Day 1: Arrival and Airport Pickup

Arrival at the airport and pick up to your hotel.

Day 2: Transfer to Kisoro, Uganda – Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

Today after your breakfast your driver guide will transfer you to Kisoro – Uganda at the base of the Virunga Volcanoes. Enjoy the winding roads of the ‘thousand hills’ and magnificent views of the Volcanoes. You will spend the afternoon at leisure in preparation for all the trekking and hiking in the days to come.

Journey time – 4 hours
Meal plan – Breakfast, lunch & Dinner

Accommodation

• Up market – Mt Gahinga Lodge
• Mid range – Lake Mulehe Safari Lodge
• Budget – Lake Chahafi Resort

Day 3: Gorilla trekking in Mgahinga Gorilla national park

Mgahinga gorilla national park was primarily protected because of mountain gorillas and golden monkeys among other wildlife. Today you will be transferred to the briefing point inside the park to learn about how to behave and interact with the gorillas in the wild. Your driver guide will drop off at the  briefing place for the gorilla trekking.

Depending on the location of the gorillas, you might need to drive before you start the trek in the park. The ranger guide will then lead you to start your gorilla trek in the park. After hiking some distance depending on the location of the gorillas, you will sight them and spend up to 1 hour with them before you start your descent back to the briefing point and later your lodge. The experience in this jungle and meeting these enormous creatures will stay with you for life.

B, L & D

Day 4: Golden Monkey trekking

After an early morning breakfast, your driver guide will transfer you to the briefing point where the golden monkey trekking starts. Just like the previous day, you receive a briefing from the ranger guide and later start your hike up Mgahinga national park in search of the golden monkeys, which are only in the Virunga Volcanoes.

Generally golden monkeys are swift in their movements unlike the gorillas and you will follow them as they move to feed. They love bamboo shoots compared to any other vegetation for feeding. The first part of the hike is through the secondary forest and shrubs but as you go deeper into the forest you will get in the bamboo sections where you will start hearing sounds and see movements of these amazing creatures. You are allowed 1 hour with the golden monkeys before you start your decent back to the starting point.

B, L & D

Day 5: Walk in the footsteps of the Batwa

The Batwa are an indigenous tribe that lived in the forest and depended on it for livelihood because they were hunter-gatherers. However over time other people groups started influencing the Batwa using them to do unsustainable poaching therefore the government decided to move them out of the forest all together.

This morning, you will be transferred to the briefing area by your driver guide. After briefing from the guide leader of the Batwa with translation from the ranger guide, they will take you to start the journey in their footsteps. They will take you through the forest and how they lived and depended on it. This tour can be half day (about 4 hours) or full day (about 6 hours).

B, L & D

Day 6: Hike Sabyinyo or Muhabura or Gahinga Volcanoes

Mt Gahinga, 3474 metres above sea level or 11,400 feet offers a gentler hike through the bamboo forest and marshy craters at the peak. The lower slopes are rich with forest birds and the marshes near the summit are home to bushbuck and elusive duiker. This is shared between Uganda and Rwanda. Total time of the hike is approximately 6 hours.

Mt Muhabura – 4127 metres above sea level or 13540 feet is the most challenging peak in the park. The hike will take most of the day, but the adventurous are rewarded with great sense of accomplishment and – on a good day – spectacular views of Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo. This is shared between Uganda and Rwanda. This takes approximately 8 hours.

Mt Sabyinyo – 3674 metres above sea level or 12050 feet is the most dramatic climb. At some point you will depend entirely on the wooden stairs up the steep slopes and therefore you will let go of the climbing sticks. On arrival at the peak you will successfully be in all the 3 countries at ago i.e. Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo. This takes approximately 9 hours to climb up and down in favorable weather.

Day 7: Drive back to Kampala/Airport

Have breakfast early in the morning and after, check out from your lodge ready to embark on return journey to Kampala or Entebbe and this marks the end of your 7 days Mgahinga gorilla tour.

B, L