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Gorilla trekking is among the incredible tourist activities in Uganda and Rwanda. In Uganda, gorilla tracking is done every day and all year round in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla national park. In Rwanda, it’s done in Volcanoes national park which is situated in northern province known as Musanze. Its amazing to look into the eyes of gorillas during physical encounters on an organised gorilla safari into Africa’s tropical rain forests.

In this article, let us compare gorilla trekking in Rwanda verses that of Uganda and at the end, we shall make judgement whether Rwanda or Uganda offers the best gorilla trekking. Below are some of the arguments:

Rwanda offers gorilla trekking in Bamboo vegetation. This is a clear type of vegetation which allows excellent and clear photographing during gorilla trekking. On the other hand, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park are dominated by tropical rain forests which are characterized by thick canopies, ever green vegetation, tall trees among others. Such type of vegetation creates darkness which limits photographers to take clear snaps during the trek.

Rwanda offers gorilla trekking in one park called Volcanoes National Park. On the other hand, Uganda offers gorilla trekking in two destinations known as BINP and MGNP. For that case, their higher chances of meeting gorillas in Uganda than Rwanda.

Its approximately 2hrs drive from Kigali city/ Kigali Airport to Volcanoes National Park while in Uganda, its between 8-9hrs drive to reach Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (MGNP). For that case, Rwanda gorilla trekking is more convenient than that in Uganda.

Uganda hosts more that 17 habituated gorilla families in BINP and MGNP. Its therefore important to note that Uganda has more gorilla permits than Rwanda with only ten habituated gorilla families. Each habituated gorilla family is visited by a maximum of 8 people so, 19 x 8 =152 for Uganda verses 10X8 = 80 for Rwanda.  That means there are more chances of getting gorilla permits in Uganda than in Rwanda.

The cost of Rwanda gorilla permit goes up to US$1500 while that of Uganda is US$700. That means tracking Uganda gorillas enable guests to save big. The difference between the cost of Rwanda gorilla permit and Uganda gorilla permit is US$800 which clients can use to settle other costs when they visit Uganda Gorillas.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park offers gorilla trekking in four sectors namely; Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo. Each sector is endowed with different gorilla families, each with unique character. For travelers who want to explore different gorilla families, BINP is ideal.

Rushaga and Buhoma are composed to gentle land terrain which is easy to navigate during gorilla trekking. On the other hand, Volcanoes National Park is mountainous and requires high level of physical fitness for tourists opting to trek gorillas in VNP.

Uganda offers a wide ranger of accommodation from Budget to luxury. All the four sectors of BINP have different accommodation around. Mgahinga Gorilla National Park also offers enough. For that case, travelers on Uganda gorilla safaris shouldn’t get worried of where to stay.

In case One Uganda gorilla park is fully booked, you can visit another for gorilla trekking provided gorilla permits are available.

After a gorilla safari in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, you can choose to visit other parks like Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kibale National Park, Lake Mburo National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Semuliki National Park, Mountain Rwenzori National Park and so on. On the other hand, Rwanda has two other parks to visit after gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park.

Uganda Gorilla parks are few kilometres from one another therefore, travelers can trek Gorillas in one park and trek in another park, the next day.  Rwanda gorilla trekking takes place in one park called Volcanoes National Park and once you fail to get permits, the only option is to reschedule.

After gorilla trekking in Uganda, you can do other activities like birding, nature walks, cultural tours, golden monkey trekking, mountaineering, boat cruise on Lake Mutanda, cycling and so on. In Rwanda, you can as well go golden monkey trekking, Dian Fossey Tomb tour, Cultural trips, mountaineering, birding among others.

In conclusion, I recommend both Rwanda and Uganda gorilla trekking exercise and so, the travelers are  free to choose where to trek gorillas from and basing on their budget, schedule and interest.

Gorilla Trekking is one of the best wildlife experiences that adventure travelers look for from Africa. Though the endangered gorillas are found in ten countries, there are a few places where gorilla tourism has been fully developed. For most travelers, smooth travel is very important, and therefore there are a few destinations where organized transportation has been developed, comfortable accommodation, safety and security measures put in place. The definitive guide to gorilla trekking has been written to guide you prospective travelers looking to taking this amazing wildlife experience in Africa. It highlights the best places to visit, things to see and do, and how to plan a memorable safari in Africa.

Where to Go

There are several locations where gorilla tracking is conducted. There are several safaris are available to see both lowland gorillas and the mountain gorillas. However mountain gorilla tourism is the most developed.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking

The best locations for tracking the mountain gorillas are;

Uganda
Gorilla tourism in Uganda leads all the tourism activities within the country, gorilla tracking in Uganda is done from its two national parks which are considered to be the only national parks with the favorable conditions for mountain gorilla survival. The place in the south western part of the country is mountainous and it is characterized by rolling hills hence being a better place for these primates.

Uganda is the only country with the largest number of gorillas with an estimation of around 1060 within her two national parks, the largest number is considered to be in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the rest being found in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Bwindi impenetrable National Park has got fourteen gorilla families well distributed in its four sectors of Ruhija, Rushaga, Buhoma and Nkuringo sectors. Rushaga has got the highest number of gorilla families and mostly visited plus the Buhoma sector.

In Uganda, gorilla watching permits costs US$700 per person per day and this is regarded as being among the cheapest hence favoring budget, moderate and those visitors on luxury safaris.  Trekkers follow the available trails under the guidance of the park rangers. Seeing these gorillas in their territories depends on where they spend their nights.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a Ugandan park hosting almost half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas. Located in South Western Uganda, Bwindi is a famous place to see mountain gorillas. Bwindi Forest National Park is among the best places to go to and it is a 8 hours drive from Kampala, gorilla trekking tours in Uganda offers one of the best memorable experiences since it starts very early in the morning. Most packaged gorilla trekking tours to Bwindi National Park start from Kampala or Entebbe given that most Uganda tour operators are based in these two towns.

From Bwindi, one can proceed to Mgahinga national park in the extreme corner of Uganda and it offers another great experience of gorilla watching, this park has got the Nyakagezi gorilla group which is the only gorilla group found within the park, gorilla permits remains constant with that of Bwindi and all the necessary rules governing gorilla tracking are constant in all the two national parks.

The Virunga Volcanoes that are shared by Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo host the remnant mountain gorilla population. The mountain gorillas in the Virunga keep on moving and wandering between the forests of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Within the Virunga there are 3 gazetted national parks that protect the mountain gorillas. These are Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Virunga National Park in Congo and the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda.

Gorilla tracking is carried out in selected locations i.e habituated gorilla groups. Most gorilla safaris are offered by the tour operators, and most tours focus on trekking the gorillas in either Uganda or Rwanda. Therefore the best destinations for gorilla trekking are Uganda and Rwanda.

Rwanda
Gorilla watching in Rwanda remains another option for the gorilla trekkers and this is done from volcanoes national park, this park is found in the north western part of the country and it’s a 2hours drive from Kigali international airport. Gorilla permits in Rwanda costs USD 1500 and it is a bit expensive compared to the permits of the rest of other countries that’s, Uganda and Congo. Volcanoes national park offers a nice stunning view of about eight gorilla families that are found in this Virunga ranges.

This is accompanied with the rare endangered golden monkeys that are seen all over the park as one moves through the trails in the process of looking for the gorillas in their natural habitat. One can’t leave the park minus having a visit to Dianne Fossey tombs a lady who was a researcher and she died while in Rwanda and she was buried within the park in remembrance of her work done in the process of conserving the largest primate.

Congo’s Virunga National Park
From here one may rush to DR.Congo through Goma town, Democratic Republic of Congo is the third country with mountain gorillas and tracking and watching is done from Virunga mountain national park. The gorilla tracking permit in DR.Congo costs USD 400 per person per day and this is the cheapest, this park covers an area of 7800km² and it is a home to over 200 mountain gorillas in the southern part of the park. The park can be visited any time throughout the year though some paths during the wet season of may-April and October- November.

Lowland Gorilla Tracking

Less efforts have been taken to habituate lowland gorillas if compared with the mountain gorillas. Today there are several locations where tourism has been developed and these are;

• Kahuzi Biega National Park in Eastern DR Congo, the only place to see the Eastern Lowland Gorillas. Though these great apes are also found in Maiko National Park, gorilla watching is not possible in this park. Within Kahuzi Biega National Park, there are two habituated gorilla groups that permit only 8 visitors in each group.
• Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Northern Congo (Brazaville) offers the ultimate experience to track the western lowland gorillas through pristine rain forest. Odzala National Park is one of the oldest national parks in Africa (gazetted in 1935) and it is an integral part of both the Congo Basin and the TRIDOM Transfrontier Park overlapping Gabon, Congo and Cameroon.

If you want to do something different this summer, you should consider going to Rwanda or Uganda and spend sometime with the mountain gorillas on some awesome gorilla trekking tour, into Africa. Trekking the mountain gorillas in the wild impenetrable forest of Bwindi in south western Uganda can be a great experience for anyone who loves wildlife! Go ahead, get out, and unwind at an excellent nice vacation.

Many travelers wonder about where to go for an African safari of a lifetime! Many opt to go for a big five safari while others wish to go out and enjoy a wildlife safari in a national park. Did you know you could possess a great set of time, choose a holiday that becomes you. What do you want to do incisively? If you like to go to a lodge or a resort and enjoy a lodge safari, it is an awesome way to get more involved with your family. If you wish to have a sound time, pick something that fits your style. A pleasant discovery expedition into the jungle is one of the greatest things you have never thought about. If you wish to travel in style, then you should definitely consider taking a gorilla safari into the wild jungles of Africa.

For primate lovers and wildlife enthusiasts, an awesome gorilla tour is one that involves gorilla tracking and game viewing for instances game viewing at Queen Elizabeth National Park and gorilla tours in Bwindi National Park for Uganda and in case your interest is only a gorilla tour, you would get an awesome experience with a minimum of 3 days tracking in Uganda and a minimum of 2 days for tracking in Rwanda. The reason being, it is a shorter driver from Kigali in Rwanda to Parc National des Volcans which is a maximum of 3 hours drive and yet it takes about 8 to 10 hours drive from Kampala the capital city of Uganda to Bwindi National Park and thus, the gorilla experience in Uganda cannot be 2 days.

While planning your gorilla tour, also consider the fact that a gorilla permit in Rwanda costs US$1500 per permit while in Uganda it costs US$700 per permit, although from feedback on these journeys, whether you are driving for 3 hours or 10 hours, you will wish you never get to your destination because of the diversity of scenery on the way to the destination. The journey to Parc National des Volcans goes through the continuous hills of Rwanda best known by its catch name of; a country with a thousand hills and you can head to the park after a visit to the genocide memorial centre at Gisozi which show cases genocide victims.

While the journey to Bwindi Forest or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park goes through a mix of homesteads, grasslands to include Lake Mburo National Park, and pastoral areas and towards the end, the rolling hills of kigezi, and area dubbed to be the Switzerland of Africa, and also a stop at the Equator for photography as well as an informative talk. Irrespective of how you head out on your gorilla tour, you will never come back the same person as you went.

If you want to make sure you are safe at night, a great hotel or some quality tent gear is essential. Go ahead, don’t grant anybody stop you – camping can be such a big experience.

There are only three countries where these magnificent and highly endangered great apes that still survive in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  About 880 mountain gorillas inhabit the Virunga massif ecosystem shared by Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park and the Uganda’s Mgahinga Gorilla National Park plus separate specie that lives in Uganda’s Bwindi Forest.

Rwanda has bravely risen from a tragic past and stands proudly as a representation of Africa’s irrepressible beauty. Rwanda is Africa’s home to some of the last remaining mountain gorillas and a place where you will be warmly welcomed by smiling local. It was 7th of May 2017; the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) doubled the gorilla permit cost from $750 to $1500 per person per day for one hour watching gorillas in the Volcanoes national park.

According to the RDB, the price increment comes in support with Rwanda’s high end tourism strategy which aims to strengthen conservation efforts and contribute to community development and improvement of livelihood of locales living in communities living around national parks. Rwanda is now the most expensive $1500 in terms of gorilla trekking permit followed by Uganda $600 and then D.R.C Congo with the least price $400.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is another home to Mountain Gorillas in Africa. The country has both Lowland and Mountain Gorillas. Therefore, the gorilla trekking safaris are becoming more popular in Africa. The country is now safe and open to all International visitors. A gorilla safari experience in the D.R.C is best combined with climbing Mount Nyiragongo Mountain. Mount Nyiragongo can be visited on one day, while gorilla trekking can be enjoyed on the other, so we advise that you book your stay at Bukima Tented Camp, as you won’t need to travel long distances to visit the mountain gorillas.

In the D.R.C it is possible to go gorilla trekking for a less cost than in Rwanda and Uganda, because the cost these other two countries much more expensive than for Congo. Virunga National Park is among the best destinations for gorilla trekking and it’s cheaper due to the fact that the gorilla permits only cost US$400 per person.

In all of the three Countries, Uganda Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda a mountain gorilla tracking permits is a must for any person before you are allowed to go and track gorillas in any of the three countries must possess a gorilla trekking permit. Any tourist/visitor without trekking permit will not even access the parks, so you are advised to obtain one in the advance before going for the activity to avoid disappointments.

To get to the D.R.C, you will drive from Kigali to the border crossing at Goma 3 hours’ drive before using a different vehicle for the drive to Virunga. In Congo tracking permit costs $400 and during promotional month of March 15th to 15 May tracking permit cost only $200 in Virunga National Park. The mountain gorilla is extremely endangered and visiting them is a great way to ensure their survival as each permit raises money for their conservation. While Gorilla tracking permits for Rwanda in Volcanoes National Park cost $1500 per person, Rwanda has no discounts on gorilla trekking permits.

As permits granting permission to visit the gorillas are extremely limited we require flexibility in both the tour itinerary and where we actually visit them. The home of the mountain gorillas is completely a natural habitat with man-made borders and so their range encompasses Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Whenever possible we choose to make use of the National Park in Congo, but this depends on the availability of permits. Should we not obtain permits to visit the mountain gorillas in Congo then we will inform all passengers beforehand that the tour will travel to Rwanda or Uganda.

A gorilla trekking in Africa allows you to spend time with gorillas in the wild. The gorillas visited on a trek have been watched by researchers for some time as they go about their day to day in the gorilla park in the wilds of the cloud forest of the Virunga Mountains and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. As this is the case they have become habituated to people being around them. Each and every trek is then a totally unique spontaneous wildlife experience allowing you to see the gorillas at close quarters as they while the day away.

The mountain gorilla is critically endangered animals and their numbers vary it widely, they are assumed that there are only around 880 left in the world. Visiting the gorillas is a great way to support their future on earth as the money spent on permits is used for their protection. An extremely important part of the future conservation of the remaining gorillas rests in the community development work as local communities change their attitudes towards wildlife and start to protect rather than poach, the future of the mountain gorilla is assured.

If you’ve never been to Rwanda before then it might seem like a new world on earth having heard a lot about the country’s people, city organization, strict rules ,attractions and many others. Planning a safari in Rwanda is too easy unlike in other destination where it sometimes become a hassle.

The country has many tour agencies and experts who propose amazing incredible Rwanda trip itineraries for successful holidays. Responses are always in time giving you a new job of reading different trip itineraries and inspirations that make up to your holiday.We always have wishes and expectations before planning trips or even before heading out for them but consider in mind that not all come true at least you can miss out 1% though Rwanda safaris are dream holidays in Africa that whoever visits leaves with more great memories than expected.

Several Questions pop up every time you plan to visit a new destination across the world including when is the best time to visit?, How to get there?, what should you pack for the trip?, Do I need a Visa?, what is best to see and do?, How will the weather be like?, how much do I need for the tour? and many others.

Rwanda visa

Yes you do need a Rwanda tourist visa to enter Rwanda so some foreign nationals don’t need it. One can apply online but don’t use Hotmail account or work email while sending in your request for the online Visa. The most recommended mails are Gmail and Yahoo accounts. Visa fee for Rwanda is $30 but you should be a foreigner who want to visit Rwanda on purpose but not work and not nationals of Uganda, Singapore, UK, U.S.A, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, Kenya, Hong Kong, Germany, Burundi, Congo, and Mauritius.

If you enter Rwanda for holidays, sightseeing and recreation, the country allows a minimum stay of one month and if you wish to stay a little bit longer you advised to get another class of Rwanda visa. Rwanda visas are processed within 3 days and all visa applicants receive tracking numbers immediately after submission. Other Rwanda visas include multiple entry visa at 75$,transit visa 37$, tourist visa for multiple entry and valid for 90 days 62$ ,conference: 37$,medical treatment: 20$,and group tourist125$. Requirements differ depending on different types of visas.

Best time for Rwanda vacations

As a general rule, June- October and December to match are hot and considered to Rwanda’s peak season, with average warm weather, sunshine and April, May and November is cool with some rains and a pleasant time to track chimpanzees and is considered as low season. However the all year is a great time to visit Rwanda for any tour activity because the country has variety in stock for every interest and holiday any time. One can chill at Lake Kivu beach from Kigali, then down to volcanoes national park to see gorillas and finally discover the natural beauty of the primate park Nyungwe.

You might be surprised to see rain showers in the considered dry months though it usually shines immediately and temperatures change a slightly though just like before. If chimpanzees are your favorite, visit during late may when trees and forest vegetation’s are wearing fresh leaves and fruits the time when chimpanzees move slow because they keep stopping in different forest locations for a bite.But for those interested in only seeing Rwanda Mountain gorillas would recommend the activity to be done any time of the year because treks are manageable and gorilla tracking is a year round tour activity. But for volcanoes hikers, the dry season is the best in order to make it to the summit.

Accessibility

Rwanda is found in East Africa neighboring Uganda, Democratic republic of Congo, and Tanzania. Now getting to Rwanda from Europe is by air travel and several airlines operate many scheduled flights to Kigali international airport including Rwanda Air the nation’s career.

Other Airlines include Quarter, British air, Gulf, Brussels, Emirates, Ethiopian, British and many others. But for those within the East Africa travel by road is cheap and available in all countries. Travelers to Uganda and Democratic republic of Congo find it easy to connect between destinations.

Before boarding a plane for your Rwanda tour, ask for a detailed pack list from your Rwanda trip planner or tour operator so that you don’t leave behind important things that you may need during the trip. Still the same planner can advise on the best places to visit or worth checking out during your stay in Rwanda and how convenient it can be. Rwanda tour prices Usually differ depending on the number of days, tour activities and accommodation.

To stay cheap take up the Rwanda budget tour or mid range option. Polythene bags effect the environment of Rwanda so avoid using polythene bags to pack some trip things for use.