Dian Fossey: Her Gorillas, Karisoke and the Grave Hike in Rwanda

Gorillas, not chimpanzees

Fossey began studying the mountain gorillas of the Virunga mountains in 1966 and worked with them until her murder in 1985. Goodall's famous work is with chimpanzees at Gombe in Tanzania. For your trip the difference matters.

The animal Fossey habituated in Rwanda is the same mountain gorilla you visit on a $1,500 permit in Volcanoes National Park today, and her method is why you can sit within 7 meters (about 22 feet) of a family for one hour.

The anti-poaching years

After a gorilla named Digit was killed by poachers in 1978 she set up the Digit Fund to pay for anti-poaching patrols, and that fund laid the foundations for The Gorilla Organization. She could be hostile to tourists and even to fellow researchers. You do not need to take a side on her personality.

What matters for your trek is the outcome: the Virunga gorilla population had crashed from about 475 in the early 1960s to about 254 in the early 1980s, and the protection she forced on the mountains is a big reason Rwanda now has 12 habituated gorilla families open to visitors.

What is confirmed

Both women became famous through field studies of African apes, and both are remembered alongside Biruté Galdikas as researchers backed by Louis Leakey. Whether the two women themselves ever sat down together is not stated in the sources we draw on for this page.

What the record shows

Fossey was born in San Francisco, California in 1932 and was interested in animals from a very young age. She spent most of her adult life at Karisoke in the Virunga wilderness rather than in conventional relationships, but the detail of any lover is not stated in the material used here.

Booking, price and start

Book through the Rwanda Development Board portal or have your operator add it to your day. Rates per person: foreigner $75, foreign resident $60 (student $45), Rwandan RWF 4,000, East African citizen $55, East African foreign resident $65. Report at 07:00 at park headquarters in Kinigi, the same briefing point as gorilla tracking.

From there it is about 30 minutes by car to the trailhead. The trek itself takes 3 to 4 hours to reach the old Karisoke research camp, where she was buried beside the gorillas in a graveyard she built for them. Combine it with a permit trek the same day or the day before.

A 1 Day Rwanda Gorilla Trekking Tour In The Volcanoes National Park at $342 per person leaves the afternoon free for the grave hike.

How hard is it

The trail climbs through farmland then forest toward the saddle between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke, at altitudes in the 2,500m to 4,000m range typical for the park. Bring hiking boots or sturdy shoes, waterproof clothing and long sleeves. Gumboots, raincoats and gloves can be hired at park headquarters, and porters are available to carry backpacks.

The original Karisoke site

Fossey founded Karisoke in September 1967 with two small tents in the Virunga wilderness, naming it after Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke, after conflict in the Congo forced her out of her first study site. She was murdered in her cabin at Karisoke in 1985 and buried beside Digit in the gorilla graveyard. The tomb hike described above takes you to this site.

The Ellen DeGeneres Campus

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Ellen DeGeneres Campus opened in 2022 just outside Volcanoes National Park. It is open every day from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., with last entry at 4 p.m. A self-guided tour needs no pre-booking and asks a suggested $25 donation per adult.

Highlights include a replica of Fossey's cabin with original artifacts, a 360-degree theater, a virtual reality experience, a Gorilla Cafe and gift shop, and nature trails. If you want more, a Behind-the-Scenes VIP Tour runs about 2 hours, needs pre-booking and costs $800 for up to five people plus $100 per extra person up to ten. A Silverback Sundowner costs $1,000 for up to five people plus $100 per extra person up to thirty.

VIP experiences are non-refundable but can be rescheduled with 24 hours notice.

Murder and burial

She was found killed in her cabin at the Karisoke site two days after Christmas in 1985. Whoever did it and why remain a mystery. She was buried at the site, beside Digit and the other gorillas she had lost, in the graveyard she had created.

That grave is the destination of the tomb hike you can book today.

Book and film

The book came out in 1983, two years before she was killed. The 1988 film brought the Karisoke story to a global audience, with Sigourney Weaver playing Fossey. Watching the film before your trek gives you a picture of the landscape you will walk through, though the modern park rules are stricter and more organised than the scenes on screen.

Her legacy runs beyond the film. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund continues her work through a scientific and people-centered approach, and it operates the campus you can visit in the afternoon of any trek day.

From Karisoke to your permit

Fossey's habituation method led to human-gorilla friendships and made close observation possible. Every habituated family you can visit today, including the 12 habituated groups in Volcanoes National Park, descends from that approach. The 10% of permit revenue that now goes to local communities extends the people-centered model her fund pioneered.

In Rwanda the standard visit is one hour with a family after a trek of anywhere from 30 minutes to four or more hours, for a $1,500 permit. Uganda offers the same one-hour visits in Bwindi and Mgahinga, plus a longer habituation experience. Read how the two compare in our Bwindi Impenetrable National Park guide and our Mgahinga Gorilla National Park guide, or see the cost breakdown in how much gorilla trekking costs.

The mountain setting is shared: the Virunga volcanoes she worked among straddle Rwanda, Uganda and Congo, as our Virunga Mountains guide explains.

A sample day

Morning: briefing at 07:00 at Kinigi headquarters, then either your gorilla trek (90 minutes to the whole morning depending on the family assigned) or the 3 to 4 hour tomb hike, which starts with the same 30 minute drive to a trailhead. Afternoon: drive to the Ellen DeGeneres Campus for the self-guided visit, a suggested $25 donation per adult, before the 4 p.m. last entry. If your permit day is full, add a second day.

The park sells plenty of alternatives at the same 07:00 briefing time: golden monkey tracking at $100 for foreigners, the Mount Bisoke hike at $75 (6 to 7 hours, summit 3,711 m), or the Musanze caves at $50, a 90-minute drive from Kigali. Our 3 Day Gorilla Trekking Rwanda with IMANI TOURS page shows how three days cover permit, grave hike and campus comfortably.