Discover the playful and inquisitive nature of the golden monkey, a beautiful little creature found only in the high-altitude forests of the Volcanoes National Park. Spend the morning searching the lush vegetation at the foot of Mount Sabyinyo for one of two habituated groups of golden monkey, one of them a troop of more than 80 members. Spend an enchanted hour watching their frolics as they leap among the slender shoots of bamboo or tumble among the dense foliage on the forest floor.
Active, sprightly little creatures, the golden monkeys are incredibly entertaining as they amuse themselves swinging through the bamboo or racing after one other in circles around and above you. Blending in perfectly with the golden bamboo, they are very pretty, with shiny reddish-gold backs.
Unique to the Virunga Mountains range, which covers the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, these delightful golden monkeys are an endangered species. Rwanda and Uganda are the only two countries where visitors have the chance of trekking to see them up close.
Hiking to see them is one of the more leisurely activities in Volcanoes National Park. The scurrying primates inhabit the bottom of the mountain range in the bamboo forest and the terrain here is relatively flat and easy to hike.