Bwindi Gorilla Tour- 3 days.
To enquire about rates, availability or to make a booking for this safari , please email us at tours@tourseastafrica.com or telephone/watsapp +44790.863.9450.
Arrive: Kigali, Depart: Kigali
This is a 3 days express gorilla tour to track the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Uganda. The gorilla express tour is designed for folks wishing to track the mountain gorillas but with limited budget and with very little travel time. Gorilla permits in Uganda are each US$600 vs US$1500 for Rwanda gorilla permits.
Instead of arriving at Entebbe and embarking on a long 8 hours drive from Entebbe airport to Bwindi, you instead arrive through Kigali airport, and drive a comfortable 4 hours from Kigali and across the border through Cyanika border crossing into Bwindi Uganda. After the gorilla tracking you again depart from Kigali airport.
The 3 days gorilla tour enables you to fulfil what could be a lifelong dream or tick off the bucket list of tracking the mountain gorillas at a relatively affordable cost. The gorilla tour can be an extension of a larger African safari tour that can be combined with a safari to either Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania.
Itinerary:
- Day 1: Arrival at Kigali airport. Transfer from Kigali Rwanda cross border via Cyanika border crossing and into Nkuringo Bwindi to the stunning Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge.
- Day 2: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Forest in Uganda
- Day 3: Transfer back to Kigali Rwanda.
Day 1: Transfer from Kigali to Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge.
On arrival to Kigali airport ( please book flights arriving earlier than midday), you will be met by our expert safari driver guide who will brief you about express Bwindi gorilla safari. We also recommend that on arrival to Kigali or before your travel that you apply for a single East Africa tourist visa ( cost US$100) which will enable you multi entry into both Rwanda and Uganda. You will set off directly to northern Rwanda through a well tarmacked road with beautiful scenery and winding roads. You will drive past Rwanda’s volcanoes national park and to the Cyanika border crossing. You will then cross the border into Uganda and eventually arrive at Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge.
Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge is located on the southside of Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park with awesome views of Bwindi forest, the majestic Virunga volcanoes and the great Albertine rift valley. The beautiful Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge boasts of 18 stunning cottages built with locally sourced construction materials and with luxury furnishings that depict the local architecture and traditions. The lodge is situated bang in the middle of the Nkuringo villages and provides a convenient base for mountain gorilla trekking in the Nkuringo sector. The birdlife in Nkuringo is quite simply amazing. Avid bird watchers will have a beautiful birder’s experience.
| Journey Time | 4, 5 hours |
| Accommodation | Bwindi Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge. |
| Meal Plan | Dinner |
Day 2: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi.
Today is the day that you get to live out your dream of eyeballing the mountain gorillas in their midst. This for most people is the highlight of their safari travel to Africa and to some a once in a lifetime experience. You will have a very early breakfast at the lodge and be transferred by your safari driver guide to the park headquarters in Nkuringo.
Gorilla tracking :
The pre-gorilla trekking briefing takes place at 7am. You will be taken through the gorilla tracking etiquette and be allocated into groups of 8 persons each. You will then transfer to the gorilla tracking trailheads from where you will be ledt by expert mountain gorilla tracking ranger guides into the mountains in search of the gorillas.
The rangers will be looking for signs of where the gorilla spent the previous night and will be looking for fresh gorilla dung, freshly chewed bamboo shoots and nests. When you find the gorillas, you will be permitted to spend 1 hour with them. You will observe and photograph them as they play, feed and going on about their lives. You will then be invited to quietly walk away from the gorillas so that they can get on with their lives in the impenetrable Bwindi forest.
Bwindi Forest.
Bwindi Impenetrable national park is Uganda’s oldest and most diverse mountain rainforest. Bwindi has an amazing diversity of flora and fauna and is the only place in Africa that boasts to be habitat of both chimpanzees and mountain gorillas. In Rwanda, the gorillas are in Volcanoes National Park, where as the Chimps are 7 hours drive away in Nyungwe Forest. Half the world’s surviving mountain gorillas call Bwindi home, as well as over 380 bird species some of which are endemic to Bwindi.
| Accommodation | Bwindi Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge. |
| Meal Plan | Breakfast, packed lunch & Dinner |
Day 3: Depart Bwindi and transfer to Kigali.
Today is time to say goodbye to gorilla land Bwindi and head back to Kigali. Please book flights departing after 5pm. If flights scheduling is tricky then we shall book an extra night for you in Kigali and you depart from Kigali the following day. The transfer time from Bwindi to Kigali is approximately 5hours after factoring in border crossing formalities.
| Journey Time | 5 hours |
| Accommodation | Not included |
| Meal Plan | Breakfast |