Kenya
46
Uganda
21
Tanzania
28
Rwanda
20
Ethiopia
25
Photo: Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Multi-Country & Grand Tours · 7 days / 6 nights
Trek gorillas twice across two countries — Volcanoes plus Bwindi.
The Rwanda & Uganda Double Gorilla Trek is one of Africa's most compelling primate journeys — a seven-day circuit that places you face-to-face with habituated mountain gorillas in two entirely different ecosystems, in two countries, separated by the shimmering waters of Lake Kivu. It is the experience against which all other gorilla encounters are measured, and for good reason: no two habituated groups feel the same, and no two forests do either.
Your journey opens in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, where the steep flanks of the Virunga volcanoes — Karisimbi, Bisoke, Mikeno — rise from terraced farmland into cloud-draped bamboo and hagenia forests. Here, gorilla access is famously efficient: most trekking groups reach their assigned family within two to four hours, moving through afro-alpine terrain alive with golden monkeys and bright-billed turaco calls. Rwanda's habituated families are large, relaxed, and often tracked on open slopes where photography is spectacular. The polished infrastructure of the northern-circuit lodges means you return each evening to fireside comfort at altitude.
A scenic drive south brings you to the shore of Lake Kivu, one of Africa's Great Rift Valley lakes, for a restorative night. The following morning you board a wooden boat and glide across to the Congolese-border fishing islands or simply watch fishermen cast their nets against a backdrop of volcanic silhouettes — a deliberately slow interlude before the wildest stretch of the trip begins.
Crossing into Uganda, the landscape shifts dramatically. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is primordial — a 331-square-kilometre UNESCO World Heritage jungle cloaking steep ridges, rushing streams, and ravines so dense that early explorers found it genuinely impassable. Here the gorilla trek is raw and physical: vegetation presses in from every side, roots tangle underfoot, and the moment you hear the deep chest-beat of a silverback resonate through the undergrowth, the hairs on your arms rise. Bwindi shelters roughly half of the world's remaining mountain gorilla population, and the encounter — always exactly one unhurried hour in their presence — feels ancient and profoundly earned.
Bookending the adventure are Kigali's vibrant café culture and the efficient Rwanda–Uganda border crossing at Cyanika or Katuna, both well-managed with knowledgeable guides handling all logistics. The double gorilla permit included in this itinerary represents a rare privilege: two different gorilla families, two distinct forest personalities, one unforgettable week.
Route: Kigali → Volcanoes → Lake Kivu → (border) → Bwindi → Kigali
Your guide meets you at Kigali International Airport for a warm welcome before the roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive northwest toward the Virunga foothills. The road climbs steadily through terraced hillsides of tea and sorghum, and on clear days the five Virunga volcanoes come into view — a dramatic first glimpse of the landscape that anchors Rwanda's gorilla country. Arrive at your lodge in the late afternoon for a pre-trek orientation briefing over dinner, where your guide walks you through what to expect in the forest the following morning.
An early breakfast precedes the drive to the park headquarters at Kinigi for the 7:00 am ranger briefing. Groups of eight are assigned to a specific gorilla family and set off into the bamboo zone, ascending through hagenia-hypericum forest past stands of giant lobelias. The trek typically lasts two to four hours depending on where the family has ranged overnight; once located, you spend one full, unhurried hour in their presence — silverbacks resting, juveniles tumbling through the vegetation, mothers nursing infants just metres away. Descend to your lodge for a celebratory lunch and a restful afternoon on the terrace overlooking the volcanoes.
After a leisurely breakfast you depart south for Lake Kivu, tracing a scenic road through the Congo-Nile Divide ridgeline with sweeping views over tea estates and the distant shimmer of the lake below. Arrive at the lakeside town of Kibuye (Karongi) or Rubavu (Gisenyi) by early afternoon and check in to a waterfront lodge perched above the cobalt-blue water. The afternoon is yours — explore the lakeshore by foot, sip Rwandan coffee on a jetty, or simply decompress with the volcanic silhouette of Nyiragongo across the border glowing on the horizon at dusk.
Rise for a morning boat excursion across Lake Kivu's sheltered bays, passing fishing pirogues and verdant islands where birds call from stands of papyrus and fig. Back at the lodge by mid-morning, you pack and begin the cross-border drive south via the Cyanika or Katuna border post — a well-managed crossing that your guide navigates smoothly. The road then winds northward into Uganda's hills, with the dense green wall of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest materialising as the light softens into late afternoon. A bush dinner at your Bwindi lodge, with forest sounds filling the night air, sets the stage for tomorrow's trek.
This is Bwindi — raw, ancient, and magnificent. The 7:00 am briefing at the UWA trailhead is followed by a descent into the impenetrable forest itself, where the canopy closes overhead and the ground becomes a tangle of roots, vines, and centuries of decomposing leaves. Your tracker team uses radio contact with habituators who have followed the family since dawn; once you reach them, the one-hour encounter in this primeval setting feels categorically different from any other wildlife experience on earth — gorillas inches away, the forest pressing in, time suspended. Return to your lodge for a celebratory afternoon and optional nature walk along forest-edge trails alive with L'Hoest's monkeys and over 350 bird species.
Spend a relaxed morning with an optional community walk through the Buhoma or Nkuringo villages bordering the park, meeting Batwa cultural guides and artisans whose ancestors lived inside the forest for millennia. After lunch begin the return drive to Kigali via the Katuna or Cyanika border, re-entering Rwanda's rolling green hills as the afternoon unfolds. Your guide stops at a scenic ridge viewpoint for a final panorama before the city lights of Kigali appear in the valley below. Check in to your Kigali hotel for a farewell dinner celebrating two extraordinary gorilla encounters.
After a final breakfast your guide transfers you to Kigali International Airport for your onward flight. If time permits before your departure, the Kigali Genocide Memorial — a profound and beautifully curated site — offers a moving way to understand Rwanda's remarkable journey from tragedy to one of Africa's most organised and forward-looking nations. Your driver will plan the morning around your flight time to ensure a relaxed, unhurried send-off.
This price is for the tour/adventure only. International & domestic flights and hotels are not included — we'll gladly suggest trusted options that you book directly.
Photo: Brihaspati / CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
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