000 m through bamboo and hagenia forest to reach the grave and the remains of the old camp. It suits history-minded travelers and anyone who wants a second day high in the forest without a second gorilla permit, and it pairs naturally with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Ellen DeGeneres Campus in the valley below. Volcanoes National Park covers everything else around Kinigi.
Dian Fossey Tomb Hike
We book your RDB permit for a day when you are not trekking gorillas, often the day after.
You report to Kinigi park headquarters by 7 am for the briefing, then drive to the trailhead on the park boundary.
The path crosses farmland to the buffalo wall, then steepens through bamboo and hagenia forest towards 3,000 m.
At Karisoke, your guide explains Fossey’s work and the camp’s history before you visit the gorilla graveyard and pause at her grave.
You descend by the same trail; in the afternoon, the Ellen DeGeneres Campus shows where the research continues today.
Dian Fossey Tomb Hike
Safaris
Kigali · Kinigi (park HQ) · Volcanoes National Park · Kigali International Airport
Couples and experienced travelers with limited leave who want the gorillas without a long safari around them
Kigali · Akagera National Park · Volcanoes National Park · Kigali International Airport
First-time visitors to Rwanda who want gorillas and a classic game drive in a single week
Kigali · Huye · Nyungwe National Park · Karongi (Kibuye) · Volcanoes National Park · Akagera National Park · Kigali International Airport
Primate enthusiasts, photographers and returning safari-goers who want the whole country rather than one park
Kigali · Volcanoes National Park · Kilimanjaro Airport · Arusha · Serengeti · Ngorongoro Crater · Kilimanjaro Airport
Travelers who want East Africa’s two headline wildlife experiences in one trip, at luxury or ultra level
Good to know
Plan on most of a day. After the 7 am briefing and the drive to the trailhead, the climb to Karisoke typically takes a couple of hours and the descent a little less, depending on your pace and the mud. Exact times vary with trail conditions.
It is strenuous: steep, often muddy and reaching about 3,000 m. You need no technical skills, but you should be comfortable walking uphill for a couple of hours at altitude. A porter and a walking pole make it far easier.
No. Both begin with the 7 am briefing at Kinigi and each fills most of a morning or longer, so they are booked on separate days. The usual pattern is gorillas one day and the Fossey hike, or golden monkeys, the next.
It is the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s purpose-built campus near Volcanoes National Park, opened in 2022, where the organization’s research and conservation work continues. Visitors can explore its exhibits on gorillas and the Fund’s history; it opens daily from 9 am to 5 pm, with last entry at 4 pm.
Experiences
Primates
Spend an hour among golden monkeys in the Virunga bamboo — a lively, gentler companion to your gorilla trek.
Adventure
Climb 3,711 m Mount Bisoke through bamboo and giant lobelias to a lake in the summit crater, right on the DRC border.
Adventure
Walk a suspended bridge high above a rainforest valley in Nyungwe, level with the treetops, the monkeys and the birds.
Share your dates, who is traveling and what you hope to see. We check permit availability first, then design a private Rwanda journey around it, and nothing is booked until you approve it.
Plan My Rwanda Safari