Golden Monkey Trekking Rwanda, Golden monkey trekking in volcanoes national park Golden monkey is an exciting adventure. Finding these amazing rare and beautiful species. The golden monkeys endangered species and endemic to the central African forests of eastern Congo tropics. Which stretch to Albertine Western arm Rift Valley.
The special golden monkeys have a striking golden fur coat. Golden monkeys are quite lovely animals to watch in their natural forests. The golden monkey tracking has remained one of the most exciting adventures to do in Rwanda. Despite being overshadowed by gorilla trekking.
A moment when trekking golden monkeys is referred to “Gold meets Silver.” When trekking there are chances of finding the brownish monkeys (golden monkeys) living alongside the silverback. This is an awesome moment into the jungle or even calling it a colorful moment.
These endangered species, and they live in bamboo forests and the vegetation below the volcano’s mountains. They can be seen in Virunga mountains range which covers the three east African countries. Such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The golden monkeys have a unique character that has made it so interesting. And has attracted primate lovers to watch out for once they visit the volcanoes national park.
This unique adventure remained for only Rwanda at Volcanoes National Park and Uganda at Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. There are two habituated troops of golden monkeys in Volcanoes National Park. And the larger troop in Sabinyo volcano with 80 – 100 members and it is the most visited group in volcanoes national park.
There are over 2500-3500 golden monkeys living in the Virunga Conservation Area which is forms Volcanoes National Park, Virunga National Park and Mgahinga National Park. These parks harbor the endangered golden monkeys. These national parks where gazetted in order to conserve the natural heritage from harm and poaching and encroachment in to the forest. By humans leading to the destruction of the forest from which these animals lived in.
Golden monkeys are herbivores and they feed on mostly the bamboo shoots but also consume the vegetation. Such as plants, leaves, shoots and when the vegetation is scares, mostly during the dry seasons. They are forced to eat insects, the larva stages of insects on trees. There feeding areas found closer to their home stead.
The golden monkeys are social animals and live in groups and the male adult monkey is the leader of the group. The male monkey shows off his power and can mate with any female from all different groups. He protects and looks after the family while the females guard their territories.
Golden monkeys are shy primates which tend to shy away upon human presence. For efforts to ensure that golden tracking is successful, the community of monkeys undergo habituation process which can last for not beyond two year. Golden monkey habituation starts as a follow up activity for a newly discovered community. The follow up is done on daily basis, and it involves studying the community daily activities and understanding almost every behavior of the monkeys.
There is one session of golden monkey tracking daily which is done in the morning hours. During the day for golden monkey trekking, visitors taking part in this activity. Will be required to report to the Kinigi Park Headquarters by 7:00 am where they will join other travelers and the park ranger guides for a short briefing. Then drive to the start of trek which is 15 minutes away at the edge of the park.
The golden monkeys in volcanoes national park are habituated in their families making it easy to find them during the trek. They live at the bottom of the Volcano Mountains in the bamboo forest, and by following trails. The trackers are able to locate them in less than an hour. When you finally located them, travelers given one hour to spend watching closely these incredibly beautiful monkeys. As they skillfully pick bamboo shoots and make huge leaps from tree to tree which is enabled by their extra-long tails that provide great balance.
The long tails trapped by the bamboo and cut off, as you can see some monkeys with short tails. The monkeys spend a lot of time at the top of the bamboo. But they also climb up the tree to the level of the eye and even move to the ground. They’re some of the least nervous monkeys you can get so close to within a meter. they are great for photography and flash is allowed which is not allowed for other primate adventures–gorilla and chimp treks. These primates even love a flash camera.
Sometimes the monkeys move out of the park into large pottery fields to consume the iridescent potatoes left behind after the harvest. The act of the monkeys digging and washing the potato until feeding is beautiful for watching.
Golden monkey trekking as well as gorilla trekking and any other primate safaris. Require a trekking permit to be able to carry out these activities. The Rwanda golden monkey permit costs $100 per person to trek the monkeys. The best part of these experience is that there is no age limit. Every person entitled to trek the monkeys regardless of age and the number of visitors for this activity every day in volcanoes national park.
This is an exciting experience when you have an encounter with the golden monkeys in their natural habitat, therefore. There are a few things you need to know so that you will have the best of your golden monkey trekking safari in volcanoes national park. They include;
You will need to be well equipped with proper equipment for this activity which include; hiking boots, garden gloves, long sleeved shirt/blouse, long pair of trousers and others these will protect your skin from skin irritations which may cause infections.
You will need a rain jacket since the weather in the forest cannot be predicted you will expect rain at any time, carry some energy giving snacks, enough drinking water
During the trek, trekkers are not allowed to feed the golden monkeys since this may cause infections to the monkeys.
During photography, flash lights are not allowed when taking photos of the monkeys since these will scare away the golden monkeys.
