One&Only Gorilla's Nest

Tall eucalyptus trees, planted generations ago as a timber crop, shade the grounds of One&Only Gorilla's Nest, on the edge of Volcanoes National Park near Kinigi in north-western Rwanda. The rooms stand among the trunks, each with a fireplace and a terrace, and the park headquarters, where every gorilla trek in the country begins, is a short drive down the road.

History

The lodge is the second One&Only in Rwanda, after One&Only Nyungwe House, which stands on a tea estate beside Nyungwe Forest in the south-west of the country. The two are often combined in a single journey: chimpanzees and the canopy walkway at Nyungwe, then mountain gorillas in the Virungas. One&Only is the resort brand of Kerzner International.

Gorilla tourism in Rwanda grew out of conservation work. The Mountain Gorilla Project began habituating families to visitors at the end of the 1970s, on the principle that the animals would be safer if they earned the country money. That principle still runs the park. Permit income pays for rangers and trackers, and a share goes to the communities around the park boundary, including the villages near Kinigi.

Architecture and design

The architecture is quiet: timber and stone, low roofs, and walkways between the trees linking the rooms to the main building, which holds the restaurant, bar and lounge. The eucalyptus is not native to Rwanda, but the old trees give the site height and shade, and the buildings were placed among them rather than in a clearing.

Rooms and suites

The lodge has a little over twenty rooms, suites and villas. All have fireplaces, which are needed at this altitude, where nights are cold in every season, and terraces among the trees. The larger suites and villas add sitting rooms and space for families. It is one of a handful of luxury lodges in Volcanoes National Park built at this scale, large enough for a restaurant and a spa yet small enough to stay quiet.

Wellness

The spa offers massage and treatments suited to the aches of a day on the volcano slopes, and there is a fitness room. Most guests use both on the afternoon after the trek.

Location

Rwanda's habituated gorilla families each receive one group of up to eight visitors a day, for one hour, and trekkers must be at least fifteen years old. Permits are issued by the Rwanda Development Board and have cost 1,500 US dollars since 2017. A trek can be over in less than an hour or take most of the day, depending on where the family moved overnight. Porters from the surrounding villages can be hired at the trailhead to carry bags and lend a hand on the steeper ground.

The same headquarters at Kinigi sends out groups to track golden monkeys, which live in the bamboo zone of the Virungas and nowhere outside the mountains of the Albertine Rift. It is a lighter outing than the gorilla trek and is often done on the second morning. Each September Kinigi also hosts Kwita Izina, the national ceremony at which the gorillas born in the park over the past year are given names. Hikers with a full day to spare can also climb Bisoke, 3,711 metres, to the crater lake at its summit. Beyond the park, the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo lie east of Musanze, the nearest town, once called Ruhengeri. Kigali International Airport is about two and a half hours away by road.