Batwa Heritage Trail & the Kigezi Highlands
The Batwa lived in these forests as hunter-gatherers long before they were parks, and were moved out of them in 1991. This trail is theirs, guided by Batwa men and women from the settlements on the Mgahinga boundary, along the paths and shelters they used, ending underground at Garama Cave.
- Duration
- 3 Days / 2 Nights
- Group size
- 2-8 people
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Best time
- Jun-Sep & Dec-Feb (drier ground underfoot)
- Ideal for
- Travellers who want the forest’s human history
- Destination
- Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Your Journey, Day by Day
- 1Day 1 of 3
Kampala to Kisoro
The long drive southwest, 9-10 hours through Mbarara and up into the Kigezi highlands, where the hills are terraced to the ridgeline and every metre of soil is worked. Kisoro sits in a bowl at the very bottom corner of the country, with Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC meeting a few kilometres away and the Virunga chain filling the skyline: Muhabura at 4,127m, Gahinga and Sabyinyo beside it. Arrive in the late afternoon for an early dinner and a briefing on the walk ahead.
Kigezi terraced highlandsVirunga volcano skylineArrival briefingMeals:Lunch, DinnerOvernight:Kisoro / Mgahinga area lodge - 2Day 2 of 3
The Batwa Trail & Garama Cave
Mgahinga is Uganda’s smallest national park, about 34 square kilometres of forest and bamboo running up the flanks of three volcanoes, and the Batwa were living in it until it was gazetted in 1991. They were moved out without land rights recognised and with almost no compensation, and most have been landless since. The trail is the community’s own account of that. Batwa guides walk you through the forest they came from, showing rather than describing: how a fire is started, which plants were food and which were medicine, how a bow was made and what it was used on. It ends underground in Garama Cave, a lava tube beneath a hill at the park’s edge that served as a refuge, where the women sing. It is a long morning on steep ground at around 2,400 metres. The afternoon is deliberately quiet: down to Lake Mutanda, whose islands and flooded inlets sit directly beneath the volcanoes, by dugout or on foot along the shore.
Batwa-guided forest walkFire, food, medicine & the bowGarama CaveLake Mutanda afternoonMeals:Breakfast, Lunch, DinnerOvernight:Kisoro / Mgahinga area lodge - 3Day 3 of 3
Kisoro to Kampala via Igongo
North out of the highlands and back through Mbarara, breaking the drive at the Igongo Cultural Centre at Biharwe, a museum of Ankole life, with the cattle at the centre of it, that makes sense of the longhorn herds you have been passing on the roadside all trip. Beside it stands the monument to the solar eclipse recorded here in 1520, which local tradition holds ended a battle on this hill. Then the run north to Kampala or Entebbe, arriving in the evening.
Igongo Cultural CentreAnkole longhorn herdsBiharwe eclipse monumentAirport drop-offMeals:Breakfast, LunchOvernight:Departure
What's Included
- Transport from/to Kampala or Entebbe
- Batwa Trail fees & Batwa community guides
- Lodge accommodation (2 nights)
- Lake Mutanda excursion & Igongo entry
- Meals as specified & bottled water
Not Included
- International flights
- Uganda visa
- Gorilla or golden monkey permits (optional add-on)
- Drinks, tips & personal expenses
