4 Day Gorilla & Chimp Safari
Day 1
Picked up from our hotel promptly at 7am. 10 hour drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Interesting to see all the agriculture of Uganda, very good tarmac road until the last hour when it becomes very bumpy. Stayed at the Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge which was excellent. It’s in a beautiful setting close to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The staff are extremely helpful and the food is really outstanding. For more information on Bwindi and the gorillas click on the button.
Day 2
Up at 6am to drive to the start of the trek. How long you have to walk depends on where the gorillas are. In our case we walked for one hour, whereas my son had to walk for 4 hours when he came here. Our party was just us and one other tourist along with the guide, two guards with guns (not for the gorillas but in case we encountered elephants when they would then have shot into the air to scare them off) and our porter. The walk is quite strenuous – steep in places so a level of fitness is required but not to an extreme level. We are both in our 60’s and keep active but we are not super fit; we were certainly grateful to have a porter
We had opted for the 4 hour habituation and it was magical. We saw a family of 9 gorillas with a silverback, a few males and the rest females, with some adolescents.It is hard to describe how majestic they were to see so close up. The immense power of the silverback was magnificent but this was also coupled with the most peaceful and serene presence which was spiritual to witness. Second night in the lovely Ichumbi Lodge.
Day 3
Another early start to set off for Kibale National park. This is a 7 hour drive again on good roads. Stayed at Chimpanzee Forest Lodge. This was also in an idyllic spot and surrounded by a farm growing bananas, pineapples avocado and tea. Staff were excellent and the food was good, but not as good as Ichumbi. For more information on Kibale click here
Day 4
Left for the chimpanzees at around 7am. At Kibale National Park there are many people going on the chimpanzee walk. You are split into groups of about 8 and set off into the forest. Like the gorillas you walk until you find the troop. In our case this took just under an hour but it is a much easier walk than for the gorillas. Then all the groups tend to converge so there are quite a few people looking at all the chimps. Having said that they are great – very animated and with wonderful expressions and like the gorillas you get very close to them. Overall you are with the chimps for about 90 minutes. We then returned to our lodge for lunch then drove back to Kampala which again takes about 7 hours.
We then stayed another day in Kampala in the Latitude 0° hotel.
This was a peaceful hotel beautifully decorated and with two pools and three restaurant we were very happy to enjoy a day of relaxation here. We had planned to visit Kampala but the rainy season had started and we decided to have a leisurely day in the hotel.
The trip was truly magical and seeing both the gorillas and chimps is something I will never forget. Travelling to the various camps also gave a great insight into the lives of the Ugandans. The scenery in some parts was stunning and the incredible range of agriculture was fascinating with huge banana plantations and pineapple groves. However there was a lot of time spent in the car – 27 hours throughout the 4 days which was a lot. It is possible to fly from Entebbe to Kisoro airstrip (90 minute transfer to Bwindi) or Kihihi (3.5 hours transfer). Therefore, if I was doing the trip again I would ask Insight Safaris to arrange for me to fly to Bwindi to start my trip. I would still have been able to enjoy the wonderful scenery and cultural experience of driving back across Uganda and it would significantly reduce the time spent in the car
Cost of holiday
The cost of safari which included all travel in a private 4×4, accommodation, all meals and permits to see the gorillas and chimpanzees for the two of us was $5252
Tipping
The safari is full board so apart from drinks there is very little to spend money on apart from tips. These can be paid in local currency but the preferred currency is US dollars.
The gorilla safari has a number of people involved that you are expected to tip. It was hard to find the going rate for this so for what it is worth this is what I did for both of us.
$20 for the guide
$5 each to the three trackers
$3 each to the two armed guards that accompany you on the trip
The guide, trackers and guards are all employed by the national parks and this payment is a tip on top of their salary.
We also had a porter and he is not employed and is chosen each day by the guide from a group of assembled men and so your payment for the day is his wage and were told by the guide to give him $20.
Our driver in this trip was just a driver and not a guide (like when you are on safari In Tanzania) and we decided to give him $10 a day for both of us ie $40 for the trip.
When we saw the chimps we had just one guide and we paid him $20 for the two of us
A tip at each camp was also expected. This was made easier as each camp had a tip box at reception. Which meant there was no awkward pauses whenever someone carried your bags for you and you weren’t sure if you were meant to give them a tip or not. We gave $10 a night to each lodge but the amount you gave was confidential as you post it into the box.
Therefore the total cost in tips was $151
Other Costs
Drinks were not included except water. We like a drink but the way the day went it wasn’t really a boozy trip. You always tend to have early starts so one tends to be in bed by 9pm. We had the occasional beer and they were around $2 each.