Gorilla treks in Volcanoes National Park usually begin with a ranger briefing at Kinigi, and Sabyinyo Lodge is fifteen minutes away. Its nine stone cottages, each with a log fire, occupy the lower slopes of Mount Sabyinyo in north-western Rwanda. The lodge belongs to the villages around Kinigi, and what it earns beyond its costs goes into their homes, classrooms and clean water.
Twelve habituated gorilla families range across these volcanoes.
Breakfast is served early, and lunch can be packed for the forest. Twelve habituated gorilla families range across these volcanoes. A trekking group is eight people at most, with one hour in a family’s company. Muddy boots handed over on return come back clean. The fire is relit against the mountain cold, and by night there are hot-water bottles tucked into the beds.
Sabyinyo is Kinyarwanda for ‘old man’s teeth’, a fair name for the jagged summit above the lodge. Until November 2022 the lodge went by a longer name, Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge. Beneath the peak, the buildings are local stone under Rwandan terracotta tiles, and their verandas face the Virunga volcanoes and the farmland below. Mornings here often open in mist.
An organic garden sends the day’s vegetables to the kitchen.
Inside, a 2023 refresh brought hand-painted art by local artisans into the rooms. Outside, an organic garden sends the day’s vegetables to the kitchen, and a guided nature trail runs through grounds where beehives are kept. Dozens of bird species work the gardens and trees.
In 2004 the communities around Kinigi came together as the Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association, SACOLA, working with the International Gorilla Conservation Programme. The lodge followed, and it has belonged to the trust ever since. That made Sabyinyo the first community-owned lodge in Rwanda. An operator runs it day to day on the trust’s behalf.
After running costs, the surplus goes to the parishes that border the gorillas’ forest. Over the years it has built classrooms, and paid for safe homes and clean drinking water for genocide survivors and vulnerable families. In the villages it has set up water points and community vegetable gardens, and some of that work is visible on a guided walk through them. Guests can add to it, planting indigenous saplings alongside the lodge’s reforestation team, part of the lodge’s long-running effort to bring back native trees.
After running costs, the surplus goes to the parishes that border the gorillas’ forest
Steep steps link the car park, main house and cottages, worth noting for anyone with limited mobility. In the main house, the lounge and dining room are both warmed by fireplaces, and there is also a library, a curio shop and a room on the trust’s community work. Meals are full board, by the fire or out on the decks in fine weather, and the cooking is Rwandan with a cosmopolitan touch, drawn from the day’s garden harvest. House wine and local drinks are included, and at dusk they come out onto the terrace as the sun drops behind the volcanoes.
The journey from Kigali takes around two and a half to three hours by road, and there is a helicopter option for those who would sooner fly. Gorillas are the reason most guests come, but the park repays a longer stay. Golden monkey treks head into the bamboo, and day hikes climb Mount Bisoke to its crater lake. Another day hike follows the trail to Dian Fossey’s grave at the Karisoke site. Mount Karisimbi takes two days. Every trek is on foot and leaves from Kinigi, on permits issued by the Rwanda Development Board.
accommodation
Sabyinyo Lodge has nine stone units: six cottages, two suites and one family cottage. Each has a sitting area with a fireplace, a dressing area, a bath with separate shower and a covered veranda. The suites add four-poster beds and more lounge space. The family cottage has two separate en-suite bedrooms that share a veranda.
activities
Gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking in Volcanoes National Park, on foot with park rangers from Kinigi. Hikes to Dian Fossey's grave, Mount Bisoke's crater lake and Mount Karisimbi. On the lodge grounds: a guided nature trail, birdwatching and garden tours. Village walks, tree planting and in-cottage massages.
conservation
Sabyinyo is owned by SACOLA, the trust formed in 2004 with the Rwanda Development Board and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme. The lodge's surplus funds classrooms, homes for genocide survivors, water points and vegetable gardens in villages bordering the park.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
01
Volcanoes National Park
02
Volcanoes National Park
03
Volcanoes National Park
04
Volcanoes National Park
05
Volcanoes National Park
06
Volcanoes National Park
07
Volcanoes National Park
08
Volcanoes National Park
By road from Kigali International Airport, a drive of two and a half to three hours north-west through the hills to Kinigi, the village beside the park headquarters. We arrange the private transfer as part of the trip, and most guests travel up the day before their first trek, because the lodge is only about fifteen minutes from the headquarters where every gorilla trek starts at seven in the morning.
To skip the road, we can charter a helicopter from Kigali with Akagera Aviation, which lands at the lodge's own helipad, moved in 2023 to an open site well away from the cottages. Its fleet runs from the three-seat Robinson R44 to the six-seat Agusta A109S and AW119 and the AW139, which takes five, so we match the machine to the size of your party.
Every trekker needs a permit from the Rwanda Development Board, and it sits outside the lodge's rate. A permit costs 1,500 US dollars per person for one trek, and only eight are issued for each of the twelve habituated gorilla families each day, so we book them as soon as your dates are settled, and months ahead for the dry seasons.
Trekkers meet at the park headquarters at Kinigi at seven in the morning, about fifteen minutes from the lodge, and are assigned a family there. The walk in can take from half an hour to four hours or more, depending on where the gorillas are feeding, and once you reach them you have one hour in their company. The minimum age to trek is fifteen.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates the whole of Rwanda as high risk for malaria and recommends antimalarial tablets, and the American CDC lists every area of the country and recommends prescription medicine to prevent it. The lodge stands high on the lower slopes of the volcanoes, but neither service makes an exception for altitude, so the park carries the same advice as the rest of Rwanda.
We plan travel and are not medical professionals, so the choice of tablets is not ours to make. Talk it through with your own doctor or a travel clinic a few weeks before you go, including for any children in the party. For the evenings at the lodge, long sleeves and repellent after dusk are sensible whatever you decide.
The community around it. The lodge belongs to SACOLA, the Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association, formed in 2004 by the people of the parishes around Kinigi with help from the Rwanda Development Board and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme. The lodge was built with support from the African Wildlife Foundation, USAID and the conservation programme, and opened as Rwanda's first community-owned lodge.
It is run on the association's behalf, and its earnings after running costs go back to the villages. Over the years that money has paid for school classrooms, homes for genocide survivors and families in need, water points, savings cooperatives and farming projects along the edge of the park, which gives the people living beside the gorillas a direct stake in protecting them.
Golden monkey tracking is the usual second morning, on its own park permit, which we arrange for you. The other classic is the hike to Dian Fossey's grave at Karisoke, her old research camp on the saddle between the Karisimbi and Bisoke volcanoes, at around 3,000 metres: about two hours' climb each way through the forest, ending beside the gorilla graveyard where Digit lies.
Back at the lodge, its guides lead nature trails and birdwatching through the grounds, and visits to the neighbouring villages show how the community that owns the lodge lives and farms. Guests can also plant a tree in the lodge's reforestation of its grounds with native species, and the organic vegetable garden that supplies the kitchen is worth a walk before dinner.
Yes, with one firm limit: gorilla trekking in Rwanda is for those aged fifteen and over, so younger children stay at the lodge while the rest of the party treks. Of the nine stone cottages and suites, one is a family cottage with two separate bedrooms, and like the others it has a sitting area with an open fireplace and a sheltered veranda facing the volcanoes.
Tell us the ages of everyone travelling when you first enquire. We will hold the family cottage, set out who treks on which morning, and plan the days for those staying behind around the garden, the nature trails and the village visits, so nobody spends the morning simply waiting for the trekkers to come back.
rated five stars by our clients
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
