Two Gorilla Treks in Uganda and Golden Monkeys in Rwanda
This 4-day private tour is for travelers who want more than one hour with mountain gorillas. From Kigali you cross into southwestern Uganda for two gorilla treks on back-to-back days: the first in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the second in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes. Each trek ends with a full hour beside a habituated gorilla family.
On the last morning you return to Rwanda to track golden monkeys in the bamboo forest of Volcanoes National Park, then visit the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Ellen DeGeneres Campus before the drive back to Kigali. Two gorilla permits are included, and the two parks show you two very different forests.
Why You’ll Love This Safari
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Trip Details
Trip Details
Price
1 Solo: $4,350
2 Pax Sharing: $3,633
3 Pax Sharing: $3,470
4 Pax Sharing: $3,180
5 Pax Sharing: $3,110
6 Pax Sharing: $2,996
Meeting point
Kigali
Availability
Year-round, 7 days a week
Duration
4 days
Group size
Min. 1 person
Included
- Park fees (for non-residents)
- Two Uganda gorilla permits (one each for Bwindi and Mgahinga, per person, non-resident)
- Golden monkey permit for Volcanoes National Park (one per person, non-resident)
- All activities (unless labeled as optional)
- All accommodations (unless listed as upgrade)
- A professional driver/guide
- Private safari vehicle: a 4×4 Land Cruiser, Toyota Prado or safari van, depending on group size
- All transportation (unless labeled as optional)
- All taxes/VAT
- Roundtrip airport transfer
- Meals (as specified in the day-by-day section)
- Drinking water (on all days)
Not included
- International flights (from/to home)
- Additional accommodations before and at the end of the tour
- Tips
- Porter fees
- Personal items (souvenirs, travel insurance, visa fees, etc.)
- Government imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees
- Some meals (as specified in the day-by-day section)
What to bring
- Waterproof jacket
- Warm jacket (early mornings can be cold)
- Neutral-colored clothing (avoid bright colors)
- Long-sleeved shirt
- Long pants
- Good hiking shoes
- Gaiters (for muddy forest trails)
- Walking poles (optional)
- Hat
- Gloves
- Light backpack
- Sunscreen
- Snacks
- Face mask (worn near the primates)
Participation requirements
Min. age of 15 years old required to participate in this tour
About your guide
Your safari will be led by an experienced local guide who will share facts about the wildlife, landscapes, and culture. Your guide is dedicated to ensuring your safari is safe, informative, and tailored to your interests.
What You’ll See & Do
Day 1: Kigali to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Your guide picks you up early in the morning at your Kigali hotel or the airport and starts the drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda. The trip takes about four to five hours, including the border crossing, and the road climbs through terraced hills, farms and small market towns.
You reach your lodge on the edge of the forest in the afternoon. Settle in, lay out your trekking clothes and gear, and enjoy a quiet evening. Before dinner, your guide goes over the plan for the first trek and confirms the departure time for the morning briefing.
Meals included: Dinner
Day 2: First Gorilla Trek in Bwindi and Transfer to Kisoro
After an early breakfast, drive to the park office for the ranger briefing, where your group is assigned to a habituated gorilla family. Trackers go ahead to find the family, and you follow with your ranger guide through dense, steep forest. Depending on where the gorillas are feeding, the walk can take two to seven hours. When you reach them, you have one hour to watch them eat, rest and look after their young.
After the trek, drive to Kisoro, a small town between Bwindi and Mgahinga with views of the Virunga volcanoes. Check in at your lodge and rest your legs before tomorrow’s second trek.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3: Second Gorilla Trek in Mgahinga and Return to Rwanda
Start early again for Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Uganda’s corner of the Virunga volcanoes. After the briefing, you climb through bamboo and mountain forest on the lower slopes of the volcanoes to find a habituated gorilla family. The setting is different from Bwindi: more open, with views across the volcano chain. Once you reach the gorillas, you have another full hour with them.
In the afternoon, drive back across the border into Rwanda and on to your lodge near Volcanoes National Park, ready for the golden monkeys in the morning.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4: Golden Monkeys, Ellen DeGeneres Campus and Return to Kigali
After an early breakfast, head to the Volcanoes National Park headquarters for the golden monkey briefing, then follow your guides into the bamboo forest. Golden monkeys move quickly and feed high in the bamboo, which makes for a lively trek. Most take two to four hours, and you spend an hour with the troop once you find it.
Next, visit the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Ellen DeGeneres Campus, where exhibits explain decades of gorilla research and conservation. After lunch, drive about two and a half hours back to Kigali. The tour ends at your hotel or at the airport for your flight home.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Frequently Asked Questions
Two. You trek in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on Day 2 and in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on Day 3, with an hour beside a gorilla family each time. Both Uganda gorilla permits are included. The order of the two parks can change with permit availability. If one trek is enough, see our 4-day Uganda gorilla and golden monkey safari, which costs less.
Each gorilla trek is a moderate to challenging hike of two to seven hours over steep, often muddy ground, and you do two on back-to-back days. A reasonable level of fitness helps, and walking poles and gaiters make the second day easier. The golden monkey trek on Day 4 is gentler. You can hire a porter at each trailhead to carry your bag; porter fees are not included.
The tour is from $2,996 per person, depending on group size. That covers two Uganda gorilla permits, a golden monkey permit, park fees, three nights of accommodation, meals as listed, your driver-guide, transport and airport transfers. Uganda’s standard gorilla permit is $800. In April, May and November it drops to $600, but those low-season permits cannot be rescheduled.
For how gorilla permits are priced and booked, see our gorilla trekking permit cost guide and our guide to the full cost of a gorilla trek.
For July and August, book about six months ahead, because those are the busiest months for gorilla permits. This tour needs two permits on back-to-back days in two parks, so booking early gives you the best choice of dates in any month. A 50% deposit confirms your booking, and we then secure your permits.
Our guide to the best time for gorilla trekking compares the dry and rainy months.
Every gorilla family behaves differently, and a second hour often brings what the first one missed: a silverback on the move, young gorillas playing or a clearer view through the undergrowth. Bwindi and Mgahinga are also very different forests, so the two treks feel like two separate experiences. It suits photographers and anyone who has trekked once before.
