The amazing 3 days gorilla tracking in Mgahinga National Park takes you to meet the gorillas in this park with optional tours like visiting the Batwa pygmies that live at the edge of the park or taking a tour to Lake Mutanda; this lake is one of the amazing lakes in Uganda that is dotted with islands. On this safari, you will have a view of the Kigezi highlands, the Uganda equator among others.

Gorilla tracking is one of the major activities done in this park and only one mountain gorilla family can be located here – Nyakagezi group. The safari begins and ends in Kampala/Entebbe.

Detailed itinerary.

Day 1: Head to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park from any agreed point in Kampala/Entebbe.

Be picked from the agreed point, either Hotel or airport and then head to Mgahinga national park that is well situated at the foothills of Virunga Mountains which run on the border of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mgahinga national park is Uganda’s smallest national park with unique attractions ranging from primates, especially the rare mountain gorillas and elusive golden monkeys.

The park has only one gorilla family – Nyakagezi which lives in the mountainous forests of this park and also the park offers beautiful scenery that everyone would not want to miss out on their safari. The journey to Mgahinga is amazing with stopovers like one at Uganda equator and another one in Mbarara for lunch. Enjoy the romantic views in Kisoro with terraced hills as you find the way to the booked lodge for your accommodation.

Day 2: Mountain gorilla trekking adventure.

Have breakfast and then head for briefing that is just a short drive from where you spent a night. The briefing covers wide history about the park, inhabitants of the park and the rules and regulations to be followed during gorilla trekking. The rules here include not making noise while in the trek, no dumping in the forest, not mimicking because you don’t know what the gorillas may translate that to be, never use a flashlight camera while taking photos in the presence of gorillas because they may charge among others.

Start the trek immediately and the first sightings will be of birds, butterflies if it’s a season of butterflies and also other primates like the red-tailed monkeys, baboons and Vervet monkeys. Within a few minutes or less than an hour, you will meet the gorilla family trekked that will be either feeding or moving in search of food. The female might be breastfeeding and the head of the family called Silverback practicing its leadership roles like controlling their movements, grooming young ones among others.

An hour spent in the presence of endangered mountain gorillas is one of the best moments you will never forget in your lifetime and then trek out of the forest with overall time spent being 3 to 5 hours. Then return to the safari lodge for lunch. In the evening you may get into an optional activity of visiting Lake Mutanda for boat cruise and visiting the islands or taking a community walk to meet the Batwa and learning about the unique culture of Batwa pygmies. The day will end after returning to the lodge.

Day 3: Depart back to Kampala/Entebbe.

Depart to Kampala early in the morning with a stopover at Uganda equator for lunch and the first stopover will be in Mbarara at Igongo Cultural Centre. At this point, have a tour around Ankole Kigezi-Ankole museum with different art pieces. The drop-off will be at any agreed place – either Entebbe or Kampala and this will be the end of the safari.