Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge

Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge is Rwanda's first community-owned lodge, developed in partnership with Governors' Camp Collection, the African Wildlife Foundation and the International Gorilla Conservation Program. It is owned by SACOLA (Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association, roughly 18,000 local Rwandans), which receives nightly community fees and rental income funding local development — cited as having built 1,200+ houses for genocide survivors and vulnerable families.

An intimate close-up of a mountain gorilla surrounded by lush green foliage in its natural habitat. — Illustrative photograph — not this property. Photo: Rino Adamo via Pexels.

What sets it apart

Rwanda's first community-owned lodge, with a documented direct funding line to local development projects.

Who it suits

Travellers who want their stay to have a direct, traceable community-ownership benefit.

The essentials

Country	Rwanda
Where	Foothills of the Virunga Mountains, on the edge of Volcanoes National Park, on 31 acres near the park's main entrance (third-party estimates: minutes from, or roughly 3 km), above 7,000 ft
Property type	community-owned lodge
Rooms	6 stone cottages, 2 suites, 1 family suite (consistent across sources)
Malaria	CDC lists malaria transmission as present in all areas of Rwanda; prophylaxis is recommended for this trip regardless of altitude.

Golden monkey perched on a tree branch in its natural jungle environment, showcasing vibrant colors and unique features. — Illustrative photograph — not this property. Photo: Rino Adamo via Pexels.

What it costs

No official tariff page was found for this lodge. A tour operator (AfricanMecca Safaris) quotes 2026-season rates of US$2,235 per person sharing (Jun 1–Oct 31, 2026 and Dec 16, 2026–Feb 28, 2027) and US$1,689 per person sharing (Nov 1–Dec 15, 2026), fully inclusive with permits extra — a third-party tour-operator quote, not the lodge's own published rate, so treat as indicative only.

About the photographs

The pictures on this page are stock photographs chosen to suggest the kind of setting this property is in. They are not photographs of this property, and we cannot verify exactly where any of them was taken — a stock library records the photographer, not the place. We use them rather than borrow the property's own marketing images, which would imply we had stayed there. For pictures of the actual rooms, see the property's own site.

Taken from the property's own description and the listings cited below — not a checklist we filled in.