Wondering: “how can I reschedule my Rwanda gorilla permit after the date is already set,” your answer is here. Most likely, you might have purchased your gorilla permit months ago. Then, you feel like you have got some other issues to sort out on the day of your trek. This might result from an illness, change in travel plans, flight cancellation, or some global emergency such as Covid-19. In most cases you can reschedule the gorilla permit to avoid making a loss on the permit you paid a fortune for.
Nevertheless, gorilla permit reschedule in Rwanda is done under certain circumstances. This allows you to do the gorilla trek on a future date and avoid cancellations. Remember that a handful of gorilla permits are sold each day, yet competition to get them is extremely intense. The Rwanda Development Board issues the gorilla permits each day, and if you want to reschedule, you have to do it with them. At Standard Safaris, we can help you in both the purchasing and rescheduling of gorilla permits in Rwanda.
The RDB allows you to choose your future trekking date if you would like to reschedule. This should fall in the same calendar year as the previous date unless it is a special case. But, there should be permits available for your new date for this to workout. Also, you have to consider that transportation, accommodation and others can increase or decrease for that time. You must make adjustments to your budget to suit these expectations. Now, to reschedule a Rwanda gorilla permit, you must understand a few rules.
Rules for Rescheduling a Permit
To preserve gorillas in their habitats, Rwanda has a mandate to enforce a number of rules to manage permit rescheduling. Another advantage of this is that tourism operations in Volcanoes National Park is sustained as recommended visitor numbers are maintained. Moreover, access to gorilla permits remains fair for everyone from around the world.
- One rule is concerned with time. Try your best to reschedule your gorilla permit at least 30 days (or a month) before the original date of trekking. This is because chances of getting other available dates for gorilla trekking are easier when enough time is left. Last minute changes are quite difficult to deal with, especially during the peak season when almost all dates are fully booked. Your request to reschedule might be rejected if it falls within less than a month.
- If you reschedule through a tour operator, a rescheduling fee of 20% of the permit price is required. Therefore, foreign nonresidents must pay $300 which is 20% of the $1,500 for the gorilla permit.
- A reschedule of the gorilla permit is done only once, and any other reschedule is unacceptable.
- Transfer of the permit is also unacceptable, thus you must present your passport details for the reschedule to be successful.
- Strictly, there is no refund on purchased gorilla permits in Rwanda. Therefore, you have to reschedule in case you do not expect to travel to Volcanoes NP on the original date.
Why Reschedule with us?
If you booked the gorilla permit with Standard Safaris, there are advantages of rescheduling it with us. Firstly, we operate throughout East Africa, and Rwanda is no exception. We have a good working relationship with the RDB and understand how they work. Direct communication with them has been maintained for years, which makes any queries with them easier to consider. Therefore, contact us as soon as you have noticed that trekking gorillas on your original date might not happen.
We shall ask you to provide the reason for rescheduling your gorilla permit. Just in case it is an illness, you must send proof through a medical form or something similar. Kindly provide details regarding your passport information, permit number and preferred new date. Then we shall contact the RDB through a formal written request. It also includes an alternative trekking date, and reason for the change. Now the RDB checks the availability of the new trekking date and responds to us.
Once they approve, they send us an updated permit with your new trekking date. We shall promptly send you a softcopy of this permit. This is required at the park headquarters of Volcanoes National Park, before they allow you to track the gorillas.
