By Cammie Akins, Vice President of Caradonna Adventures
“Are you nervous or scared?” Friends repeatedly asked this question repeatedly when I told them of my upcoming plans to see mountain gorillas in the wild. After all, a full-grown silverback male gorilla can stand 6 feet tall, weigh up to 700 pounds and have the strength of ten men... and did I mention there would be no bars or cages between us? But when the long-anticipated moment of contact finally became a reality, there was no sense of fear or anxiety — only awe and delight.
Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Forest preserve is home to half of the world's population of mountain gorillas. Each year a limited number of visitors are permitted to enter the preserve for guided encounters with the world's largest primates. My chance came in the spring of 2024 when I joined a tour organized by Caradonna Adventures.
I read and studied everything I could find on the experience for months leading up to the departure. What to pack, what to wear, what about the weather? Based on internet advice, I opted for a sturdy pair of walking shoes paired with gaiters, long pants and long-sleeved shirts, all tucked in for protection from the elements, branches and insects. And though I was visiting on the cusp of the dry season, I learned that this is a relative term, as the Bwindi preserve has a chance of rain at any time of the year. So a light rain jacket was also in order.
The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is located in the far southwestern corner of Uganda on a shared border with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's possible to take a commuter flight to an airstrip that is just a few miles from the preserve. I chose a connection from Nairobi to the historic city of Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria. From there, an overland drive of 300 miles gave me time to linger and take in more of the Ugandan countryside.
On arrival at the forest reserve I checked in the Volcanoes Bwindi Lodge, which is perched on the side of a mountain with bungalow-style rooms stair-steeping down the slope. Rooms at the lodge are named after gorillas found in the preserve. I stayed in the Mama Bwindi Room, which had a separate living room, a bedroom with four-poster bed, a deck providing sweeping views of the river valley below — and a fireplace. Evenings can get chilly in the mountains, and the hotel staff will build a fire on request.
A gorilla trekking and adventure involves quite a few variables. The forest's 17 known families of mountain gorillas move about, and you won't know which family you will be searching for until the morning of your adventure. Your daily trek could be anywhere from 2 to 7 hours, because the gorillas might be anywhere – in the trees, hidden in dense overgrowth or right out in the open and easy to observe. That's all part of the adventure.
Our group had excellent luck. We had a very short hike and were accompanied by accommodating porters who assisted with our camera bags and backpacks. The family we encountered was large, not terribly far in the jungle and located in an ideal viewing area.
Like most mountain gorilla families, this group included several females and their juvenile offspring, several lesser males and the silverback alpha male of the family. There was nothing terrifying about my long-anticipated meeting with “the big guy,” as he spent most our encounter dozing comfortably in the shade. The highlight of our visit was a four-month-old baby named Kajeme. Cute, tiny and unrelentingly inquisitive, he crawled all over his poor mom who was trying to rest, grabbed at vines and moved among the family members in search of a willing playmate.
While the gorilla families are the star attraction in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, there is much more to discover in this vast 80,000 acre nature preserve. On the following day we set out on a four-hour trek to view chimpanzees in the wild. Along the way our guides pointed out a variety of different plants, trees and birds. The reserve protects the most bio-diverse forests of eastern Africa, including more than 200 different tree types that provide habitat for some 350 species of birds. Highland glades and thickets within the preserve are home to elephants, buffaloes, duiker antelope, chimpanzees, golden cats, giant forest hogs, jackals and cat-like civets.
My forest trek was the highlight of my time in Uganda, but far from the only reason to visit. Memorable opportunities include trekking with chimps in Kibale, boat cruises on Lake Victoria, Murchison Falls, the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and game parks offering drive tours to view elephants, tree-climbing lions, giraffes, zebras, rock cape buffaloes, leopards and more.
An especially enticing option for divers is a combined land and sea adventure. Caradonna offers a variety of African dive excursions (Africa Guide) in the waters of South Africa and Mozambique, taking in everything from kelp forests and sharks to pristine coral reefs, manta rays and the famous sardine run. Caradonna's experienced agents (www.caradonna.com) can provide full details on these and other exceptional diving and travel adventures.