Sitting with Wild Mountain Gorillas in the middle of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest was never something we thought we would do, until we found a points deal to Nairobi, Kenya and so we thought…let’s put together another Africa trip! From Nairobi, Kigali, Rwanda is a fairly short flight and once we arrived, we checked into the Marriott Kigali for a 1-night stay before the adventure began.
P.S. Rwanda was such a surprise for us. It was so clean, safe, and one of the greenest countries (in both definitions of the phrase) we had ever been too! Don’t let western fear keep you from visiting these beautiful countries!
Our Viator Shop for Excursions and Experiences
We found a company called Eco Safari Adventures and that is who we coordinated through to spend the next 5 days with primates in Uganda. We do not receive any commission from this recommendation, we just really loved them and want to share them with you too! Godfrey was our driver and he was amazing! Make sure to ask for him at booking and tell him Mikayla & Chris say hi!
Our schedule for the next few days looked like this:
Day 1: Pick-up from our hotel in a sweet safari vehicle and drive to Uganda. There will be a land border crossing and you will need to make sure you have the correct visa information. They also switch which side of the road they are driving between Rwanda and Uganda (good thing you don’t have to drive!). Once you arrive in Uganda, you will drive all the way to Kibale National Park which is home to the chimpanzee primate, and the first stop of our tour.
P.S. To see the chimps, there are some LONG driving days and in Uganda, instead of streetlights or stop signs, they use speed bumps to regulate traffic and so you speed up and slow down ALOT. It is bumpy and so it is something to be aware of if you have any physical limitations. Also, there are not too many places to use the restroom so don’t plan on drinking a bunch of water. This first day ended up being about 10-hour drive.
Our first night we stayed at Turaco Treetops Lodge, which was pre-arranged for the tour and it was very nice accommodation and the food was very tasty and fresh. You can definitely self-drive this itinerary but between permits and roads, we felt it was easier (and it was) to organize through a company.
Day 2: We got an early start and headed to Kibale (only about 10 minutes from the hotel) to be briefed by the rangers about chimps and started out on our trek! For this experience, we opted for a non-private tour and went to see habituated chimpanzees (meaning they were familiar with humans). Once you find them, you get to spend an hour with them. We were in a group of about 8 people and the trekking was moderate. Make sure you bring gaiters and long sleeves/pants and good boots but other than that, you should be all set.
It took us probably 15 minutes to start hearing and seeing chimps and about 45 minutes to really start to see them as they gathered on the ground for us that day which was really neat to be able to take photos! After we spent our hour with them, we were taken back to the safari vehicles and had to head toward Bwindi National Park for our Gorilla experiences the following days. We did get to briefly stop at the equator (between the northern and southern hemispheres) and drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park where we saw lots of elephants! This is yet another long driving day…about 8 hours, so plan accordingly!
Day 3: The night before we arrived at Gorilla Leisure Lodge in Bwindi National Park. The road to get here is not for the faint of heart (did we mention long driving days already?!) Bwindi is located off a windy, dirt road that is cut into the hill and mountainsides. It is beautiful but it is bumpy and 4×4 and if you visit in rainy season, it can be impassable at times. Thankfully, we had a great driver (shoutout to Godfrey) and were fine, but there were some times where the rain was coming down and others were getting stuck!
We headed out early this morning as well as most animal experiences require that and headed to the HQ for a briefing yet again. Today, we were trekking with gorillas which meant we were in a group of about 8 people again and looking to find habituated gorillas (ones that are familiar and used to humans). Once we found them, we were able to spend an hour with them.
Now, these are some words of wisdom now being on the other side. PLEASE be prepared to hike in the jungle, over uneven surfaces like rocks and vines, climb steep hills, and have good gear to do so (proper shoes, gaiters, pants, hiking poles, etc.). You will RUIN the experience for the others in your group if you do not come prepared and that was us this day. The thing with gorillas and all wild animals is that they are not locked in by a fence or in a park. They can be ANYWHERE in the entire forest and you may hike for 10 minutes or you might hike for 4 hours to find them and you need to be able to do that. For most people, this is a once in a lifetime experience and costs quite a bit to get here so don’t ruin that for others due to your lack of preparation. If you need help, you can hire porters right there at the park for $15 USD per day. They will carry your bags, help you walk, really anything you need. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE hire one if you need the help.
In our circumstance we got TURNED AROUND because two ladies in our group “couldn’t make it.” On top of that, one of them was terribly rude about the whole thing and was quite ungrateful for all of them help she had been given thus far even though in the morning she wasn’t even paying attention to the briefing and definitely did not hire a porter.
Don’t be this person, PLEASE!!!!! It was SUCH a bummer to have hiked for multiple hours to not see them. Thankfully, between our tour company and the park we were able to go out again in the afternoon and find a family on our own, but that is not always guaranteed. Our day turned around in the afternoon when we got to go out and finally see them!! It started pouring once our hour with them was up and we had to climb straight up the mountainside in the slick, wet, plants but it was so worth to see these beauties.
We returned to the lodge for dry clothes, a warm meal and were even more excited for the next day coming with gorillas, the habituation experience.
Day 4: We woke up early again this morning and ate breakfast (food was great at the hotel!). Bonus: they even cleaned our boots for us each day when we got back as they were dirty and muddy which was so nice of them to do.
This was the day of our habituation experience meaning we got to find a family of unhabituated gorillas (meaning they are not used to humans) and spend 4 hours with them! This experience is max 4 people so if it is something you want to do, plan early! It is also quite a bit more expensive than the trekking so plan accordingly with your budget. If you had to choose just one, we would choose this experience.
The hike again is in the middle of the park and it could take us 10 minutes or many hours. It averaged about 2 hours of hiking but this time, we really weren’t on any established trails, just bushwhacking up mountains and hillsides. The terrain is slippery and muddy so please plan ahead with gear and ability.
Once we found the family, we literally spent 4 hours just watching every part of being a gorilla family: fighting, playing, mating, eating, being cheeky, sleeping, you name it!
For us, this was the coolest part of the experience that pushes past seeing them in a zoo, or safari. Due to the length of time spent, you really got to see all of their behaviors! See our video above to really get a feel for the experience. It felt like we were camera people for National Geographic with the things we got to witness and capture with our cameras.
Once again, it started raining at the end of our experience and we had a multi-hour hike out in the pouring rain (peep the next photo).
We got to spend one more night inside Bwindi to head back to Kigali the following day. If you stay at the Marriott Kigali, you can store bags there for your time so you don’t have to bring everything with you (which likely this is part of a larger trip to Africa and your bags might be big!). Overall, we would HIGHLY recommend a visit to see the wild gorillas in Uganda and while there are a few other locations to see them, Bwindi was by far the best.
MC Exploring 