The gorilla trekking experience is one of the most thrilling, lifetime adventures you should include in your lifetime activities. No one can fully describe the joy and wonderful moment attached to the first setting eyes on a wild mountain gorilla unless you choose yourself and take some of the luxury gorilla safaris in Rwanda or Uganda.
The current gorilla trekking permit in Uganda cost $ 700 USD and Rwanda is 1500USD per permit. But gorilla habituation permit in Uganda cost $ 1500 USD gives 4 hours of time and Rwanda 1 hour to track the gorillas group. The maximum of a group of 8 tourists can track the mountain gorillas.
The money paid is a conservation fund to support the gorilla conservation and the communities around the gorilla habitat. If you consider the gorilla trekking safari permit as an important factor in choosing a country to track from, then you would consider Uganda of $700, but if this is not the case, any can work for you.
The habitat and landscape of the main gorilla trekking parks in Uganda and Rwanda are very different. Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park is part of a mostly dormant volcanic mountain range known as the Virunga’s. Here, the gorillas stay almost exclusively in the bamboo forest zone, a beautiful setting in which to see these great apes.
The vegetation tends to be quite open, which is ideal for easy viewing. Uganda’s most popular gorilla trekking destination, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, is an extensive tract of tropical rain forest. It’s a stunning setting as well, but as the name suggests, the denser vegetation can sometimes make clear views of the gorillas a bit more challenging.
The trek conditions tend to be a bit easier in Rwanda than in Uganda. This is not absolute though. Conditions change daily depending on the location of the gorillas. Each gorilla group has its territory and some of them are usually easier to reach than others. Conditions tend to deteriorate after heavy rain when the forest paths become very slippery.
This is especially true in Bwindi, which sees very high rainfall throughout the year. The tracks in Rwanda are usually quite defined, while the tracks in Uganda tend to be very steep and overgrown. Having said that, the high altitude in Rwanda can be a challenge for some people.
There are good accommodation options for gorilla trekking in Uganda and Rwanda. Rwanda has perhaps more choice in top-end luxury gorilla lodges, while Uganda has a few more mid-range options. Several lodges in Uganda border the park and have a true forest feel, while in Rwanda many lodges have mountain and/or lake views, but most are a bit farther away from the forest boundary.
Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda is considerably more accessible than Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The drive from Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, to Volcanoes NP takes up to 3 hours on a good road. The drive from Entebbe, Uganda’s gateway for most visitors, to Bwindi takes between 8 and 10 hours.
While there is only one starting point for gorilla treks in Rwanda, there are four different trailheads in Bwindi. Some of them require a good 4×4 to get to. There are, however, scheduled flights to Bwindi. Alternatively, a stay in Bwindi can be incorporated into a larger road tour in Uganda, visiting other parks and reserves. For a quick gorilla trekking tour or an add-on to a safari in Kenya or Tanzania, Rwanda is most convenient.
Most people will incorporate a gorilla trek into a longer safari. For this, Uganda has more options than Rwanda. Uganda’s Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Parks are two top-notch Savannah reserves. You’ll see most iconic safari animals here, including elephants, lions, buffalo and giraffes.
All the Big Five are present except for rhinos, which can be seen in Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Uganda is also a top destination for chimpanzee trekking, while Lake Bunyonyi is a great place to chill out for a couple of days at the end of an action-packed safari.
So, the choice really remains in the hands of the visitor to choose what will work for you depending on these two countries.
