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Two mountain gorillas resting in dense green foliage

Experience

Gorilla Trekking

One hour with a habituated gorilla family in Rwanda or Uganda, at the end of a walk that could be forty minutes or most of the morning.

Plan this experience
At a glanceOn land
How longOne trek, one hourOne hour with the family; three or four nights in country
How hardDemandingSteep, wet forest, forty minutes to most of a morning
SeasonYear-roundThe drier spells are easier underfoot

The forest is cool and steep and smells of wet earth. You walk behind trackers who left at dawn to find the family you have been allocated, and who cut a path for you when the vegetation closes. It might take forty minutes. It might take most of the morning.

Then they stop, and the green parts, and a family is in front of you: mothers with infants on their chests, juveniles wrestling in the vines, and the silverback watching you decide how to behave. You have an hour. Almost nobody uses a camera for all of it.

Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park is the short version: an hour and a half from Kigali, higher and steeper. Uganda’s Bwindi is a longer journey and a wilder forest, and costs less per permit. Both work; which one suits you depends on how much time you have and how much walking you want.

Good to know

  • Permits are dated, strictly limited and sold per person per trek. They go months ahead for high season, so a booked permit is the first thing we pin down.
  • Both countries set a minimum age for trekking, and the rules on illness are firm, and a cold on the morning means you don’t go in. We confirm the current requirements with your permit.
  • Trek times swing wildly with where the family has moved to. Expect anything from an easy walk to five hours on a slope.
  • Hire a porter. They cost little, they carry your pack up the hard sections, and the money stays in the village at the forest edge.

Gorilla permit prices, permit availability windows, minimum trekking ages and the current health rules in Rwanda and Uganda are set by each government and change without notice. We confirm what applies to your dates in writing before you pay anything.

You have an hour. Almost nobody uses a camera for all of it.

Where to do it

Where we arrange gorilla trekking

These itineraries already include it. Any of them can be rebuilt around your dates.

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Questions we are actually asked

How much is a gorilla permit?
Both governments set their own permit price and change it without much notice, and Rwanda's is the higher of the two. We quote the current figure in writing when we secure your permit rather than publishing a number that goes stale.
Rwanda or Uganda?
Rwanda is the short version: an hour and a half from Kigali to the park, higher and steeper. Uganda's Bwindi is a longer journey and a wilder forest, and the permit costs less. If you have three days, go to Rwanda. If you have a week and want more than gorillas, go to Uganda.
How fit do I need to be?
Fit enough to walk uphill on wet, uneven ground for an unknown length of time. Trek times swing with wherever the family has moved to overnight, so an easy morning and a five-hour slog are both normal. Hire a porter. They cost little and they carry your pack up the hard sections.
How far ahead do we book?
Permits are dated, strictly limited and sold per person per trek, and high season goes months ahead. The permit is the first thing we pin down and everything else in the itinerary is built around the date it lands on.
Are you guaranteed to see gorillas?
Nearly always, because trackers leave at dawn to find the family before you set off, but it is wild forest and no one promises it. The rules on illness are firm as well: a cold on the morning means you do not go in, and that is not negotiable.
Can children trek?
Both countries set a minimum age and it is enforced at the briefing. We confirm the current requirement with your permit rather than quoting one here, because it has moved before.

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