A Dian Fossey Tomb Rwanda Tour or a Diana Fossey Tomb Rwanda safari visit is one of the most prominent excursions taking you to Rwanda. This country is known so much to the world as a home to the mountain gorillas and a Rwanda gorilla safari leads you to meet some of the magnificent creatures in their families.

Gorilla trekking safaris in Rwanda take place in the mountains of Virunga that have been gazetted into what is known as the Volcanoes National Park.

What has become a sensational and darling activity to many safari-goers can be traced back to the works of an early gorilla enthusiast Dr Dian Fossey.

Dian’s Early Life

Primatologist and naturalist Dian Fossey was born on January 16, 1932, in San Francisco, California, and grew up with her mother and stepfather.

Developing an affinity for animals at a young age, throughout her youth, Fossey was an avid horseback rider and an aspiring veterinarian.

However, after enrolling in pre-veterinary studies at the University of California, Davis, she transferred to San Jose State College and changed her major to occupational therapy.

After graduating from San Jose in 1954, Fossey spent several months working as a hospital intern in California and then moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where she began serving as director of the Kosair Crippled Children’s Hospital’s occupational therapy department in 1955.

Living on a farm on the outskirts of Louisville, Fossey spent many off-hours happily tending to the livestock. But her contentment didn’t last long. She soon became restless, longing to see other parts of the world and setting her sights on Africa.

Her Mission to Africa

In September 1963, Fossey embarked on her first trip to Africa—which cost Fossey her entire life savings at the time, as well as a bank loan—visiting Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and the Congo, among other areas

Fossey then met Joan and Alan Root, native wildlife photographers who were working on a documentary of African gorillas at the time, and when the couple brought her along on one of their trips in search of the primates, Fossey was instantly enamored.

She later explained her drawing of gorillas in her 1983 autobiographical work, Gorillas in the Mist: “It was their individuality combined with the shyness of their behavior that remained the most captivating impression of this first encounter with the greatest of the great apes,” Fossey said. “I left Kabara with reluctance, but with never a doubt that I would, somehow, return to learn more about the gorillas of the misted mountains.”

Protector of Gorillas And Birth of Gorilla Trekking

Worldly recognized for her work towards saving the gorilla species here, primatologist Dian Fossey came to Rwanda in 1967 and set up a research station at Karisoke where she studied so much about these primates and discovered that these were highly intelligent beings that were capable of loving and understanding almost as much as humans do hence demystifying the thought that these gorillas were savage animals that were only endangering the survival of people living next to them.

Dian Fossey is also credited for starting the habituation process of gorilla groups which ultimately gave birth to the gorilla tracking as we know it today.

The Death of A Conservationist

Unfortunately, Dian Fossey didn’t live long enough to see the fruits of her toil as her life was brutally cut short when she was coldly murdered in 1985 in her home by what is believed to be a group of poachers, but because of her unmatched love for these gentle mountain giants, she was laid to rest amongst the very gorillas she dedicated much of her life to save as a tribute to her works.

During your gorilla trekking in Rwanda, you can make a detour and visit the Dian Fossey tombs to pay homage to this great hero of the preservation and conservation of gorillas in their natural habitat.

A hike to these tombs lasts between 3-4 hours and it’s really rewarding as it comes with numerous encounters such as several bird species if you are lucky you can also meet a gorilla family or two during this since it’s done inside Volcanoes National Park, the home of Rwanda’s gorillas.

This trek is rated moderate as it is done between 2900-3000m on average and it’s likely to take less than 3 hours to reach the site and return to base.

Here are some of Rwanda gorilla trekking safaris that you can choose from for your ultimate gorilla trekking safari Rwanda.