Experience the Rwanda and Uganda primates in the mist

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In Rwanda and Uganda there are few which offers the amount of time spent in the presence of mountain gorillas and chimpanzees that this tour offers. This is for people wanting a life changing and unparalleled experience with our closest cousins in their own habitats. The below itinerary is just a guide of what we can offer and is the most popular itinerary that people choose. It includes not one but two gorilla tracking days.

One in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda and one in the famous Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. By visiting these two parks and spending a couple of hours with the gorillas that inhabit the parks you will be able to compare the differences between the habitats and populations. Bwindi is more tropical than Volcanoes and the gorillas here seem intermediary between the eastern lowland populations from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the ‘true’ mountain gorillas of the Virunga further south. Some scientists are prepared to list the Bwindi population as a new subspecies and making them the rarest type of primate in the world. As well as spending some magical time with mountain gorillas and chimpanzees we average over 10 species of primates on this tour including red-tailed monkeys, black-and-white Columbus, golden monkeys, blue monkeys, Uganda red Columbus, Uganda mangabey, Davidoff’s dwarf galago and many more. This tour is a must for anyone who has ever wanted to walk in the footsteps of the great primatologists Dian Fossey or Jane Good all or anyone who has watched in a wonderful trance the intimate and human-like actions and behaviors of gorillas and chimpanzees in captivity or on the television.

And by joining this tour you can also be assured that you are directly contributing to the continued research and conservation of these great apes as we donate and contribute to the various research and conservation groups here. Being led by expert local guides tracking down the endangered mountain gorillas and sitting with them as they eat, rest and play is probably the greatest wildlife encounter anyone can ever have. When tracking the chimps you will not just be in the forest for an hour like most tourists but you can join us for a full day with the chimps.

From the moment they wake to the when the build their night nests. By joining this full day habituated tour you will have the best chance of seeing some interesting behaviors that are rarely seen by anyone other than researchers; such as hunting, buttress root drumming, mating, nest building and inter-group conflicts. But the primate watching does not end with these two great apes as you will also visit some very rare primate sites to watch Angolan Columbus, L’Hoest’s monkey, golden monkeys and blue monkeys which have only recently be habituated to regular human visitors and very few tourists come here to see them.

You will spend twice as much time on average than other gorilla watching tours around and our access to a habituated troop of chimps means you really do become part of their group and the sighting is around 95% guaranteed. The tour will also take you through the two breathtaking countries of Uganda and Rwanda and the stunning scenery of the Virunga Mountains is awe-inspiring. But the wildlife viewing doesn’t stop with primate watching in the forests as you will also see some of the more ‘common’ African safari wildlife including the famous tree-climbing lions of Ishasha. All in all this really is the most comprehensive primate tour of Africa and one which will not disappoint.

While on Uganda Safari Experience the Fascinating Batwa Culture

When planning for an amazing cultural gorilla safari in Uganda, plan for the Batwa cultural trail that you can either experience at Bwindi, Mgahinga or Lake Bunyonyi. Before coming to Uganda on a 2 weeks ecotourism gorilla and culture safari, I had researched about the fascinating Batwa pygmy people and learned about the Batwa Experience which became a "must do" item! Today, the Batwa ("keepers of the forest" for millennia) are living as "conservation refugees" outside their beautiful ancestral home, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest/ Park. The Batwa Experience was designed to help the Batwa elders pass along their incredible knowledge of the forest and how they lived in harmony with it to their children and to us fortunate visitors - and to provide needed income to their community.

We experienced the 5 hour cultural experience with the Batwa in Mgahinga Gorilla Park. We hiked the trail we used the day before to track gorillas, but this day was completely different as we stopped along the way to learn how the Batwa had lived in this forest for 500,000 years. They demonstrated hunting, trapping, honey gathering and the use of medicine plants. They showed us how they cooked, how they made clothes, kept their children safe and how they slept. Then the provided a lunch and danced and drummed for us. It was a wonderful experience.

The 5-hour Batwa Experience was a pure delight - fun, interesting and informative- and a good work out too! With our local guides, we hiked up a pretty mountain trail where we met our Batwa elders who showed us how they harvest bark cloth for clothes, how they hunted and trapped, how they used medical plants, how they slept in the open, how they collected honey, and examples of their leaf-covered homes, etc. In a nice thatched public area, we were entertained with Batwa music and dance and a typical meal before hiking back down the hill.

Please don't miss this! The Batwa Experience is a wonderful compliment to the gorilla tracking - the other highlights in Bwindi, Mgahinga Gorilla Park or Lake Bunyonyi the only terrain deepest Crater Lake in Uganda.

The Batwa Experience was one of the most magical I have had in Africa. It was really equal to gorilla trekking. The people were wonderful and the experience was as authentic as you can get when intruding into another peoples private world. We learned a tremendous amount, met wonderful people and enjoyed every step of the way. Do not miss this special opportunity!

The Batwa experience was an excellent cultural experience. The Batwa people did an excellent job of showing us their shelters, food gathering, medicine plants, and their traditional clothing and dances. They also provided an excellent lunch made from their traditional foods. It was one of the best one day cultural showing that I have been to.

If you're coming to Bwindi or Mgahinga Gorilla Park, it's for the Gorillas trekking expedition. Okay, so you've come all that way, and what else is there? Upon arrival, you'll quickly learn that the story of the Batwa is an integral story in the history of the area. They were displaced out of Bwindi when it became a national park in the 1990s. This is a great activity that exposes you to what their culture and lifestyle was (and is). It's somewhat staged for tourism, but the activities they do are very real and are what the older members actually did prior to the 90s. Contact us and our tour expert will tailor make your unforgettable Uganda Gorilla and Batwa Cultural Expedition.