Mountain Gorilla Trekking, Rwanda and Uganda

Rwanda vs Uganda, Where to Go

The honest answer is that both are excellent, and the right one depends on what kind of trip you want.

Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park is the polished option. The drive from Kigali to the park headquarters at Kinigi is roughly two and a half hours on a paved road. The terrain is volcanic, often steep, but the typical trek is one to three hours to find the family. Permits are issued by the Rwanda Development Board and secured by Kelly months ahead. The lodge scene around the park is the best in the region: Bisate Lodge, Singita Kwitonda, Sabyinyo Silverback, One&Only Gorilla's Nest. The whole experience feels coordinated and professional.

Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is the wilder option. Permits are issued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The forest is older, denser, and harder to move through. Treks can run anywhere from one to six hours. The drive from Kigali to the southern Bwindi sectors (Rushaga or Nkuringo) is about four to five hours via the Cyanika border. From Entebbe it is nine hours, which is why most clients fly. The lodges in Bwindi are excellent but the experience is less manicured.

Most clients who can afford to do both, do both. The gorilla families behave differently from one forest to another and seeing two of them is one of the best ways to understand the species.

How Gorilla Permits Work

Rwanda gorilla permits are issued by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). Uganda permits are issued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). Each habituated gorilla family takes a maximum of eight visitors per day, for a maximum of one hour with the family. The total daily permit allocation is therefore tightly limited.

For peak season (June to September and December to February), Kelly typically secures permits six to twelve months in advance. For shoulder season (March to May and October to November) she can often get them at three to four months. The shoulder season has fewer visitors and the trekking is still genuinely good. The rain is heavier but not constant, and the forest is greener.

Permits are non-refundable and tied to a specific date. If a client misses the date, the permit is gone. Kelly builds the rest of the itinerary around the locked permit date, not the other way around.

What to Expect on the Day

The day starts early. In Rwanda you are at Kinigi headquarters by 7am for the briefing and the family allocation. The senior guides assess your fitness, your group size, and your preferences, and allocate you to one of the available families that morning. Some families live closer to the park boundary and a few hundred metres up the volcanic slopes. Others are several hours into the forest at higher altitude. There is a soft system for matching clients to the right family, and Kelly knows how to work it.

You drive from headquarters to the trailhead with your guide. From there you walk through farmland, cross a stone wall into the park, and start climbing through the bamboo and then the Hagenia forest. Trackers have been ahead of you since dawn and will radio your guide when they have located the family. When you reach them, you leave your daypacks at a clearing, take only your camera, and walk the last hundred metres in. From the moment you see the first gorilla, you have one hour.

The rules: stay seven metres back (this is not always possible if a gorilla moves toward you, in which case you stay still), no flash photography, no eating or drinking in their presence, and face coverings if you have any respiratory symptoms. Mountain gorillas share 98% of human DNA and are susceptible to human respiratory illnesses. The protocols are taken seriously.

How Kelly Secures Permits

Kelly has worked with the RDB and UWA permit systems for years and books well in advance. She knows which families have the most photogenic demographics (silverback presence, juveniles, recent births), which sector of Bwindi is matching which client profile, and which guides she trusts to handle a slower walker or a serious photographer. The permit is not a commodity. The right permit, on the right day, with the right family, is what makes the trek.

Best Time for Gorilla Trekking

Gorilla trekking runs year-round. The dry seasons (June to September, December to February) have firmer trails and more reliable visibility, and are the busiest of the year. The wet seasons (March to May, October to November) have heavier rain, fewer visitors, and lush forest. The gorillas are present and habituated regardless of season.

What to Pack

Specific, not generic. Waterproof hiking boots that you have already broken in. Long sleeves and long trousers (the forest has stinging nettles and biting ants). Gardening gloves, the leather palm kind, for grabbing branches and stinging vegetation. A lightweight waterproof jacket. A small daypack with two litres of water, a packed lunch from the lodge, and a dry bag for your camera if the forecast is wet. Gaiters if you want to keep mud out of your boots. A camera body with a fast lens (35mm or 50mm prime is plenty, you will be close). No tripod. No flash.