
Gorilla Safaris Experiences in Uganda
Gorilla safaris are the most sought after tourist activities because of the unique experience it offers. Gorillas are endangered primate species that share 98% DNA with humans, making them the closest cousins of Human beings. The gorillas can only be found in three countries; Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Inspire African Safaris offers many different tour packages such as Chimpanzee Tracking,Nature walks, wildlife safaris, hiking safaris etc
Therefore, gorilla safaris are only extended into these three countries, with Uganda harboring half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National park and Mgahinga National Park. Then Rwanda harbors half of the mountain gorillas in Virunga Mountain ranges protected under Volcanoes National park and the rest of the mountain gorillas live in Virunga National park in Congo. BBC
Gorilla safaris also extend to Kahuzi Biega in Eastern Democratic republic of Congo where there is lowland gorillas, another gorilla specie different from mountain gorillas which live in the montane areas.
Gorilla trekking in Africa is a very beautiful and emotional activity that is worth including to your bucket list adventure tours you must do before you die. Gorilla trekking in Africa can only be done in Uganda’s Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, Volcanoes national park in Rwanda and Virunga mountains in DRC for mountain gorilla safaris whereas African lowland gorillas can be viewed in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Popular Uganda Gorilla Safaris
We have included several sample tour packages for travelers looking for gorilla safaris in Uganda. These trips will give you an idea of creating your holiday in Uganda.
-
Chimpanzee Experience - Trekking Chimpanzee is one of the best activities one can do while visiting the Pearl of Africa, I booked my trip in January 2023 and we was supposed to travel... read more in May, 2023. It was a great experience, guide Richard picked me up from Entebbe International Airport on my arrival, he drove me to 7 Seasons Hotel for refreshing and for my stay for the night to prepare for the next day's journey to Kibale national park. I woke up at 5am early in the morning , I prepared myself by 6am I was through with my breakfast and guide Richard was ready to set off for our trip to Kibale for Chimpanzee trekking, my our way we made different stop overs to see and watch different amazing Ugandan people and the landscape of the Pearl of Africa, Indeed what I saw clarified that Uganda is the real Pearl of Africa. By 1pm we were in the beautiful land of Fortportal where we had lunch at Travel Inn Restaurant , after lunch we had to continue with our amazing journey to kibale national park on our journey passing through the beautiful Kibale Forest. By 5pm we had reached Kibale Forest Camp where were to rest from over the night, we were given a warm reception by the people around, we refreshed , then had supper and then guide Richard briefed about the next day's activities. In the morning we woke up at 6am prepared ourselves had breakfast and the guide Richard picked us upto the tracking center. The Rangers briefed us about what we were to follow, in the thick forest of Kibale we met chimpanzees in their habitant and the experience was really amazing. With the tour operator together with guide the trip was amazing.
August 22, 2023 -
Amazing people, amazing country Uganda - Everything from the start when Herman our guide picked us up from Entebbe airport, during our 3days safari trip until the end when the CEO from Inspire African Safaris... read more office, David said farewell.. was amazing, beautiful words are not enough!
We came to Uganda on the 28th June, Herman picked us up and took us to the hotel for dinner and sleepover. Beautiful gardens and delicious dinner were all meant at the hotel and this was rather than 7 seasons hotel in Entebbe. At the hotel Herman informed us about our safari plan, and all that was necessary to have successfull trip was discussed.
On 29th, we wake up very early in morning, got our selves ready for breakfast, at exactly 6am we were starting our journey to Zziwa Rhino Sanctuary. On our way we made several stopovers to buy fresh fish and fruits for our enjoyment after the day. By 10am we had arrived at Zziwa Rhino to get ready for our Rhino trekking, the rangers briefed us and everyone was eager to see the Rhinos. It was a life time experience seeing the Rhinos in their homes. By 1pm we had finished the trekking and we headed to Kindergarten restaurant for lunch and some refreshments in order to embark ,so after lunch it was all set for us for Murchison falls national park, on arriving at the park, we trekked to the top of the falls which was all amazing seeing the waters fall, the we had to go to the Lodge for rest and dinner to prepare for next day game drive, the next day activities we had to wake up at 6am had breakfast and at exactly 7am our guide Herman was ready for us for the game drive, during the drive, we saw Africa's big five and his was a great experience for us, with all the organization the trip went on very well, we cannot regret exploring with Inspire African Safaris
August 21, 2023 -
I cannot recommend Gorilla trips enough! From the very beginning in planning the trip, Joseph was extremely responsive to all my questions and very helpful in creating the perfect itinerary... read more that was I hoped for. Our guide Herman , was just as exceptional. Herman was very knowledgeable about everything that came on my way as we were heading for the greatest Gorilla Safaris experience. Indeed I cannot regret paying my money for the Gorilla experience, because it was only fan meeting the Gorillas in their habitant enjoying their play in the Impenetrable forest. When it came to the lodges it was the greatest experience, the lodges were five star in that I found no difficult in resting in them, the African food they prepared was of first class. I cannot forget the expectional company that organized the Trip,Inspire African Safaris it's guide was very knowledgeable and he made the trip a memoriable.
August 21, 2023 -
I never write TripAdivsor reviews, but I cannot thank the Inspire team enough for the trip they put together for us.
From the moment we reached out to Richard... read more at Inspire, everything was absolutely incredible. He curated the most luxurious, active, and incredible trip that my girlfriend and I could have ever imagined. Richard was responsive nearly all hours of the day to answer any questions we had and worked so hard to make sure we had THE perfect trip. We literally did everything we had on our bucket list and more as Richard and the entire Inspire team wanted to make sure we had the most perfect trip.
From trekking with the gorillas and doing the habituation tour with the chimpanzees to seeing the Great Migration, I still cannot believe everything the Inspire team organized for us. We also did quite a few activities that were several hours from the other and Alex and Bacardi (our 2 drivers) made the drives so seamless and easy for us. They were amazing.
And the accommodations were out of this world. We stayed at some of the nicest hotels I have ever seen (Highlands, Siringit Migration Camp, Chimpundu Lodge just to name a few), and we had the best night's sleep and food at every single one.
I'm so excited to go back one day and travel with the Inspire team again.
August 6, 2023 -
My 3-day trip to Murchison and Chimpanzee trek in Budongo forest. - Overall the trip was amazing. My three-day experience in Murchison Falls was so memorable: I got to see the 4 of the big five that are present in the park... read more (including lions and the elusive leopard), had a wonderful trip along the river Nile, and what was most unforgettable was my trek to see the chimpanzees in Budongo Forest.
I really felt that Inspire Safaris put my interests as their first priority, and they really went the extra mile: Richard was always at hand to answer my queries and always responded very quickly; he managed to tailor my trip so that I got to do everything that I wanted to; my driver Isaac made a huge effort, whilst on the trip, to ensure that I had the most enjoyable experience possible; and, inspire even altered the standard itinerary so that, after the trip, I could be dropped off at a nearby town where I needed to be for work - I would definitely recommend.
I would also say that I was impressed by how quickly the team at inspire were able to put the experience together: I sent an inquiry email on the Wednesday, and had my itinerary confirmed by the Friday, and I was off on the trip on the Saturday- I couldn't believe how Richard and the team were able to organise everything in such little time!
However, because my trip was a little bit more tailored and organised so quickly, there was a little bit of miscommunication and misunderstanding in regards to what exactly was and wasn't included in the price. I think that if I had a final, detailed itinerary about what exactly was being included, that would have helped enormously in avoiding confusion and frustration for both sides.
Despite this, my overall experience with Inspire has been very positive. Like I say, if you want to have a memorable experience with a company that really values and will tailor your experience, then I would definitely recommend Inspire safaris.
July 20, 2023 -
I found Inspire African Safaris on Trip Advisor as the number 1 in Uganda. So I reached out and contacted them to try and organise a custom private tour of... read more Uganda and Masai Mara. My friend and I had a very specific itinerary we wanted to do, in a specific time, with a specific budget. So the big group tour company’s like G Adventures or Intrepid wouldn’t work. So after contacting a few companies, IAS stood out straight away with the speed and ease of communication from Richard. We discussed all elements of our proposed itinerary on What’s App. He would reply to my messages at all hours of the day. He tailored our plan to meet exactly what we wanted to do and ensure it was within budget. His knowledge of everything was clear from just his messages.Obviously when it comes to booking after just speaking to someone on WhatsApp and needing to send $8000+ to someone on PayPal, you naturally get a bit nervous, but let me assure you that if you are in the same position with this company, you have nothing to worry about! Richard even offered different ways to pay so we didn’t have to pay hundreds extra for credit card fees.
When it came to the actual tour we arranged, we had a chimp trek and 2 gorilla treks on back to back days (in 2 different sections of Bwindi), game drives in Queen Elizabeth NP, followed by a flight from Kigali, Rwanda to Nairobi, Kenya and ten a return flight from Wilson airport in Nairobi go Masai Mara.
Just before we arrived in Uganda, Richard sent me a message saying there had been a landslide and one of the main roads to Mgahinga section for our second gorilla trek had been blocked. So without hesitation he changed the trek to a different section. So we were always kept up to date with events on the ground in Uganda, especially because it was the rainy season and there could be landslides and flooding.
Upon arriving in Uganda from the UK we were met at the airport by Richard himself and driver Alex. We had 6 days with them both in Uganda. Both were fantastic the whole time. We had some very long drives, often on very bumpy dirt roads. Alex was great, driving on those roads were not easy. The accommodation Richard had organised for us were great. They were all ‘mid range” lodges but were all very nice and comfortable and offered full board- some definitely seemed higher than mid range. As we were there in the low season, a lot of the lodges we stayed in were very empty. On multiple occasions we were the only guests there!
Richard even made sure he left us with Alex a couple of days early, so to ensure he could get to the Masai Mara on time to meet our flight, as the route and roads were so bad due to the rains.
Just to talk briefly about the activities we did
We did 2 gorilla treks, one day after the other. The first one was in Ruhija and there was a total of 6 guests. The next day we did one in Nkurungo section, where the two of us were the only guest. So we basically had a private tour!! All the activities we did were amazing. We saw so much in Uganda in our short time. When it was time to go to our Kenyan part of the tour, Alex guided and drove us across the border to Rwanda and we had time to explore Kigali before heading to the airport and to say bye to Alex. We then had an independent flight and hotel in Nairobi before catching our flight from Wilson airport to the airstrip in the Masai Mara where we were met as soon as we landed by Richard and his Masai driver Cole. We had 3 days in the Mara where we explored all corners of it with our two experts. Their knowledge of animals and also for spotting was great too. As it was the low season there seemed to be less animals around but we managed to see everything we wanted (apart from a Rhino).
When our time was up we flew back to Nairobi with Richard before saying our goodbyes and heading to JKIA for our flight back to London.
Overall I can’t recommend Inspire African Safaris enough! 100% 5 stars. Anyone who is thinking of travelling to Uganda and is looking for a trustworthy company, who will look after you and do everything you ask. This is the company. We felt at ease with Richard and Alex, they were both fantastic! There’s a reason they are number 1!!
May 21, 2023 -
Queen Elizabeth National Park - I really enjoyed the experience and Mark was a great guide! He explained a lot and it was a pleasure to have conversations. The lodge was very nice and the... read more meals delicious. So I am happy I have booked the trip! Thanks a lot!
March 24, 2023