Combined Uganda Rwanda Gorilla Tours | Gorillas & Wildlife tours to Rwanda and Uganda

  Awesome customer service by Ivan in the office and by Francis the guide. I had a last-minute change of plans due to work, and they accommodated by bringing the... read more guide in a day early to start my trip in Rwanda. Loved the gorilla trek and the golden monkey trip is worthwhile too, if you're coming all the way to Rwanda! Highly recommend the company, thanks for the fun trip.

  Five of us had the most incredibly wonderful experience with Gorillas & Safaris on an 8 day tour + extension of rafting the Class V part of the Nile River.... read more Our trip guide, Ahmed Kizza, is the most knowledgeable and wonderful person! His depth of knowledge of the wildlife, the places we visited, including the people and communities and history of Uganda was so extrnsive. We learned so much! I am a wetland ecologist and anthropologist and ask lots of questions! Ahmed was delightful and took care of us and taught us so much. We began our epic journey at 8:30 am 10/16 in Kimpala and drove to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary where we saw a number, including a mama and her very young baby, of the 34 Southen White Rhinos they have worked so hard to recover. We then traveled to Murchison Falls, and had 2 nights at Pakoba Lodge in Murchison NP. 10/17 on safari we saw many giraffes, elephants, cape horn buffalo, different types of antelope (impala, kob, heartebeast, oribi, kudu), a pride of 6 lions feeding on an oribi, and a hyena! Murchison National Park is a beautiful green savannah ecosystem with lots and lots of animals. We then traveled to the Bigodi community near the Kibale NP and stayed at Isunga lodge just 1 night (I would have e loved to have stayed there longer). I was in heaven at the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary with our guides who were so knowledgeable about the plants, their traditional uses, and the birdlife, followed by a community tour where we learned from different community members about traditional healing, basket/textile making, organic shade grown coffee processing, and how their banana based gin and beer is made. The next day we tracked chimpanzees in Kibale NP (permits required) and encountered a large group of 30-40! It was so amazing to see so many. Then we traveled the long distance to Queen Elizabeth NP and stayed 1 night at Engazi Lodge. We chose to skip the boat trip planned for that afternoon/evening because we were pooped from the traveling. The view from the lodge was expansive and gorgeous! That is another place I would liked to have stayed another night. From there we did a game drive in Queen Elizabeth NP, were hoping to see Lions in trees but did not as the weather had turned. We did see a leopard in a tree though! So beautiful. Then we drove to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest located in the far south west corner of Uganda bordering the DR of Congo. We stayed at Engogi lodge 2 nights in this higher elevation rain forest area. The weather was cooler there. We woke the next day very early to trek to see the endangered Mountain Gorillas (a highlight of the trip). We drove to the Rohija Sector and met our guides and porters to trek to find Gorillas. We were told that there was a family not too far that the trackers and guides would take us too(also requires permits in advance).After about 5.5 miles of trekking up and down steep and muddy terrain with lots of vines, and one creek crossing we came to the Orozogo group of Mountain Gorillas. These are one of 4 groups within that sector. There are 4 different sectors of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest which have habituated family groups of Gorillas that are adapted to being around humans. We wore face masks to protect from transmitting any viruses. We saw almost all of 11 Gorillas in this, a mama and her baby, a pregnant females, the 20 yr old silverback, a 14 yr old blueback male desiring to take the spot of the silverback, and many younger ones. The lead guide was intimately familiar with each of them and answered my many questions at the end of the experience. My wonderful female porter took care of me ensuring I didn't fall. This was a highlight of this tour and my life. Since the experience I have been read8ng everything I can about these incredible beings that share 98+ % of our DNA. I highly recommend Gorillas & Safaris as a company to book with for experiences of a lifetime!

  This was our second trip to Uganda with Gorillas and Wildlife Safaris in 9 months. My husband and I originally went for the wildlife (which is incredible) but quickly fell... read more in love with the country and its amazing people and culture. Uganda is a true gem.

Shortly after returning from our first trip, we contacted Gorillas and Wildlife Safaris to book another trip. We told Ivan the regions and types of things we were interested in experiencing and he put together a trip that fit us perfectly. We were even able to book the same guide, Richard, who had made our first trip so memorable.

I cannot say enough good things about this. Gorillas and Wildlife Safari’s staff are born and raised in Uganda and therefore can provide insight and experience that you cannot get from larger tour companies. They work with other locally owned businesses to support their community that they care about so much. They treat each client like they are the most important person. I cannot wait to go back!

  Ivan did an excellent job coordinating our trip and was very flexible through many changes due to Covid. He also was very accommodating to my dietary needs with our lodging... read more locations. We had a trip of a lifetime and our guide Ahmed was incredible. We learned so much about Uganda and the wildlife from him and he navigated several bumps like my injured knee with care and kindness. Definitely recommend this tour company!

  We took a last-minute trip to Uganda in June 2022. Ivan helped arrange an amazing 9 day safari. Leaving by car from Kampala, we stopped at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Murchison... read more Falls NP, Queen Elizabeth NP, Bwindi NP, and then flew back to Kampala.

Our guide Kassim was extremely knowledgeable, a great driver, and a top-notch game spotter. He saw a leopard hidden in the brush that the car ahead of us missed, and we ended up spending 20 mins watching it stalk a Ugandan kob.

A few highlights:

Murchison Falls deserves to be in the same category as Victoria Falls, Niagara Falls, and Iceland's Gullfoss. We had the top of the falls to ourselves for 20 minutes and it was a magical experience.

In Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth NPs, we saw the Big 5 and got tons of quality time with the animals. Some highlights included dozens of hippos/elephants on the Kazinga Channel and watching lions mate.

In Kibale NP, the chimp tour was awesome. It was a nice intro to the gorilla tour that we took a few days later. But because it was a habituated group, we ended up getting closer to the chimps and they didn't run away from us.

We did the four-hour habituation trip with the gorillas and it was spectacular. One of the most unique travel experiences one could imagine. Tough hiking but it paid off. Top five lifetime travel experience (up there with Antarctica and backcountry camping in Alaska).

The one thing that we'd do differently is skip Ishasha (which both Ivan and Kassim warned us about in advance and we should have listened to them). Not sure it was worth the long drive on bad roads. But we wanted to see the tree-climbing lions. Thankfully, we had already gotten lucky and saw them near the Kazinga Channel.

Some thoughts on hotels:

The Enganzi Lodge in Queen Elizabeth NP is a bit far from the main game drives. So that eats up some time. However, the rooms, views, and pool are incredible. I'd suggest bringing a packed lunch and not coming back to the hotel mid-day.

The Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge in Bwindi is outstanding. Perfect views, helpful staff, and relaxing rooms.

In sum, Uganda is a potential tourism juggernaut. Come for the primates, stay for the Big Five.

  We had a great trip in Uganda thanks to Ivan's organisation of our last-minute trip. He managed to ensure we had Gorilla tracking permits for my partners birthday, despite the... read more request coming quite late.

There must be a special mention for Richard, our tour guide, who clearly has a passion and enthusiasm for the wildlife/nature and Uganda as a whole. He could answer all of our questions and really did his very best to make sure we had as a memorable trip as possible, with nothing being too much hassle for him!

For reference, our tour was:
Day 1
Lake Mburo National Park & Game Drive - Saw plenty of animals, including zebra, giraffes, baboons, hippos and a number of different birds and antelopes.
Accommodation – Eagle’s Nest; twin bed tents - very nice and great views over the national park

Day 2
Drive to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Accommodation – Gorilla Havens; double room with bathroom – nice place with great view of the forest.

Day 3
Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest - For us, the main event. Opted for the longest walk possible to make the most of our visit. Ended up in the medium group (as nobody else wanted the longer walks). Magical time tracking the gorillas and they didn't seem too bothered that we were watching them.
Accommodation – Gorilla Havens

Day 4
Game Drive (Ishasha) & Drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) - With only one Lioness here, we weren't optimistic of seeing her, but managed to see her sleeping up in a tree. Also saw a Hyena guarding a kill from the surrounding vultures, which was quite the experience!
Accommodation – Bush Lodge; double bed tent – our favourite accommodation of the trip. Amazing camp next to the water with open, outdoor dining space. Can hear the hippos whilst lying in bed. After dark, you have to be guided to your tent, which we thought was a bit odd, but after seeing a hippo walk through the camp on our second evening there, we fully understood. Little/no risk to the residents as it is very well managed to allow nature to carry on their lives in a respectful way to each other.

Day 5
Game Drive QENP & Community Boat Safari in Kazinga Channel & Chimp Tracking in Kyambura Gorge - very busy but exciting day.
Accommodation – Bush Lodge

Day 6
Drive to Kampala (stop at Equator again).

Overall, we had a great trip and made so many new memories that we will ever forget! I really recommend booking with Gorillas and Wildlife Safaris as Ivan was very responsive and managed to arrange everything in line with our requests, and Richard did an amazing job to make sure our trip was as memorable as could be! Thank you guys!

  It was perfectly organized by Ivan. Ahmed, our driver/guide, drove us in a safe and professional way and saw to it, that every check-in and check-out at the lodges was... read more made easy for us three. Also his knowledge of your country is above average. Your overnight suggestions in the lodges Mihingo, Crater Lake and Paraa Lodge was ideal. Each place had ist charm, pleasant staff and faboulous views. We were also surpprised by the variety of animals and birds. The chimpanzee trek in the Kiblae NP was extraordinary. We admired that beautiful, green countryside and the friendly people of Uganda. Age will not permit us to visit your country again but rest assured that we will highly recommend Gorillas and Wildlife Safaris thereby pointing out what great jobs you Ivan and Ahmed did. Thank you very much.

  What an amazing trip! I can’t say enough about the experience we had! My son and I did the 4 day gorilla trek, absolutely unbelievable experience! The following day I... read more saw the golden monkeys and my son hiked the volcano, we were both so happy with our choices. My son went on to do a safari and see Murchison Falls. Eric our guide was perfect! He took such great care of us and was super knowledgeable and helpful, could not ask for more! I was so grateful my son was able to continue the trip with him. I’ve been raving about our trip to everyone since coming back. Hopefully going back someday!