Worth the effort? YES!!! An absolute bucket list item!
When to go: Summer (June-Sep) and Winter (Dec-Feb) are dry seasons though the gorillas are there all year round if you don’t mind getting wet 
Where to stay: Nkuringo Gorilla Camp (Lovely rooms, delicious food, super nature friendly but lack of private bathrooms is not for everyone)
Transport: Easy 1 hour flight from Nairobi. Do NOT drive in Uganda unless you are a native of Delhi or Rome. There are no rules on the road. Hire a tour group or private guide. Able Safaris is a decent mid level option. We were not thrilled but they made a good effort and got the job done.
Cost: $$$ Driver, Permits, Hotels, Flights from Nairobi etc. altogether will run you $2-3k easily.
Time: If you can’t or don’t want to fly to Bwindi from Entebbe you will need at least 5 days for the long drives.
Wisdoms: Get two permits if you can afford it. After meeting the magnificent creatures once you will want to go again. Make sure they are for different gorilla families. Permits sell out so book in advance.
Packing: Proper hiking gear especially shoes, waterproof gear and trekking poles; bug repellant
For the next time: Hang out with the chimps and do a night safari in Lake Mburu National Park
The Arrival
“What tribe are you from?” was the first question the driver from Able Safaris asked us when he picked us up from the Entebbe airport. We had a few days between the Safari and the Kili climb and, after almost agreeing to (but thankfully rejecting) more hard core trekking, settled on going to play with gorillas in neighboring Uganda.
A bit flustered by the driver’s question, but with over two weeks in Eastern Africa under our belt, we attempted to answer. Slowly and via sweeping hand motions we explained that we don’t quite have tribes in America but kind of still annoyingly break up into cliques based on how you look and where you’re from and where you went to school etc etc. I suspect he asks all the tourists that question either because a. he’s never gotten an answer that makes sense (I doubt we helped) or b. he gets a kick out of stupid tourists flailing around trying to explain societal differences. Either way, I liked the guy.
But back to the good stuff. There are tragically only 700 highland gorillas left in the world and, as they can’t survive in zoos, the only way to see them is to drag your ass to either Uganda or Rwanda and slash your way through the jungle to where they are hanging out that day. The reason there are so few of them left is because they need a large area to roam and, as more people need to grow more food, we, pesky humans, have been cutting down the forests which are their home. Right now the only place left for them is Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park which charges $500/day per person for the trek into the jungle where you are quite likely to come face to face with a family of Gorillas. And it’s TOTALLY AWESOME. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
You can fly directly to the park from Entebbe but, being on a travel bum budget, we chose to get a driver. Renting a car is totally out of the question. The roads are actually surprisingly good compared to Tanzania and parts of Kenya. The local government is clearly making an effort which my ass appreciates. But there ARE NO RULES on the road. It’s like these guys were trained by Delhi rickshaw drivers on speed. There is no concept of side of the road much less right of way. We actually witnessed a pile up which consisted of two motorcycles (with 3 people on one and 4 people and a dog on the other) and an Ankole bull, the kind with the terrifying giant horns. Our driver told us that it’s actually illegal to drive tourists after dark. A group of tourists who made the car renting mistake said they were in two accidents on the way to the park. They were terrified of driving back. Hire a professional and buckle up in the back.
The Gorillas
It took a whole day of driving (with a short break for car trouble) to get to the Kigezi highlands, the hills known as the “Switzerland of Africa,” where the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is located. The next day we set out to the park and met the guides. It turns out that you don’t just go roaming around to see if maybe you run into them like you do on safari. Rather, professional trackers set out hours earlier to find the families and tell the guides where to bring the the tourists.
The really interesting part is that these trackers actually used to be the poachers who almost hunted these same gorillas to extinction. This would have, of course, put these same poachers out of a job. So someone who realized that westerners would pay crazy money for a unique experience came up with a brilliant solution and offered the poachers paying jobs as trackers in exchange for leaving the gorillas alive. Job security for the poachers, avoiding extinction for the gorillas, amazing time for the tourist, wins all around.
Back to the trek, I originally thought it would like a hike down a trail and then maybe we would go around some bushes and there they would be. Not quite. There is indeed a trail and we did walk on it for maybe 15 minutes but then the trackers radio’d in and our guide veered off the trail straight into the jungle.
The Impenetrable Forest is well named. For the next couple hours we slid, stumbled and scrambled up and down superbly steep, slippery hills down a tiny path which had to be hacked and slashed through the jungle by our guides. If you stand in one place you will see a solid wall of woven greens and browns all around you. So all the guides carry machetes. Oh and some of the guides carry AK-47s to scare away the wild elephants in case they decide to attack. Yes elephants attack. Who knew?
Just when I thought I could go no more we were told that the gorillas are near and lo-and-behond the green-brown wall to my left started rustling and one by one a whole family of gorillas crossed the forest right in front of me. It was totally surreal. For the next hour we followed them, watched them eat and generally hung out. Best part was when the 800 lb “young female” decided to play with Arthur. By that of course I mean she charged at him and smacked the palm leaf right in front of his face. He plopped back on the ground and tried not to poop himself until she lost interest and went to chew on a leaf. Later we would be told that in a different group a gorilla help a woman’s hand. We are not supposed to touch them but they can do as they like
Soon our time together was over. Humans are only allowed to spend an hour per day with a family of gorillas. This gives us a way to see them without totally destroying their natural ways. Only about 1/3 of the 700 gorillas left alive are habituated to humans. They all have names and the trackers recognize each of them by their unique noses. Of the rest, some only ever see scientists and most are totally wild and would likely attack humans trespassing on their territory.
Meeting these magnificent creatures was spectacular! Our only regret was having only one day and next time we will buy two back to back permits. Oh and we want to see the chimps which apparently hang out on an island not far from the lake.
Before leaving we did a walking safari in Lake Mburu National Park which was so different after being cooped up in a car looking at these creatures. Looking forward to coming back here for a night drive!