Day 1: Meet in Entebbe or Kampala (at your hotel), Drive to Bwindi National Park ( daily flights available)
We start the Uganda gorilla habituation experience from your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe at 7 Am. We can also arrange for the tour guide to pick you up from Kigali to start the tour if you prefer so. Most of today is spent driving and enjoying the beautiful landscapes along the way to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the home of the mountain gorillas in Uganda.
En route, you should be meeting several local communities going on with their farming on extensive coffee and banana plantations, others making African drums, and others raring their livestock.
We shall also be having a stopover at the Equator crossing point if you are starting the tour from Kampala/ Entebbe. It is one sight considered by many a top beautiful scenery in Africa - the pathway of the sun!
As we go along, we shall be traversing mountains, tropical rainforests, and bamboo forests during the 8-hour journey.
Accommodation options
Upper Luxury: Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge | Mt.Gahinga Lodge
Luxury: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge | Chameleon Hill Lodge or Gorilla Safari Lodge
Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge | Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge
Low Budget: Rushaga Gorilla Haven
Meals included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 2: Mountain Gorilla Habituation Experience in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
We have an early morning entry into the mountain gorilla’s sanctuary. Our intimate gorilla habituation experience allows you to accompany the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s Bwindi gorilla habituation team for the entire day, allowing you to have a minimum of 4 hours in the presence of a mountain gorilla family.
Since regular permits only allow 1 hour, this is 4 times the amount of time spent up close with gorillas – more than any other safari operator! During this time, you will be able to experience the gorilla family as they wake up, hunt, patrol, play, fight, copulate and breastfeed until they build their nests at bedtime.
The thrill of spending time with and observing these gentle giants is a rare and moving adventure that will leave you with long-lasting memories. Spending more time with them than the norm means you are assured of the best possible experience, with 4 full hours for better photography, researcher access for more questions, and enough time to experience more intimate and unusual behaviors. The gorillas are shy and peaceful animals, and it is an unforgettable experience to watch and photograph them as they interact with each other.
The walking can sometimes be tough and long, but when you catch a glimpse of the magnificent silverback, any discomforts will be quickly forgotten. Once the gorillas are sighted, you will be guided to within 6 meters of the gorillas and be able to sit all around them while gazing into their big round eyes as the researchers note health, behavior, and other characteristics.
A gorilla habituation process takes a period of 2-3 years, and it involves an advance team from the Uganda Wildlife Authority making frequent visits to the gorilla family. Upon establishing that the group is used and welcoming to tourists, the gorilla family becomes ready for tourists’ visits.
With the gorilla habituation experience, you move with researchers to experience how mountain gorillas are habituated. The price for mountain gorilla habituation experience is now at USD1500.00 and one can stay for up to four hours.
A maximum of only 4 visitors per day is being allowed to visit the gorilla habituation experience, compared to the 8 visitors on a normal Trek. One thing is certain, the Gorilla Habituation Experience is a one-of-a-kind, exclusive activity in which only a select few can participate. It is a learning experience, you learn from the researchers, trackers, rangers, conservationists, who are all part of the Habituation Process.
Overnight accommodation
Upper Luxury: Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge | Mt.Gahinga Lodge
Luxury: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge | Chameleon Hill Lodge or Gorilla Safari Lodge
Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge | Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge
Low Budget: Rushaga Gorilla Haven
Day 3: End the Uganda Gorilla Habituation Experience Tour with a return drive to Entebbe
Early breakfast before embarking on our return to Entebbe, driving down the grassed and terraced escarpments of southwestern Uganda while taking in the breathtaking sights of the hills of the region dubbed ‘the little Switzerland of Africa’.
Not to miss as we traverse Mbarara are the impressing longhorn Ankole cattle. A remarkable highlight of this journey is the Equator line and surely you will cross it as we have a brief stop here. We will be in Entebbe in the evening before your flight back home.
