Overview of Safari
The three-day photographic safari will carry you from Uganda’s capital (Kampala) to the country’s smallest national park, which is just 33.7 km2. The park is part of the Virunga volcanoes’ outline, with three volcanoes: Muhavura, Gahinga, and Sabinyo, and it borders Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Virunga National Park in Congo. The surfaced highway travels 524 kilometers from Masaka to Kisoro, passing through Masaka, Mbarara, and Kabale. The park is home to 76 animal species, including threatened mountain gorillas and Golden Monkeys, as well as a diverse bird population. The safari will have an opportunity to interact with gorillas and Batwa who have lived in the park for years and will show how they used to thrive in the wild.
Day 1: Depart for Mgahinga National Park from Kampala.
You will be picked up from your overstay hotel by our driver guide, who will update you on the journey and ensure you are ready for the safari. Then you’ll travel to Mgahinga in southwestern Uganda, passing through Masaka, Lyantonde, Mbarara, and Kabale on the way to Kisoro. You will pause at the equator for the encounter before moving on to Mbarara for lunch. After lunch, you begin your journey to the Kigezi highlands. A twisting drive across hilly terrain riddled with breathtaking terraces connects Kabale and Kisoro.
Day 2: Gorilla tracking and Batwa community experience
Following an early breakfast, our driver will transport you to the Mgahinga National Park headquarters in time for a briefing on the dos and don’ts of gorilla monitoring. Then you’ll be taken to the jungle to look for mountain gorillas, taking a path of trampled and snapped foliage through the mountain to spend an hour with the mountain giants. It takes around 3-4 hours. After monitoring, you will have lunch and then meet the Batwa, who will show hunting, honey collecting, and medicinal plant techniques. They’ll even show you how to create bamboo cups. Guests are welcomed to the holy Garama Cave, which was once a sanctuary for the Batwa, where the women of the village perform a somber song that echoes eerily across the depths of the dark cave, leaving guests with a moving sense of the richness of this vanishing history.
Day 3: Return to Kampala.
After breakfast, you can depart for Kampala, stopping for lunch along the way. If you have a late evening trip, our driver-guide can drop you off at your hotel or the airport.
