A magical morning with gorillas in Rwanda's volcanoes

You’ve just stepped out of your room for a spot of lunch and you’re wondering what delicious meal you’ll be treated to this afternoon, when suddenly, something huge steps out onto the path right ahead of you. One of Rwanda’s endangered mountain gorillas, standing five feet away.

In fact, the whole family of the Hirwa group paid a special visit recently to Wilderness Sabyinyo. Our guests and staff were treated to an extraordinary sighting with the family when they wandered right onto the property. The gorillas were spotted on Sabyinyo’s boundary 10 days before, but this time they came a little closer. As the name suggests, mountain gorillas tend to stick to Rwanda’s mountains, so their venturing onto the lodge grounds provided an exceptionally rare sighting.

The Hirwa family has several members, including a precious pair of baby twins. The name Hirwa means ‘lucky’ in Rwanda’s Kinyarwanda language, and these guests were lucky indeed. The group came right past the main area of the lodge and spent an hour with our guests before moving off back into the park.

This unprecedented, momentous occasion will be forever cherished by the guests and staff who got to see the gorillas up close. A magical moment in the volcanoes of Rwanda.