My incredible Gorilla trek in Uganda

For an animal lover, there is nothing quite like seeing a species in their natural habitat. Being able to see Mountain Gorillas in the wild was one of the best things I’ve ever done. For years my friend Bianca and I have dreamt of doing this and finally the time was right and the funds were there, so we headed off to Rwanda and Uganda.

Out of all my wild animal encounters, nothing has been as special as trekking to see Mountain Gorillas. This isn’t something you can do every day; it’s expensive & challenging but also very unique. Mountain Gorillas aren’t found in captivity anywhere in the world (the Gorillas you would have seen are Lowland Gorillas), they’re only found in this small pocket of the world, in Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. We visited them in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.

I think that anyone who loves animals needs to do this trip, it was just incredible. I’ll run though everything and feel free to contact me if I can help in any other way.

Itinerary:

We started in Kigali, Rwanda and from there our driver William picked us up and we drove to the Cyanika Rwanda/Uganda border crossing. The process of crossing the border was easy, William told us where to go and it took about 25 minutes.

We spent 2 nights at Bwindi Jungle Lodge and the next 2 days Gorilla trekking in Bwindi NP.

After our second day trekking we headed back to Rwanda and spent one night at Gorilla Solutions Lodge. The next morning we visited Volcanoes NP to see the Golden Monkey’s before driving back to Kigali.

We booked this trip through Gorilla Trek Africa, who I highly recommend. (I’ll get into more booking details below)

How the tracking works:

There are 14 Gorilla families in Bwindi NP that have been habituated (meaning they aren’t new to human presence but are still wild). Everyday each family will have two trackers, employed by the park, who follow them until late evening when they start to set up their nest for the night. Gorillas sleep in a different location each night so the next morning the trackers will go back to the same spot and if the family has moved on, the trackers will follow the path from the nest. Looking for poo or a path of broken trees and pulled down branches. There aren’t any tracking devices on the Gorillas.

Each morning we’d start at the park headquarters for a briefing, then we’d be split into groups with other tourists and three guides. No group could have more than 8 tourists and once we found the Gorilla family we were allowed to stay with them for 1 hour. This would mean that each family could only be exposed to tourists for maximum of one hour per day and we were told that in low season it’s likely a family may not see tourists more than a couple of times a week.

Before I left home and told people what I was doing, some asked if I was scared, haha not at all. But some might be happy to know that along with the group there’s a guide that carries an AK47. Now this is never intended to be used to shoot the animal, they hold one in case an animal was to charge (they’re actually more worried about wild elephants than the Gorillas) then they’d fire the gun into the air as a scare tactic.

Once the groups were sorted, we’d head off into the national park. Our guide would have radio contact with the trackers and they’d advise them on what direction to start walking. It was so exciting when we caught up to the trackers because then we knew the Gorillas were really close. At this point we’d put down our sticks and bags, and proceeded to the gorillas.

It was recommended we stay at least 7m away from the Gorillas but they could always come to us.

Our hour:

One hour definitely isn’t long enough. I could have sat there all day! But I’m certainly happy that they do limit our time. We were extremely lucky to have had any time with them and I’m so happy that no one is able to take advantage of this experience.

I thought when I’d first see them I’d start to cry but I was just too excited. On our first day we’d been walking for around 3 hours by the time we saw them, so I just couldn’t believe we’d finally found them and were able to get so close. Each day we were lucky enough to see the whole family, babies through to giant silverbacks. Both our days were amazing but the second one was definitely the best. They were closer together and we got to see them interacting with each other; it was so cute. We had little babies doing flips in the trees above us and at one point Bianca even had an adolescent push past her leg to climb up the tree next to her.

I felt so comfortable being so close to them, I can see why Dian Fossey never wanted to leave (oh except at one point when a silverback screamed out and I thought it was aimed at me haha)

It’s cute because the Gorillas knew we were there but didn’t seem bothered at all and no one was stopping them from leaving. Sometimes I think they’d have fun with it, they’d look over at you, you’d get your camera ready, then they’d just decide to turn around.

I was surprised that we didn’t meet anyone else who had booked two days of Gorilla trekking, people wondered why we did. I figured if I’m going all that way and spending all that money, I may as well do it well. I’d highly recommend doing minimum two days of trekking, it obviously bumps the price up a bit but I promise it’s worth it. Each day you’ll track a different family, in a different area so no day is ever the same. Imagine if you got all the way there and it rained your whole trek so the Gorillas spent most of the hour hiding under bushes?

Do you need to be an athlete?

No, but you do need to have some kind of fitness and definitely the right mind-set. Your hike will depend on where the gorillas are; you could be walking for 40mins or 8 hours. Also it’s not always strolling along a path, you could be climbing though bushes or using vines to help you up and down steep hills. It can get pretty rugged.

It’s so fun though and not your average hike, I felt like I was in the Jungle Book.

At the start of the day you’ll have the option to hire a porter, for the cost of 15USD (plus tip if you choose). I’d highly recommend this and don’t think it should be looked at as being too lazy to carry your own bag. Firstly you’re helping the local community, these are generally un-skilled workers and by you hiring them they’re able to provide for their family. Secondly, they’re so helpful! Not only do they carry your bag, they’re always there to assist you when walking over slippery streams or climbing over a fallen tree.

What should you wear? 

I think Bianca and I were the only ones who didn’t look like we’d just stepped out of the Kathmandu store.

The main thing is that you’re comfortable, well covered and wearing dark or neutral coloured clothes. I wore full length (active wear type) pants and to avoid having my ankles bitten by fire ants I pulled my socks over my pants (it’s definitely not a fashion show out there). Most people wore Gaiters over their shoes but I survived fine without them.

I’d definitely recommend wearing a waterproof jacket, there’s always a chance it could start pouring in the jungle and there’s nowhere to hide from it. Make sure you have supportive shoes as well, it can be very uneven ground you’re walking on.

Before leaving I’d read that a lot of people suggest wearing gardening gloves. I didn’t take any but I can see why this would be helpful. At times you are relying on prickly branches or vines to get yourself up or keep you balanced. There were a few times I’d just have to pull my sleeves down and cover my hands that way. Also at the beginning of the day the guides provided us all with walking sticks too, definitely grab one, it was so helpful.