5-Day Gorilla and Chimpanzee Trekking in Uganda: Kibale, Bwindi and Lake Bunyonyi

The $2,350 per person figure covers far more than transport. The listing includes both permits, four nights of accommodation, all meals and park fees and taxes. The gorilla permit alone is $800 for foreign non-residents under the Uganda Wildlife Authority tariff, and Kibale chimpanzee tracking is $250 until the end of 2026, so permits account for roughly $1,050 of the price before a single night's lodging.

What is left out is short and predictable: your visa and your international flights. A single-entry Uganda tourist visa costs $50, applied for online.

Cancellation terms

Cancel six or more full days before departure and you get a full refund. Between two and six days out, the refund is 50 percent. Inside two days, nothing.

Note that since 1 March 2026 UWA no longer holds unpaid permit reservations, so the operator pays for permits in full at booking time.

Fitness and health notes

The listing is not recommended for travellers with spinal injuries, pregnant travellers, or those with poor cardiovascular health. You should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness. The gorilla minimum age is 15 under UWA rules, and chimpanzee tracking starts at 12.

Day 1 is a full drive west from Kampala or Entebbe, stopping in Fort Portal for lunch and reaching Kibale in the late afternoon. Kibale Forest National Park holds chimpanzees plus 13 other primate species, the highest primate count of any Ugandan park named in this itinerary. The chimp permit is included in your $2,350, worth $250 for foreign non-residents until the end of 2026, and it rises to $300 from 1 January 2027.

The chimpanzee trek near Kanyanchu

You wake early on day 2 and track chimps near Kanyanchu, which the listing says can take half a day. Along the way you are likely to meet golden monkeys, L'Hoest monkeys, baboons, black and white colobus, grey-cheeked mangabeys, red colobus, blue monkeys and pottos. Forest elephants distinct from the savanna type, giant forest hogs and striking tree species round out the forest.

Bigodi swamp sanctuary in the afternoon

After lunch comes a guided nature walk in the Bigodi swamp sanctuary, a strong site for birders. The listing counts 137 bird species in the area, with the Great Blue Turaco and the Papyrus Gonolek among the easiest to spot, plus a wide range of butterflies. You return to the same lodge for a second night before the long drive south to Bwindi.

Day 3 is the drive from Kibale to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994, with lunch en route. Bwindi covers 321 square kilometres between 1,160 m and 2,607 m above sea level and protects roughly 459 mountain gorillas, almost half the world's remaining population, across 25 habituated groups. Entry is $40 a day for foreign non-residents, already inside your permit on the tracking day.

Briefing and the walk in

On day 4 you drive to the park headquarters early for registration and a briefing on the rules. Rangers allow a maximum of eight visitors per gorilla group per day, and the visit is capped at one hour once you find them. Trekking time varies with where the family sits that morning: the listings in this catalogue quote anywhere from half an hour to three quarters of a day on steep, muddy, slippery trails.

Advance trackers set out early and guide your group by radio.

Rules and the certificate

Keep a 10 m (32.8 ft) distance from the gorillas. No eating, drinking or smoking during the tracking, and no flash photography. Do not trek with a cold or any infectious illness.

Porters can be hired at the trailhead for UGX 40,000 to carry your daypack and help on steep sections. Afterwards you receive a certificate for participating in gorilla trekking, then transfer to Lake Bunyonyi in the afternoon.

Lake Bunyonyi sits between Kabale and the southern Bwindi sectors, and this trip sleeps there after the trek rather than driving straight back. The listing calls it Uganda's deepest lake, dotted with islands. Day 5 opens with a canoeing activity on the lake, with time for photos and meeting local people.

Then comes the long road home. You drive back toward Kampala with lunch en route, and the guide drops you at your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe, or at the airport. Book a late flight if you fly out the same day, since the drive from the Kabale area back to Kampala is long.

For reference, Kampala to Kabale alone is about 414 km of tarmac, roughly 6 hours, and Bwindi sits well beyond that on winding roads.

• Canoe ride on Lake Bunyonyi on the final morning
• Lunch en route on the drive back
• Drop-off in Kampala, Entebbe or at the airport
• For a shorter version of this southern loop, see the 3-Day Bwindi Gorilla Trek with the Batwa Trail and a Lake Bunyonyi Canoe Ride at $2,600

The $2,350 price is the budget tier. The same route and inclusions run in mid-range and luxury versions that cost more, set at booking. All tiers include pickup, permits, meals and the private vehicle.

Here is what the listing names for each night.

The listing also names Ichumbi Lodge, Gorilla Mist Camp and Bunyonyi Rock Resort among mid-range options, and Mahogany Springs Lodge among the luxury set. Exact lodges can vary with availability at booking, and the listing phrases some as and/or similar. Budget travellers should note that the budget tier is what holds the $2,350 figure, so confirm the tier at checkout before paying.

This is a good fit for travellers who want both of Uganda's headline primates in one trip and would rather not book two separate safaris. The private format means your group only, so couples and small groups set their own pace. The budget tier keeps the entry cost at $2,350 with both permits inside, which is competitive once you add up what permits cost on their own.

• Travellers aged 15 and up for the gorilla trek, 12 and up for chimpanzee tracking (adult pricing applies from 13 per the listing)
• People with at least moderate fitness, comfortable with steep forest trails
• Anyone not pregnant and free of spinal or cardiovascular conditions
• Travellers who can spare five days and accept long drives on days 1, 3 and 5

If you are short on time, the 1-day and 2-day options from Kigali are faster but gorilla-only, such as the 2-Day Uganda Gorilla Trek in Bwindi from Kigali, Permit Included at $1,750. If two gorilla treks appeal more than chimps, the 4-Day Double Mountain Gorilla Trekking Safari in Bwindi costs $2,965 per group of up to five.

Against other listings in this catalogue, this trip is the only five-day option under $2,500 that bundles a chimpanzee permit with a gorilla permit. The shorter gorilla-only trips cost less in total but leave out Kibale. The habituation trip runs the same length at nearly double the price.

Figures current for Q4 2026.