Let’s turn your dream African journey into a reality, from the first conversation to the final sunset over the plains.
An hour with a gorilla family is the most concentrated wildlife encounter in Africa. You walk into thick montane forest with trackers who have followed the same group for years, and at some point they stop, put down the machetes, and a silverback is sitting eight metres away, entirely unbothered by you. Permits are strictly limited, groups are capped at eight people, and the hour is timed to the minute — which is precisely why the experience holds up.
Trekking is available in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, and the two differ in character and cost. Bwindi is denser, steeper and less expensive; Rwanda’s permits cost considerably more but the drive from Kigali is short and the forest more open. Both require a reasonable level of fitness, a minimum age of fifteen, and permits booked well in advance. Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale or Nyungwe pairs naturally with either.
