Gorilla Trekking in Uganda

Yes, and it is the single best upgrade most guests never consider. A second permit means a different family, different terrain and a completely different hour — and because you know what to expect, you spend the time watching rather than absorbing the shock. Many people find the second trek the more rewarding of the two. It requires an extra night in the sector and a second permit, both of which need booking well in advance.

Better and more varied than the remoteness suggests. Each of the four sectors has its own lodges, from simple community-run bandas through comfortable mid-range lodges with hot water and log fires, up to a handful of genuinely luxurious properties on the forest edge. Evenings are cool at 1,500 metres and above, so fires and hot water bottles are standard. Your lodge must sit in the same sector as your permit, which is why we book the two together.

Available only in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi, it gives you four hours with a semi-habituated family rather than the standard one, accompanied by the researchers and trackers doing the habituation work. Groups are limited to four people and the permit costs considerably more than a standard one. It is the most immersive great-ape experience available anywhere, and the family is less settled around humans, so the encounter is rawer and less predictable.

A minimum of three: one to reach the trekking sector, one to trek, and one to travel onward. Most guests build it into a longer Ugandan itinerary of eight to ten days including chimpanzees and savannah parks. If you want to trek twice — and many people do, because the second permit is the best money in the trip — allow four days in the Bwindi area. A spare day also protects you if weather or logistics go wrong.

Uganda Wildlife Authority permits cost considerably less than Rwanda's — historically around a third of the price — which is the single biggest reason budget-conscious trekkers choose Uganda over Rwanda for the same experience. Permits are capped at eight people per gorilla family per day and sell out months in advance for June to August and December to February. We secure permits when you book, and a permit is only confirmed once it has been paid in full.

Fitter than for most safari activities. Bwindi sits between 1,200 and 2,600 metres, the terrain is steep and slippery, and there is often no trail at all. If you can manage a strenuous four-hour hill walk in wet conditions, you will be fine. Rangers assign the easier families to those who ask for them, and porters make an enormous difference — several of our older guests have completed the trek comfortably with one.

Effectively yes. Success rates in Bwindi run at around ninety-nine percent, because trackers follow each habituated family from dawn and radio their position to the guides. On the very rare occasions a group fails to find their family, the Uganda Wildlife Authority will normally offer a free permit for another day, subject to availability. Plan a spare day in the region if you can — it removes all the pressure.

Stay seven metres back, though the gorillas themselves frequently ignore this and walk closer. Wear a face mask, keep your voice low, no flash photography, no eating or drinking near them, and do not go trekking if you have a cold or flu — gorillas share most of our DNA and are highly vulnerable to human respiratory infections. If a silverback displays, crouch, look down and do not run. Your guide will tell you exactly what to do.

Bwindi, for almost everyone. It has far more habituated families, four separate trekking sectors, a much wider choice of lodges and higher success rates. Mgahinga has a single habituated family and treks are occasionally cancelled when it crosses into Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo, but it is more open country, offers golden monkey tracking, and sees very few visitors. If you have one shot at this, book Bwindi.

This is the strongest argument for choosing Uganda. A ten-day itinerary can track chimpanzees in Kibale Forest, take the Kazinga Channel boat and game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park, then finish with gorillas in Bwindi. No other country offers gorillas, chimpanzees and classic savannah wildlife in a single overland trip.