Planning a gorilla and Batwa experience safari from Kigali starts with securing your gorilla permit early, as these sell out quickly. Anthill Safaris handles this process smoothly on your behalf.
While Rwanda offers both experiences, Uganda’s Mgahinga National Park combines gorilla trekking and the Batwa cultural experience in one destination. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park also offers gorilla trekking and habituation experiences.
The Batwa pygmies once lived entirely within the forest until conservation programs displaced them in the early 1990s. Today, experienced Batwa guides lead forest walks, sharing ancient traditions, survival skills, and fascinating forest secrets that no one else can tell.
Travelling from Kigali to Uganda is straightforward by road through the Gatuna or Cyanika border crossings, or by air. Anthill Safaris recommends applying for the East African visa, which covers both countries conveniently.
Finally, choose accommodation that suits your budget, as this shapes your overall safari experience.
How To Organise Gorilla and Batwa Experience Safari
Select the gorilla park and the Safari to do
Uganda has two gorilla safari parks, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park, all nestled in the southwestern part of Uganda. Bwindi has the largest gorilla families, with 18 gorilla trekking families and two gorilla habituation families. Mgahinga National Park may be one of the smallest of Uganda’s National parks, but it is home to one gorilla trekking family called Nyakagezi.
You can do a gorilla trekking safari, which includes viewing the mountain gorilla family for just one hour with a maximum of 8 tourists. The gorilla habituation experience is an adventure where tourists follow a team of researchers and trackers to search for a semi-habituated gorilla family and have four hours with them.
Book a Gorilla safari permit.
Upon identifying where to do a gorilla safari and which gorilla safari type you prefer to engage in, select a date and the number of permits you wish to secure. You need to check the availability of the gorilla permits from the Uganda Wildlife Authority or through an accredited tour operator.
At Anthill Safaris, when you send us your gorilla safari enquiry, our safari consultant checks availability according to your date and details provided and gets back to you as soon as possible.
Upon finding the required availability, we request that you purchase your gorilla permits as soon as possible. This is to avoid losing the gorilla permits as they sell out fast because of high demand worldwide, yet the supply is limited to a maximum of 8 per day per gorilla safari.
Please forward the following personal details to be added to your gorilla permit card: your full name as it appears on your passport, your nationality, your date of birth, and your passport expiry date.
How much is a Gorilla Permit
When you select gorilla trekking, the permit price is $800 per person for foreign nonresidents, $700 for foreign residents, and 300000shs for East African residents.
The gorilla habituation experience costs $ 1,500 per person for foreign nonresidents, $ 1,000 for foreign residents, and 750000shsh for East African residents.
The cost of a gorilla permit is inclusive of ranger guide fees, park entrance fees, mountain gorilla conservation, security during gorilla safari, local community support, one hour of gorilla trekking or four hours of gorilla habituation experience, government tax, and others.
Exclusions in the cost of a gorilla permit are transport, accommodation, porter hire, and any other items of personal expenditure.
Reserve transport to use during the gorilla and Batwa safari
By Road
The main means of transport from Kigali in Rwanda to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga National Park is by road. The 5 to 6-hour drive from Kigali via Gatuna or Cyanika border is sensational, with stunning evergreen cover on the slopes of the highlands you pass by.
Using a 4×4 wheel drive vehicle makes your voyage to the gorilla safari destinations more comfortable and memorable.
By air
From Kigali airport, you can get into Uganda via Entebbe airport, then you can catch the daily domestic flights from Entebbe airport or Kajjansi airstrip to Kihihi or Kisoro airstrip. Charter flight services are also available if you need a private gorilla safari.
You need a transfer vehicle from the airstrip, which is about 2 hour’s drive to either gorilla safari destination.
Book Accommodation for the gorilla safari and Batwa safari
If Mgahinga National Park is your choice for a gorilla and Batwa safari, you have a limited choice of accommodations.
Mgahinga accommodations: Volcanoes Gahinga Lodge, Majambere Iwachu, Community Camp, Mountain Gahinga Lodge, Mutanda Lake Resort
To make your gorilla trekking experience seamless, note the area where your Bwindi Impenetrable National Park gorilla trekking permit is booked. Bwindi offers a variety of accommodations, but your permit specifies one of four areas: Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga, or Nkuringo. This ensures you stay close to your gorilla family’s sector.
For each of these areas, connecting from one area to another has challenges, making it quite hard to overnight in one area and do a gorilla safari in another. To avoid obstacles when driving at night to make it to a briefing, book accommodation within or on the outskirts of the area where you booked your gorilla permit.
Bwindi accommodations: Clouds Lodge, Engage Lodge, Silverback Lodge, Gorilla Forest Camp, Gorilla Resort, Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge, Rushaga Gorilla Safari Lodge, Bwindi View Bandas, Bwindi Backpacker Camp.
Secure Experience time
Gorilla and Batwa Experience Safari from Kigali. The Batwa are some of the victims of gorilla conservation, as their ancestral home was the forest. They collected a lot of the things they depended on in the forest. At the moment, the Batwa are inhabitants of the margins of Bwindi and Mgahinga.
To include the Batwa on the mountain gorilla and their habitat conservation board, they established and continued Batwa community-run programs. In Mgahinga National Park, you can be part of the Batwa and Garama caves and visit an initiative run by a Batwa guide who offers a glimpse into the forest life.
When you take the Batwa trail, it leads from Mountain Muhavura to Garama cave, providing insight into their beautiful forest life and culture.
The Garama cave is located beneath the plateaus closer to the northern edge of the park, which is 3 kilometers from Ntebeko. This cave was a retreat point for the Batwa when they raided the Bafumbira farmlands. The Batwa also used Gatama Cave as a council chamber.
At the moment, the Garama cave provides an atmospheric setting for performing Batwa folk music and dances. To enjoy the entire package, pre-booking is required.
Choose additional activities to combine with the gorilla and Batwa experience Safari.
Birding in Bwindi or Mgahinga National Park
Birding is another favorite activity you can engage in while on a gorilla and Batwa safari in Uganda. Uganda is gifted with over 1000 bird species. Chances of spotting Albertine rift endemics are higher in this area, so keen birders have a double opportunity of spotting even some of the bird species on the IUCN red list.
Community visits
While on the gorilla and Batwa safari in Uganda, you can visit other communities around these gorilla destinations to learn more about their day-to-day life. The Buhoma community visit or Nkuringo community walk may give you a chance to engage in activities like a visit to a traditional healer, banana beer brewery, blacksmith, and others. You can do this before gorilla safari or after.
Game safari in Uganda
Other than the gorilla safari, you can detour to do game drives in some of the Uganda game parks in the western side of Uganda. A game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park may allow you to see lions, herds of buffalo, waterbucks, bushbucks, cape buffalo, leopards, and many others. Lake Mburo National Park can also be a spot to do a detour, especially if you drive from Entebbe airport or if your departure is at Entebbe airport. While on a game drive in Lake Mburo National Park, you may spot impalas, elands, reedbucks, warthogs, zebras, giraffes, and many others.
Visit Lake Bunyonyi
If you are seeking tranquility, Lake Bunyonyi has your best interests. Not only is Lake Bunyonyi the deepest lake, but it also offers a quiet time to wind and unwind from the tiresome gorilla safari adventure. Lake Bunyonyi is composed of 29 islands that can be explored by boat. After the gorilla safari, you may drive to Lake Bunyonyi, a place of peace and stunning views.
Take part in Uganda Water activities.
Though Uganda is landlocked, you can still enjoy various water activities. Take part in launch trips, white water rafting, visiting the source of the River Nile, and more.
How Long is a Gorilla Safari?
Gorilla and Batwa Experience Safari from Kigali. Whether gorilla trekking or on a gorilla habituation experience, the duration is hard to measure as it depends on where the mountain gorillas may be living. On the day of the trek, after the briefing, you start from the point where rangers last saw the mountain gorillas the previous day.
Mountain gorillas move freely in the wilderness, but finding them depends on the proximity of their food. In case of a fight with another gorilla family on a severe wet day, the pace of other tourists and others is affected. You need patience and an open mind while you trek to find the mountain gorillas.
The forest has a lot of interesting features for you to enjoy while you search for the mountain gorillas.
Some tourists have seen the mountain gorillas in two hours while others have taken at least more than three-quarters of the day.
Having some level of fitness gives you comfort while you try to search for the mountain gorillas. The nature of the topography where they live is volcanic, with plateaus and ridges where these primates sometimes spend part of their life.
What to pack for Gorilla and Batwa Safari from Kigali in Rwanda
Gorilla and Batwa Experience Safari from Kigali. Packing smart ensures you stay comfortable and prepared throughout your trek. Start with khaki or tan safari clothes that blend into the wilderness and hide dirt easily. Pack everything into a soft duffel bag for easy carrying on the trail.
Bring sturdy safari boots to protect your feet on rough terrain, along with garden gloves to guard against stinging nettles. A poncho or raincoat keeps you dry during unexpected showers. Add a sweater for cool mornings and evenings when temperatures drop quickly.
Carry insect repellent and bug spray to protect yourself from biting insects. A torch is useful at night since most lodges run on solar power. Remember your camera, binoculars, and extra batteries to capture every special moment.
Finally, pack a face mask, as wearing one around the gorillas is mandatory. Bring some cash for local currency exchanges and souvenir purchases along the way.
