Direct Ugandan Operator·Kampala & Entebbe
Our signature safari
One hour, at close range, with a habituated mountain gorilla family. Everything else on a Uganda itinerary is built around this day.
You are at the park headquarters by 7am for a briefing, then assigned to a group of eight and a gorilla family. From there it is on foot into steep montane rainforest (anywhere from forty minutes to six hours each way), depending on where the trackers located the family that morning.
When you reach them, bags go down and you have exactly one hour. The gorillas are entirely habituated to human presence and ignore you almost completely, which is what makes it feel less like wildlife viewing and more like sitting in on a family's afternoon.
Bwindi's four trailheads are hours apart on mountain roads, so the sector on your permit dictates which lodges are viable. Booking a lodge before a permit is the most expensive mistake in Uganda safari planning, and we sequence it the other way round.
Buhoma is the most established, with the widest lodge range. Ruhija sits highest and suits birders. Rushaga has the most habituated families and is the only place the habituation experience runs. Nkuringo is the hardest trekking, the best scenery, and the closest to Kigali.
Moderate fitness is genuinely enough. Trails are steep and often muddy at 1,500 to 2,500 metres, but the pace is set by the group and the trackers, and porters are available at every trailhead for around $20 (hire one regardless of fitness, both for the help and because it puts money straight into the community.
Travellers with limited mobility can be assigned an easier family, and sedan-chair assistance can be arranged with notice. The minimum age is 15 and it is enforced against your passport at the briefing.
Ready-made routes
The fastest, most affordable route to a mountain gorilla encounter in Bwindi.
Murchison Falls, Kibale, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi: the complete Uganda story.
Where you'll go
Other ways to travel
Permits are limited
Tell us your dates and we'll confirm live permit availability and lodge allocations, then send a costed, tailor-made itinerary, usually within the hour.
