Ultimate Gorilla Photo Safari

Day 1: Entebbe, Uganda Arrive in Entebbe and transfer to the Lake Victoria Hotel. If time permits, you may opt to visit the famous Entebbe Botanical Gardens nearby. Established in 1902, the gardens house a diverse plant collection from tropical, sub-tropical and temperate zones. Also home to a wide variety of birds, the gardens offer an excellent introduction to Uganda’s avian species.  Vervet and black-and-white colobus monkeys are commonly spotted here as well. Meet your Expedition Leader at a welcome dinner this evening, where we'll have a full orientation to our gorilla tour.

Kibale | Queen Elizabeth

Days 4 & 5: Kibale / Queen Elizabeth National Park We rise early this morning to track and photograph chimps again, then depart by road for Queen Elizabeth National Park, skirting the Western Rift Valley. On the Kazinga Channel we take a boat ride among the world’s largest concentration of hippos, as well as crocodiles, baboons and myriad birds. The park is also home to lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and antelope, all of which offer exciting photography opportunities. 

Days 7 & 8: Gorilla Trekking Here we discover one of nature travel’s peak experiences, a visit with wild gorillas in their natural habitat. Fewer than 700 mountain gorillas remain in the world, half of them in this preserve. Our safari includes two chances to spend time among the gorillas, maximizing our prospects for amazing photographs, often at very close range. Early in the morning we depart on a trek through the dense rainforest on a quest to locate one of the "habituated" family groups. Our local guides are expert trackers, reading signs of the gorillas’ recent presence in the undergrowth. Finally we hear and see them, and watch, enrapt: they sit in the trees and chew leaves; babies cling to mothers’ backs; juveniles swing from branches; the big male silverback surveys all, including us. It’s hard to tell who is more captivated, them or us! 

Volcanoes

Days 10 & 11: Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park After breakfast, we drive to park headquarters for a briefing from our guides. This area is where Dian Fossey made her groundbreaking studies on mountain gorillas before she was killed in in 1985, and her grave is nearby. Several habituated gorilla families live in the park, and we learn how important our ecotourism presence is to their survival before trekking in search of them. We set out early each morning along paths into the forest, eventually leaving them behind as our trackers follow signs that lead them to the gorillas' current location. The altitude is above 8,200 feet, so while our pace is unhurried, the hike is tiring, lasting from 30 minutes to several hours. But what a reward: our destination is a specific group of habituated gorillas, which have become used to visitors and behave normally, nonchalant to human presence. With a full hour to sit with a gorilla troop, we are able to capture extraordinary photographs.

Day 13: Kigali / Home After breakfast, we’ll take a city tour and visit the Kigali Memorial Center, a deeply moving tribute to the 800,000 people killed in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. This afternoon, our gorilla safari comes to a close as we transfer to the airport for flights home.