Climbing Mount Bisoke

Most people come to Volcanoes National Park for the gorillas and leave without realising the mountains themselves are climbable. Bisoke is the one to do: a summit crater lake at 3,711 metres, up and back in a single long day, starting from the same park headquarters at Kinigi.

What the day looks like

Briefing at Kinigi around seven, then a transfer to the trailhead. You walk up through farmland, cross the dry-stone buffalo wall that marks the park boundary, and enter the forest.

From there it is roughly three hours up and two and a half down, though both numbers stretch considerably in the wet. The trail climbs from about 2,700 metres to 3,711, which is enough altitude to notice but not enough to be dangerous for most people.

The mud is the hard part

Not the gradient, not the altitude. Volcanic soil after rain is not mud in the ordinary sense — it is grease, ankle-deep, on a slope. People who hike regularly in Europe or North America are routinely surprised by how much harder this makes an otherwise moderate climb.

Gaiters are close to essential. Walking poles help more here than on almost any other hike we send people on. Hire a porter; it is inexpensive, the money goes directly to someone local, and on the descent you will be glad of the hand.

The summit

There is a crater lake in the top, ringed by vegetation, and on a clear morning you can see across to Karisimbi and down over the Virunga chain into Uganda and the DRC.

On a bad morning you can see about forty metres. The summit clouds in frequently and there is no controlling for it. Go for the walk, and treat the view as a bonus.

Karisimbi, if Bisoke is not enough

Karisimbi at 4,507 metres is the highest point in the Virunga chain and a genuinely different proposition: two days, with a night camped at around 3,700 metres. It is cold, it is exposed, and the altitude is high enough to affect people.

It needs proper hill fitness and warm kit, and it is not something to attempt the day after a gorilla trek.

Other walks from the same park

• Dian Fossey's grave and the Karisoke site — a shorter, steep climb to the saddle between Karisimbi and Bisoke, and a moving place to stand.
• Musanze caves — a lava tube running for kilometres beneath the farmland, with roof collapses letting shafts of light onto the floor.
• The Twin Lakes, Burera and Ruhondo — not a climb, but a quiet half-day by boat with the volcanoes behind.

Planning it

• Climbs are guided and permits are arranged through the park; costs are confirmed when we quote.
• Do not schedule Bisoke the day after a gorilla trek. Both are long days on the same steep ground.
• The drier months make an enormous difference here. June to September and December to February.
• Start early. Afternoon cloud and rain build on the mountain most days.
• Take more water than you think, and something to eat at the top.

Bisoke is the best value day in Rwanda: a real mountain, a crater lake, and a fraction of the cost of an hour with the gorillas.