Mgahinga Gorillas & Golden Monkeys

Your Journey, Day by Day

1. 1Day 1 of 3

   Kampala to Kisoro (Mgahinga)

   The drive south-west to Kisoro in the Virunga foothills, 8-9 hours through Mbarara and Kabale, or a short scheduled flight to Kisoro airstrip if you would rather keep the day. The final stretch is the finest road in Uganda, switchbacking down the Kanaba Gap with the three volcanoes ahead of you: Muhabura at 4,127m, sharp-toothed Sabyinyo on the point where Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC meet, and squat Gahinga between them. You arrive for evening views across the saddle and the trek briefing.

   Kanaba Gap descentMuhabura, Gahinga & SabyinyoThree-country viewpointOptional fly-in
   Meals:Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Mgahinga / Kisoro lodge
2. 2Day 2 of 3

   Gorilla Trekking, Nyakagezi Group

   Report to the park headquarters at Ntebeko for the briefing, then climb through farmland into the bamboo zone that skirts the volcanoes. The quarry is the Nyakagezi group, Mgahinga’s only habituated family, and a famously mobile one, known to cross into Rwanda and the DRC and back again, which is why permits here sell in smaller numbers than at Bwindi. The reward is a trek on open volcanic slopes rather than in dense forest: better light, longer views, and usually far fewer people on the mountain. You have the same permitted hour with the family and leave with a tracking certificate. The afternoon is free for the optional Batwa Trail, which ends in the Garama Cave the community once used as a refuge.

   Nyakagezi gorilla groupOne hour with the gorillasTracking certificateOptional Batwa Trail
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Mgahinga / Kisoro lodge
3. 3Day 3 of 3

   Golden Monkey Tracking & Return

   A morning after the golden monkeys, a bright chestnut-and-gold guenon found nowhere on earth but the Virunga volcanoes, and endangered. They travel in troops of dozens through the bamboo, so this is a shorter, easier 2-3 hour trek than the gorillas, and a far busier one to watch: constant movement, constant noise, and the best photography of the trip. Back for a late breakfast, then the long return drive to Kampala or Entebbe, or the flight out of Kisoro, which turns a full day on the road into an hour in the air.

   Golden monkey trackingVirunga-endemic speciesBamboo zone trekReturn drive or fly-out
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch

   Overnight:Departure