3 Day Bwindi Gorilla Trek from Kigali

Included and Not Included

The listing lists the gorilla permit, transportation with fuel, car and driver, accommodation and meals, the Kigali city tour when starting from Kigali, the Equator Line experience when starting from Entebbe, shoebill tracking fees when starting or ending at Entebbe Airport, and cross-border visa fees with a recommendation for the East African Tourist Visa at $100. The Lake Bunyonyi boat excursion is part of the itinerary.

One warning. The same listing carries "Tips of any kind" in its included block, but the listing's own data marks tips as not included. Ask the operator to confirm on the booking page before you rely on it.

Porters are not mentioned in the listing, so their cost is not stated. Drinks beyond meals are not stated either.

Visa for the Kigali to Bwindi Route

You enter Uganda, so you need a Uganda visa or the East African Tourist Visa. Uganda Immigration states that there are no visas issued on arrival and that visa-prone travellers must apply online and carry the approval letter. The single entry tourist visa is $50.

The East African Tourist Visa costs $100, covers Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda only, is valid for 90 days and is issued by the first country of entry, which is why this listing recommends it for a Kigali start. Uganda Immigration also lists a passport valid 6 months, tour plan, itinerary, photograph and hotel booking among the documents. Rwanda, by contrast, allows a visa on arrival capped at $50 single entry.

• Apply for the Uganda e-visa or the East African Tourist Visa online before travel
• Carry the approval letter and a passport valid at least 6 months after arrival
• The $100 East Africa visa covers this trip's cross-border format in both directions

Health and the Permit Deadline

CDC says the yellow fever vaccine is required for all travellers arriving in Uganda aged 1 year or older, so carry the certificate for the border post. CDC also recommends prescription malaria medicine for Uganda, with risk throughout the country. Uganda lists no gorilla permit buying deadline on this listing, but UWA permits are paid in full at booking, so lock your date early. The trek minimum age is 15 in Uganda, set by UWA. The listing's own age bands are booking categories, not the trek rule. Anyone ill with a cold or flu is turned back on the day and the permit is at risk, so travel healthy.

Pack hiking shoes, rain gear, gloves, clothes that can get dirty, trekking gear and a face mask or protective covering, exactly as the listing asks. Porters are available around the gorilla parks to carry backpacks and help on the route, and their fee is not stated on the official pages, so arrange one at the briefing if the trail worries you.

The Route Day by Day

Day one starts with pickup in Kigali and a city tour taking in the Kigali Genocide Memorial and the Belgian Peacekeepers' Memorial. The listing gives the drive to Bwindi Forest in Uganda as 4 hours, arriving late evening at Bakiga Lodge. The route crosses into Uganda at the Katuna or Cyanika immigration posts.

Day two is an early breakfast, a transfer to park headquarters for the briefing, the trek, then a 2-hour drive to Lake Bunyonyi for a sunset hilltop hike and a 1-hour boat tour to Punishment Island.

Day three is a 6:00 am departure for Entebbe with an Equator Line photo stop and a quick lunch. Around 3:00 pm there is an optional 1.5-hour motorized canoe shoebill excursion at Mabamba Swamp. The trip ends in Entebbe, or back in Kigali with a drop-off at Kigali city or the airport if you arrange it.

Stated Times

Only the figures the listing itself gives are set out below. Anything it does not state is marked as such.

Two Ways to Run It

The listing notes the tour is fully customizable. You can add chimpanzee tracking, golden monkey trekking or a Big Five safari in Uganda or Rwanda, and you can flip the ending from Entebbe back to Kigali. Itineraries are subject to change, so reconfirm the final plan when you book.

Where You Cross

Uganda Immigration lists Katuna in Kabale district and Cyanika in Kisoro district as the immigration service points in the country's south western region. From Kigali, Katuna is the natural crossing for the Kabale and Bwindi route. Have your passport and visa sorted before you reach the post, because the East African Tourist Visa at $100, issued by the first country of entry, covers Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya and saves a second visa purchase.

A route note from operators running this same trip: the crossing pairs with a lunch stop at Kabale before the road climbs on to Bwindi. Treat the 4-hour figure as a best case, because queues at the post and the murram roads near the park can stretch it.

The Return Leg

Day three starts at 6:00 am to make the long haul back to Entebbe. Operators on this route advise allowing extra time on the way back, and booking an additional night in Kigali if your flight schedule is tight. If you fly out of Entebbe the same evening, leave real margin between the road arrival and check-in.

UWA places Entebbe 40 km south west of Kampala on a 42 km all-weather road, but the drive from the Bwindi region is the long part of the day.

• Carry your yellow fever certificate in your day bag for the border post
• Confirm with the operator whether the trip ends in Entebbe or loops back to Kigali
• If your flight leaves early on day four, plan a night before it

Flying Instead

If the road day is too much, UWA notes that the Kisoro and Kihihi airstrips near Bwindi have daily flights from Entebbe, with the Kisoro flight taking about 1 hour 10 minutes. That option applies to an Entebbe start rather than this Kigali route.

The Rules on Trek Day

Uganda's rules set the frame. Minimum age is 15 years. A maximum of eight visitors join each gorilla group. You keep a 10 m distance from the gorillas, and the visit lasts one hour per group per day. Flash photography is banned. Treks in Uganda last between 2 and 7 hours, with 60 minutes of observation at the end. The listing describes this tour's hike as anything from 30 minutes to several hours through the forest.

Anyone with a cold, flu or other contagious illness is turned back, and the listing asks you to bring a face mask or protective covering. The listing does not name which of Bwindi's four sectors, Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga or Nkuringo, this trek uses, so ask the operator when you book.

The Permit and How It Is Bought

The Uganda gorilla permit for foreign non-residents costs $800 under the UWA tariff. On this tour it is already inside the $2,200 price. UWA says permits for foreign non-residents can only be booked through licensed tour operators, and permits are paid in full at the time of booking. In low season months of April, May and November the gorilla tracking rate drops to $600 and those permits cannot be rescheduled.

Compare that with Rwanda: the permit costs $1,500, the RDB sells permits on its own portal or through an operator, the trek starts with a 7:00 am briefing at Kinigi, and you keep 7 m from the gorillas. For more on that choice, read Rwanda or Uganda for gorillas.

The Same Trip Across the Border

Rwanda runs the same experience closer to Kigali. Visit Rwanda describes a three-hour drive from Kigali to Volcanoes National Park, with treks of 30 minutes to four or more hours at altitudes of 2,500 m to 4,000 m and a 7 m distance rule. The catch is money and how permits are bought. One-day tours from Kigali start at $260 plus the permit with Vista Safaris Gorilla Day Trip from Kigali, or $2,650 with the permit in with Shalom Safaris 1-Day Trek, Permit Included.

If the border drive and the three-day length put you off, but you want the low base price, Bugoli 2-Day Bwindi Gorilla Trek from Kigali keeps the trip short with the permit as an add-on. If you want three days in Uganda with a bigger review base, Dav Safaris 3-Day Uganda Gorilla Safari runs the same permit-included format at $2,600 with 236 reviews.

Briefing and Start

The day begins with an early breakfast at Bakiga Lodge, then a transfer to the park headquarters for the briefing. Rangers assign each group of eight visitors to a habituated gorilla family and explain the rules: keep your voice low, avoid rapid movements, no littering, and no flash photography. The listing asks for hiking shoes, rain gear, gloves, clothes that can get dirty and a face mask.

Under standard trekking regulations, visitors have one hour to observe the gorillas once the family is found. Getting there is the variable part: the listing gives a hike of 30 minutes to several hours, and Uganda's rules cap the walk in a range of 2 to 7 hours.

After the Hour

When the hour is up the group walks back out and the tour moves on, which is the two-hour drive to Lake Bunyonyi. If the trek runs long, the sunset hilltop hike can compress, so keep expectations loose. Africa's second deepest lake, by the listing's own note, is the reward either way, with the 1-hour boat tour to Punishment Island.

If you want a longer stay with the gorillas rather than one hour, Uganda also sells a gorilla habituation experience at $1,500 for foreign non-residents, which includes the guide fee, park entrance for the day and a community contribution. That is a different product, not part of this tour.

Terrain and Length

Operators running treks in Bwindi describe terrain that can be steep, muddy and uneven, and a hike that can take from 30 minutes to three quarters of the day, so prepare for both outcomes. UWA puts Uganda treks in a 2 to 7 hour band with 60 minutes of observation, and Bwindi's altitude runs from 1,160 m to 2,607 m. Which family you are assigned decides most of it, and you only learn that at the briefing.

• Rain gear and gloves matter because the forest is wet in any month
• Trails are drier from June to August, the window Explore Uganda calls ideal for Bwindi
• A reasonable fitness base matters more than youth, since the pace is set by the gorillas

Porters and Pacing

Porters are available to carry backpacks and cameras and to help on the route, and hiring one is the single easiest way to soften a hard trail. The official pages do not print a porter fee, so agree it locally at the briefing. Rangers set the pace to the slowest person and the gorillas' movements, so the trek is not a race.

If you know the steep muddy forest is not for you, consider a Rwandan trek instead. Volcanoes National Park treks run at 2,500 m to 4,000 m and can also be long, so read the difficulty comparison on the homepage before deciding which country fits you.