Pros & Cons of Uganda Gorilla Trek tours – Gorilla Safaris Uganda Advantages

The Pros  – Advantages of doing gorilla tours, gorilla trekking  Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable NP or Mgahinga Gorilla NP:

• Most Mountain Gorillas in Africa -480 out of 884 in two National Parks of Bwindi and Mgahinga.
• Gorilla Trekking in both Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and in the Virunga Volcanoes in Mgahinga Gorilla Park that is just like trekking in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park 3 hours drive from Kigali
• More Habituated Mountain Gorillas than any other country- 15 gorilla groups habituated.
• Availability of Gorilla Permits all the year, with only a few days over-booked.
• Golden Monkey trekking and Habituation Experience in Mgahinga Gorilla Park for $10 less than the $10 for Rwanda Volcanoes NP
• Fly into Rwanda – Trek Gorillas in Uganda – 3 1/2-hour drive and save 900 USD plus
• Spend 4 hours with a gorilla group being habituated on an all-day trek.  1500 USD
• Lower priced permits – 600 USD in Uganda compared to 1500 USD in Rwanda
• Plenty of higher quality lower priced Lodging including upmarket not in towns but in the Forest or overlooking the Forest.
• The ability to offer a full primates and wildlife tour experience
• Best Chimpanzee Tracking and all day habituation in all of Africa.
• Mountain and Volcano Climbing including both the Virunga Volcanoes and the Rwenzori MountainsMountains
• More adventure, hiking and White Water Rafting, Kayaking,
• Relax and Chill out on Lake Bunyonyi, Lake Mutanda, Ssese Islands on Lake Victoria
• A variety of Scenery such as is not found in Rwanda.
• English is more often used in Uganda than in Rwanda.
• More than a Gorilla Safari Destination – Big 5 – plus  Gorillas and Chimpanzees – 10 National Parks.
• Bwindi Impenetrable Forest UNESCO World Heritage Site – May 2017-picked by CNN as one of the Best Parks in Africa
• Ugandans – East Africans and Expats living in Uganda can do Gorilla Trekking with a lower permit price.  That changed in Rwanda in 2017.

The Cons of Uganda Gorilla trekking/ Uganda gorilla tours:

• Long Drive times, unless one flies into Kigali and drives to Bwindi – or flies from Entebbe to Bwindi Forest or breaks drive-times by staying a night in another park such as Lake Mburo National Park.
• Road Conditions in places are in need of improvement.
• In-Country Flights tend to be on the expensive side, however many take advantage of the short 1 1/2 hour flight to Bwindi.
• Not as clean as Rwanda
• 4 Gorilla Trek Starting Points in Bwindi Impenetrable – some find that confusing.  We take the confusion out of it.
• Does not serve coffee at the orientation for the trek, not is a cultural dance offered for visitors.
• Park Offices at Gorilla Trek Starting points are not as elaborate as the one in Rwanda.

Summing Up

Although this site is about gorilla trek and gorilla safaris in Uganda and Rwanda, we really have tried to give as balanced a picture as possible. If it seems to you, after reading this page, that we have skewed toward the favorable, it is not our intention to.  The sole consequential drawback about gorilla trekking or Uganda gorilla safaris is mainly the long drive from the arrival airport (Entebbe) to the gorilla trek destinations —which is not an inherent flaw, because it is possible to arrive in Kigali (Rwanda) and drive to Bwindi (for about 4 hours) for your gorilla tour in Uganda.

(And don’t forget to see our gorilla tour packages page. for plenty of gorilla tour options for gorilla safaris in Uganda, gorilla tours in Uganda, or Uganda Rwanda gorilla tours packages.

You can now explore the rest of this site as you please, but if you want to jump straight to some hard data on gorilla trek tours/ gorilla safaris in Uganda, the logical next stop is our page on Gorilla safari packages page.