Virunga Lodge

The main lodge, with its bar, dining room and wide, wraparound verandahs, is built of stone like some fortified castle; from it there are commanding views of five of the national park's volcanoes, impertinent-looking peaks lined up in a grand procession. In the early morning, voices rise up from the hazy valleys below as villagers prepare to work their plots of land before the heat becomes too fierce. Up here on the top of the world, it is always cool and pleasant.

Eco-friendly (and definitely eco-chic), the thatched bandas are hidden snugly amid the tangle of jungle ferns and foliage. There are only ten self-contained bandas (cottages), with hand-carved wooden windows and private verandahs. With no electricity (there is solar power in the evenings), television or radio, and poor mobile-phone reception, it quickly becomes a calm sanctuary from the rest of the world. Each banda has en-suite bathrooms with flushing toilet, double vanity, shower with hot and cold running water. Rooms have mosquito nets, 240v lighting and a private veranda. For those that are desperate to re-connect to the outside world, wi-fi is available in the main lodge building.

The focus at the lodge is to see the mountain gorillas, which adds a sense of shared purpose to dinner at the candle-lit, communal table. You are typically woken at 5am with a pot of coffee; breakfast is served at 5.30; by 7am you will leave the lodge for the Volcanoes National Park headquarters at the base of the Virunga mountains, where everyone with a gorilla-tracking permit gathers for a briefing. The choice is between an 'easy', 'medium' or 'difficult' trek to see the gorillas, depending where the family groups are located in the forest. An 'easy' trek can take from 30 minutes to an hour, a 'difficult' trek usually three or four hours. There are also guided treks in search of the golden monkeys and hikes to the neighbouring volcano and surrounding lakes.