June to August and December to February are the driest months and the easiest time to trek gorillas in Volcanoes National Park. Rwanda is open year-round, and November to May carries RDB's 30% low-season gorilla permit discount if you add Nyungwe or Akagera.
The best time to visit Rwanda is the long dry season from June to August, followed by the short dry season from December to February. Those are the months when trails in Volcanoes National Park are firmest and gorilla trekking is least strenuous. Rwanda is open year-round, and the wetter months of November to May carry a 30% discount on gorilla permits if you add Nyungwe or Akagera to the trip.
Meteo Rwanda, the national meteorology agency, identifies two rainfall seasons: March-April-May (MAM) and September-October-November-December (SOND), the second of which its climatology page also describes as centred around October to December. It publishes no named dry seasons, so agency-attributed dry-season dates are not the agency's.
The four-season frame below comes from mountain gorilla research conducted at Volcanoes National Park itself, which is the most useful one for a trip built around the park.
| Season | Months | What it means for your trip |
|---|---|---|
| Short dry season | December to February | The second trekking window: drier ground, in demand over Christmas and New Year, so permits and lodges go early. |
| Heavy rains | March to May | The wettest stretch of the year. The forest is greener and quieter, and the mud is real. RDB's 30% low-season permit discount applies. |
| Long dry season | June to August | The driest window, and the one RDB prices as peak: its low-season permit discount runs November to May only, and its promotional resident rates are excluded from June to October 2026. |
| Short rains | September to November | Rain returns. Good value, particularly November, which sits inside both countries' discount windows - though Uganda's low-season permits cannot be rescheduled. |
One caveat matters more than the calendar. Volcanoes National Park takes roughly 1,900 mm of precipitation a year between 3,000 and 3,600 metres, and rainfall varies with elevation across a park spanning about 2,400 m to 4,507 m. A dry-season morning up there can still be wet and cold. Pack for rain in every month.
June to August, then December to February. What the season changes is how hard the walk is underfoot and how much of the day you spend in cloud. These parameters, set by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), do not move with the calendar:
Porters are available to carry packs and cameras and to offer a helping hand on the steeper sections. These figures are set by RDB and revised on its own schedule, so we confirm every one of them at the time of booking.
If you are still choosing between the two countries, our comparison of Uganda and Rwanda for gorilla trekking works through the trade-offs, and the gorilla trekking experience page covers the day itself.
Yes, and Rwanda is unusual in publishing the mechanism openly. RDB offers a 30% discount on gorilla trekking permits, applicable from November to May only, on condition that you combine the trek with a stay in one of the other two national parks. The published requirements are specific:
The window runs from November right through to May, so it covers the drier December-to-February stretch as well as the wet months, and the condition attached - two nights in Nyungwe or Akagera - builds a better itinerary rather than a worse one.
Nyungwe is bookable in the wet months as well as the dry ones, and no park authority publishes a seasonal sighting-rate difference for chimpanzee tracking: Uganda Wildlife Authority quotes an over-90% sighting rate at Kibale with no seasonal qualifier at all, and no season-by-season differential could be traced for the region's chimpanzee parks. The drier windows - June to August and December to February - are what operators generally recommend, which is a trail-condition preference rather than a wildlife one.
Fees at Nyungwe are set by Nyungwe Management Company, which runs the park with RDB. The rates below are from its 2025-2026 pricing scheme, the current published list at the time of writing; that tariff year has largely elapsed with no 2026-2027 list yet published, so confirm them with the park before fixing a budget.
| Item | International visitor rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Park entry | USD 100 for 1 night, USD 150 for 2 nights, USD 200 for 3 nights (total for the stay, not per night); nights 4 to 7 free | Children 6-12 pay USD 50 / 75 / 100 total; children 5 and under free |
| Chimpanzee tracking | USD 150 | Maximum 8 adults per chimpanzee community; no children under 15; park entry additional |
| Chimpanzee habituation | USD 200 | Full day with trackers at Gisovu; maximum 4 adults; park entry additional |
| Canopy walkway | USD 40 | Priced within a band of special activities; park entry additional |
That entry fee is a cumulative total for the whole stay, because it tapers by 50% on the second and third nights and is then free up to a week. Quoting it as a nightly charge would triple a three-night stay. See the Nyungwe Forest destination page, or the chimpanzee tracking page for the trek itself.
Akagera sits at low altitude in the east and follows the same two national rain seasons. Which months drive best is operator judgement rather than published fact: the drier June-to-August and December-to-February windows are the ones usually recommended for track conditions.
Akagera entry for international visitors is USD 100 for one day or night, USD 150 for two nights and USD 200 for three nights - again a total for the stay, tapering by half on the second and third nights and free thereafter for up to a week. The park-run night drive is USD 40 for adults and USD 25 for children aged 6 to 12, published by Akagera Management Company for the 2026-2027 tariff year. Akagera is also one of the two parks that unlocks the 30% low-season gorilla discount, which is the practical reason to give it two nights on a November-to-May itinerary.
Earlier than most people expect, because the ceiling is hard: 96 gorilla permits a day for the whole country, sold first-come, first-serve. For June to August and the Christmas and New Year period, book many months ahead.
Two structural points affect how you book. RDB works only with licensed Rwanda-based operators, so an international operator has to book through a local one. And permits must be used within two years of purchase unless rescheduled at least seven days ahead; for gorilla permits a reschedule is allowed once only, within 12 months of the booking date and subject to availability.
On refunds, RDB publishes this: visitors who track all day and fail to find the gorillas because the group has moved get another chance or a full refund; those who fail to make contact for another reason are refunded 75%. There is no refund for late arrival, flight delay or absence - which is the argument for a spare day at the front of the itinerary rather than flying in the night before.
The seasons line up well. Rwanda's long dry season, June to August, covers the same three months that were driest in every year of the 13-year rainfall record kept at Ruhija in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation. That record runs 1987 to 1999, so read it as the shape of the Bwindi year rather than as a forecast. One dry window serves both countries.
The pricing runs the other way, which is the useful part. Uganda Wildlife Authority charges USD 800 for a foreign non-resident gorilla permit in the standard season and USD 600 in April, May and November, its designated low season - and UWA states that low-season permits cannot be rescheduled, so those dates are fixed once paid. The revised UWA tariff taking effect on 1 January 2027 leaves the standard gorilla permit at USD 800. So April, May and November are the months when both countries discount at once: Uganda on the permit price directly, Rwanda through the 30% combination discount. Foreign non-residents can only buy Ugandan gorilla and chimpanzee permits through a licensed tour operator, and since 1 March 2026 there is no free hold period - a permit is secured only on full payment at the time of booking.
On paperwork, the East Africa Tourist Visa costs USD 100, runs 90 days and covers Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, but your first entry must be through the country whose portal issued it.
The yellow fever rules differ by country, and the difference bites on exactly this trip. Rwanda requires a certificate only if you are arriving from a yellow fever endemic country. Uganda is stricter: a certificate is mandatory for all visitors and must be presented as part of the visa application itself, including for the East Africa Tourist Visa. For anything health-related, check current official guidance and a travel clinic rather than a tour operator, us included - our note on vaccinations for East Africa is a starting point, not a substitute.
If you want the two countries in one trip, see Uganda and Rwanda combined. For Rwanda on its own, Rwanda gorillas and Kigali is the shortest sensible shape.
If the trek is the priority and budget is not the constraint, go in June, July, August or February. For the same forest with fewer people and a materially lower permit cost, go in November or between March and May, add two nights at Nyungwe or Akagera, and claim the 30% discount. Combining with Uganda, April, May and November are the months both authorities discount at once - bearing in mind that Uganda's USD 600 low-season permit cannot be rescheduled, so pick those dates only when they are firm.
Every figure above is set by RDB, the park management companies or UWA, each revising on its own schedule, so we confirm the current rate and availability at the point of quoting rather than asking you to plan against a number on a web page. Tell us your dates and we will tell you what they will and will not give you - start with plan your safari, or get in touch.
Safari planning team
The planning team answers permit, timing and logistics questions every day, and writes up the answers that come back most often. Everything published here is checked against current park authority rates and the routes our own vehicles drive.
