The next best thing to seeing the mountain gorilla is the chance to track the golden monkey, a little-known bamboo-associated primate listed as ‘Endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Endemic to the Albertine Rift, the golden monkey is characterized by a bright orange-gold body, cheeks and tail, contrasting with its black limbs, crown and tail end. Once quite widespread in the forests of southwest Uganda and northwest Rwanda, it is now near-endemic to the Virunga volcanoes, though a small number still inhabit the relict forests protected within Rwanda’s recently gazetted Gishwati-Mukura National Park. Within this constrained range, however, it is the numerically leading primate indeed a 2003 survey estimated a population of 3,000 to 4,000 in MGNP alone. Visitors to Mgahinga might luck a glimpse of this charismatic monkey on any hike that passes through the park’s bamboo zone, but to be sure of seeing them close up, it is best to do the golden monkey tracking excursion that leaves from Ntebeko at 08.30 to 09.00 daily.