A solitary meeting with the gorillas
How to increase your chances of seeing the gorillas on your own
After about an hour’s trek through the thick vegetation of a Ugandan rainforest, accompanied by an exotic soundscape of tropical bird and animal calls, we suddenly spotted him, a big mound of black against the vivid lush greenery, basking in a sunlit clearing.
Precious few times in life have I gasped in amazement. But this was certainly a time to do so. I was standing just a few feet away from a hulking great silverback mountain gorilla in the wild.
He was nestled amongst the trees, contently munching leaves. Every few minutes he calmly tore down another huge branch, in search of more of what appeared to me to be rather a tedious diet.
His strength was clearly immense and I was a bit concerned that I was standing very near a large wild animal able to charge and flatten me in seconds if he desired. The trackers, however, were seemingly not concerned and said that they knew exactly how to diffuse the situation, mainly by uttering assuring sounds, in the unlikely event that things were to get out of hand.
When the gorilla moved, the trackers cut back the undergrowth with machetes, and we followed him to the rest of the group: chilled adults, gregarious juveniles hanging from branches and a ridiculously cute, playful infant hugging its mother and then scampering away. There were so many parallels with a human family.
What made this experience particularly special was that, apart from the trackers accompanying me and an armed soldier for safety, I was completely alone. There were no other visitors.
Only about 1000 mountain gorillas remain in the world: in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. Meeting them is widely considered one of the world’s top wildlife experiences, yet with each country heavily rationing visits, most trips are in groups of eight.
Yet plan carefully, and you can avoid the crowds - who can completely spoil the magic by brandishing iPads and selfie sticks. Even worse, someone in your party ignoring the rules - such as chattering away loudly, getting too close or using flash photography - can result in your encounter being cut short.
You can never absolutely guarantee to be the only visitor (or for your family/friend group to have the gorillas to yourselves) unless you buy all the permits for your visit - a very costly undertaking indeed - but certain steps make the possibility pretty likely.
Firstly, choose when to go: the rainy season. This scares off many tourists - and means low season tranquility and low prices. Yet in the part of Africa mountain gorillas live, usually the rain is unproblematic: it averages around 15 days a month throughout the year except between June and August, and showers are typically brief and infrequent. When I visited during the rainy season, I hardly saw any rain at all, and as a bonus, the countryside was a beautiful lush green.
Next, choose your destination. The Foreign Office considers the DRC to be unsafe, so choose Uganda over Rwanda. Not only does it have cheaper gorilla permits, US$700 - instead of $1500 in Rwanda - but Uganda has lots more to see around the country, including a host of stunning lakes and national parks.
The money raised by the gorilla-trekking permits has done wonders for gorilla conservation. Indeed permits currently generate more than £17 million annually for Rwanda alone. In 1997 mountain gorillas were on the brink of extinction and there were just 650 in the wild. In 2018 there were 1063, and the next census should show a bigger increase still.
Permits only allow you an hour with the gorillas (although costlier, rarer ‘Gorilla Habituation’ visas have recently been introduced allowing four hours with them) as studies have found that the gorillas get agitated when expected to hold an audience with humans for longer than this. The permit cost may seem very steep, but for such an unforgettable experience I assure you it’s worth it.
Indeed, demand is rising, no doubt recently helped by the documentary Silverback, currently on BBC iPlayer. And tour operator Black Tomato’s gorilla bookings have increased by more than 40 per cent between 2019 and 2023 for example.
The gorillas are typically a nine hour drive from Uganda’s international airport, Entebbe, but to save time you can fly from London to Kigali in Rwanda and cross the border, taking around two hours. Some tour operators offer air safaris, reducing travel times further.
Another way to increase your chances of your own private visit to the gorillas is the choice of park. Most Ugandan gorilla experiences are in Bwindi National Park. However, there’s a smaller, often overlooked one, Mgahinga. It’s on far fewer tour operators’ itineraries as the gorillas occasionally drift into nearby Rwanda or the DRC, but you can check their whereabouts beforehand with the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA). If they’re not in Mgahinga, Bwindi is likely to be relatively quiet with it being the rainy season.
No-one can guarantee that you or your group will be the only visitor/s the day you choose to buy a permit, but if you stress to the tour operator or - if travelling independently, the UWA - that you would particularly like to see the gorillas ideally on your own if possible, they should be able to advise the best chances of doing so, suggesting the least popular days.
Locating the gorillas can take anything from around 30 minutes to (occasionally) up to nine hours, so a degree of fitness and stamina is required, although porters have been known to transport infirm and disabled participants on a stretcher on request. This is how a fellow travel writer, Melissa Shales, very sadly no longer with us, got to see them.
A modicum of patience won’t go amiss whilst tracking the gorillas. When, after an hour of pushing through quite thick, hilly rainforest I asked a tracker: “Are we nearly there yet?”, like an impatient toddler on a car journey, he snapped back, rather wittily I think: “Look, the gorillas don’t meet up with us by appointment.”
Choose accommodation near your trekking starting point, as you don’t want a long drive to get there on the big day. Traveller’s Rest Inn at Kisoro is convenient for Mgahinga. It was considered almost a second home to renowned primatologist Dian Fossey in the 1960s.
At Bwindi, ask your tour operator or the UWA to confirm where you will start your trekking from. If near Buhoma, Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp is a luxury option; near Ruhija, Ruhija Community Rest Camp is a budget choice; near Nkuringo, Bwindi Backpackers Lodge or luxurious Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge are options.
When I visited, I couldn’t believe how empty the visitors’ book was, at the camp where you start your gorilla trek, the month leading up to my visit. It rained lightly on the day, but then, we were in a rainforest.
When I said goodbye to the gorillas I reflected upon the fact that there are so very few places now that you can have completely to yourself. So it was exceptional for this to be possible, participating in one of the most in-demand tourism experiences on the planet.
Further information
Flights
KLM, Air France, Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Emirates, British Airways, Brussels, Swiss, Ethiopian and Qatar fly to Entebbe and/or Kigali
Tours
Gorilla trekking tours to Mgahinga and Bwindi are offered by Matoke Tours (+256 393 202907, matoketours.com)
Red tape
Ugandan and Rwandan tourist visas are US$50 each, and East African tourist visas covering both plus Kenya are US$100
Check health requirements with a travel clinic: a yellow fever vaccination is mandatory and malaria prophylaxis very strongly advised
Ugandan gorilla permits
(under 16s not permitted)
UWA (+256 414 355000; ugandawildlife.org)
Accommodation
Mgahinga
Traveller’s Rest Inn (+256 414 200221, gorillatours.com)
Bwindi
Gorilla Forest Camp (01242 546609, sanctuaryretreats.com)
Bwindi Backpackers Lodge (+256 772 661854, bwindibackpackerslodge.com)
Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge (+256 414 251182, wildplacesafrica.com)
Further reading
Uganda (Bradt Guides, £17.99)