This is a 4-Day de-tour to Uganda to see the famed Mountain Gorillas to take advantage of your visit to the Maasai Mara.
You are dropped off at anyone of Aerolink Uganda’s Mara stops (Serena, Kichwa, Olkiombo, Musiara, Ngerende, Mara North, Olseki, Olare Mara, Keekorok, Angama and Siana) for an 08.45Hrs flight to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park via Entebbe International Airport. You arrive Entebbe at 11.30am and straight-away check-in for the connecting flight to Kihihi or Kisoro in the viscinity of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Where you fly to this morning depends on where we have secured your Gorilla permits. You arrive and a driver/guide from Uzuri Uganda Safaris will pick you up and transfer you to the lodge you have chosen or Similar. On arrival, you will check-in at the lodge you have chosen and can have a late lunch. To prepare best for the thrilling gorilla trekking experience tomorrow, it’s advisable to have the rest of the day to yourselves as you rest and relax from all the flying. At dinner, your guide will give you a detailed brief on what to expect and what tomorrow will look like.
Afternoon/Evening (Optional): Go on a guided community walk to meet the Ugandans who neighbour the park. You get to learn a thing or two about the culture of the people, so depending on which nature trail you take, you will have a chance to meet the traditional healer and learn how the Bwindi forest (a UNESCO heritage site) is used to treat people for various ailments. You could also visit a local school if the school term is in session.
After breakfast, with your packed lunch, lots of water in your rucksack, your guide will take you to the Buhoma sector HQ before 8:00am for registration and briefing by Uganda Wildlife Authority staff. Once the formalities of what to do and not to do while tracking the gentle giants are communicated, you will head to the trail-head of the gorilla family you have been allocated. At the trail-head, you will commence the trek, pushing your way through the undergrowth, to track the gorillas. (the trek can last from half an hour to 8 hours – a reasonable degree of fitness is required as well as a sturdy pair of walking shoes). When you finally locate the family that you are tracking, take in everything as you watch the gorillas go about their day – feeding on the green leaves, bamboo shoots, wild celery, stinging nettle and wild fruit. If there are juvenile gorillas, enjoy them play about and take it all in. Take lots of pictures (and a selfie if you happen to have a gorilla in your selfie frame) and video as the one-hour will be over before you know it. It is an extraordinary feeling being in the presence of these majestic apes, sitting/standing in the dense rainforest with the knowledge that you are in the presence of the few remaining wild mountain gorillas. After the mandatory one hour is up, the rangers will lead you back to the starting point/trail-head where you will find your driver/guide. Once back at the trail-head, your driver/guide will be waiting to take you back to the park HQ where you receive your tracking certificates (evidence of your contribution to the conservation of the majestic gorillas). From here, you will be taken back to your lodge for a hot lunch. After lunch, relax and you have the rest of the day to yourselves. Now is a good time to look back on your awe-inspiring encounter with the gorillas through the lens of your camera. Later, dinner and overnight at the lodge.
What to bring for gorilla tracking/trekking: light but sturdy hiking shoes, light rain jacket, daypack, 2 litres of water, gardening gloves, long trousers either jeans/khakis, long-sleeved shirt/blouse, wide-brimmed hat, sun glasses, insect repellent and an energy bar.
Optional Activities: Meet the Batwa pygmies in a community visit
Today, you drive across and through the Bwindi mists from the north to the north-eastern sector of Ruhija so you are up at 6.00am to start. With your packed lunch, lots of water and other essentials in your rucksack, the drive will take you across the rugged gorilla highlands with wonderful views in some places to the Ruhija sector HQ before 8:00am. On arrival, you will be taken through the registration and briefing formalities by Uganda Wildlife Authority staff. Once the formalities are done, you will head to the trail-head of the second gorilla family you have been allocated. At the trail-head, you will commence the trek, pushing your way through the undergrowth, to track the gorillas. (the trek can last from half an hour to 8 hours – a reasonable degree of fitness is required as well as a sturdy pair of walking shoes). When you finally locate the family that you are tracking, take in everything as you watch the gorillas go about their day – feeding on the green leaves, bamboo shoots, wild celery, stinging nettle and wild fruit. If there are juvenile gorillas, enjoy them play about and take it all in. Take lots of pictures (and a selfie if you happen to have a gorilla in your selfie frame) and a video as the one-hour will be over before you know it. It is an extraordinary feeling being in the presence of these majestic apes, sitting/standing in the dense rainforest with the knowledge that you are in the presence of the few remaining wild mountain gorillas. After the mandatory one hour is up, the rangers will lead you back to the starting point/trail-head where you will find your driver/guide. Once back at the trail-head, your driver/guide will be waiting to take you back to the park HQ where you receive your tracking certificates (evidence of your contribution to the conservation to the majestic gorillas). From here, you will be taken back to your lodge for a hot lunch. After lunch, relax and you have the rest of the day to yourselves. Now is a good time to look back on your awe-inspiring encounter with the gorillas through the lens of your camera. Later, dinner and overnight at the lodge.
After breakfast, depart for the Kihihi airstrip from where you will fly back to Entebbe Airport on an 8.25am (there are flights that depart Kihihi for Entebbe later in the day so you can advise us if a later flight is a better fit) flight – arriving back at Entebbe in the mid-morning (11.25am). At Entebbe, connect to your onward international flight home. If your flight out of Uganda is late this evening, you spend your day in the quiet Entebbe town (we will include a day room for you at one of our partner guest houses in Entebbe). Later, you are dropped off at the airport in time for you to check-in for your onward flight home to bring to an end what we believe will have been an awe-inspiring Uganda gorilla safari whose memories will stay with you for a long time.
This is a 4-Day de-tour to Uganda to see the famed Mountain Gorillas to take advantage of your visit to the Maasai Mara. From the Mara as it is sometimes called, you fly to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Kisoro in the viscinity of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a verdant magnificent swathe of rain forest across the steep ridges of the Albertine Rift Valley. This ancient rainforest is one of the few on the African continent to have flourished and a home to half of the world’s endangered population of Mountain Gorillas. Apart from gorilla trekking, the park boasts 90 mammal species, including 11 primates and prominent bird species. This treasure trove of flora and fauna is home to over 450 Mountain Gorillas, accommodating almost a half of the world’s population of Mountain Gorillas. A tour to this park enables you to get up close and personal with these rare Great Apes. Mgahinga is part of a larger ecosystem, the Virunga Conservation Area, which includes two adjacent parks in Rwanda and DR Congo. Mgahinga Gorilla National Park sits high in the clouds. It was formed to protect the rare Mountain Gorillas that inhabit its dense forests, and it is also an important habitat for the endangered golden monkey. Like Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a gorilla safari to this park enables you to get up close and personal with these rare Great Apes. American zoologist George Schaller, one of the first people to study gorillas in the wild, once said: “No one who looks into the eyes of a Gorilla, gentle and vulnerable, can remain unchanged.” And so this trip will leave you with an indelible mark on your conscience and the satisfaction that you will have added to the legacy of Dian Fossey – the trailblazing primatologist who brought light to the plight of Africa’s largest apes – that they were endangered.
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