Gorilla trekking has been on many travelers' African bucket lists for a very long time. For anyone traveling this far and wanting to experience this once-in-a-lifetime wildlife encounter, choosing your accommodation is really important. Dream of going gorilla trekking and staying in one of the coolest jungle hotels?
Situated high on a flat ridge in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in a private concession, Gorilla Forest Lodge, an A&K Sanctuary perfectly combines remote beauty with luxury and style. With only eight tents situated under the forest canopy, you will enjoy a peaceful stay with maximum privacy and intimacy. Conveniently located within walking distance of the gorilla trekking departure point this luxury lodge offer tents located within the forest along with plenty of extras like a curio shop and spa.
Let's delve into a detailed review of Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp, highlighting its accommodations, the gorilla trekking experience, community engagement, and overall ambiance.
Mountain Gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Accommodations and Amenities
With only a total of 8 tents, you never feel like you are in a large resort. The experience is much more intimate. The tents are sturdy, with wooden floors and offer a spacious, comfortable base from which to enjoy the forest. Each tent looks straight out into the jungle’s canopy and features two queen-sized beds with headboards carved by Ugandan artisans.
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Because you’re in the middle of the jungle, the rooms are quite simple yet comfortable. The rooms also come with bath salts, toiletries, and robes. However, if you do want to be on your phone, each tent has Wi-Fi that works really well.
You’re woken up every morning with a soft knock on the door and coffee or tea. You don’t have to deal with loud alarms. One morning we woke up and there were monkeys all over the trees around us. Some were even laying on the porch so you’re truly in the wild.
The property is super comfortable and they’ve got a small spa, which was lovely since we traveled so far. The central cottage offers a spacious, comfortable lounge area in which to relax on cooler evenings while you enjoy a drink from the well-stocked bar. Enjoy your meals either in the dining room overlooking the rain forest or on a raised natural platform under the Africa stars.
The Gorilla Trekking Experience
The gorilla trekking is located in the Bwindi National Impenetrable Forest. So at any time of year, you can anticipate some amount of rain. We visited during the tail end of the dry season and got gorgeous, sunny weather on the day of our gorilla trekking. But we also got a taste of the misty rainforest on one, particularly rainy day.
Sanctuary is located inside Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and is within walking distance from the meeting point for the trekking. In terms of the activities, it was great because we could book everything with the property so they helped us secure the trekking permits for the gorillas. This is helpful because they’re very limited. They also have extra gear so we borrowed (at no cost) a backpack and a walking stick. If you need gloves or any other piece of gear, they had them, which is a really lovely touch.
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The day of the trekking, your Sanctuary Retreats host will drive you to the trekking center where you’ll be brief and assigned your gorilla family. Then you’ll be driven to the start of the trek. If you’re going trekking, the property organizes a packed lunch for your trek. Breakfast is a buffet bar where you can get all sorts of tasty foods including eggs made to order. Lunch and dinner are rotating menus but you always get a choice of a starter, a main, and a dessert.
Upon arrival, our host sat us down the night before trekking to go over everything we needed to know so that we felt prepared. I think he took about an hour explaining it all to us, which I really appreciated, so we could really be present and in the moment during the actual experience. Some people will do one or two days of trekking. As I mentioned, we decided to get permits for a single day of gorilla trekking.
Gorilla Trekking In Uganda, FACE TO FACE with Wild Gorillas in Uganda!
There are only three places in the world where you can actually trek with mountain gorillas-Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To add to the adventure of going to see the gorillas, permits for trekking are also quite limited. This is a good thing, though!
Community Engagement and Activities
While gorilla trekking is the highlight of Bwindi, there are plenty of things to do and see within the local community and beyond! After trekking, we spent the day visiting the local community. Depending on your level of interest, the Community Walk can take anywhere from about 3-5 hours. We asked Okech, what he would suggest for the next day, and he suggested the Buhema Community Village walk. It was fantastic, all the things we had seen passing by on the roads, we could now see on foot, and our guide answered all our queries.
You’ll start by walking up through the community so you’ll get to see different types of banana trees and some coffee plantations. We got to learn how they create their millet bread, weave baskets, and make banana juice and beer. Our last stop was the local hospital. You can see how much infrastructure they have for being in such a remote part of Uganda and how much good they’re doing.
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Essentially, with the Batwa, once the rainforest became protected land, nobody was allowed in the rainforest. So they were basically forced out of their home which is the only place they had lived for generations. The bicycle repair shop imports bicycles and teaches women the mechanics of repairing them, so they can sell them to the community. And then Ride 4 a Woman, is a foundation for employing women to create local handicrafts.
We finished off the day by asking our guide to take us into town so I could get some street food and then we popped into a local bar to grab a beer with her and the locals, just to kind of see what daily life was like.
Community Walk in Uganda
Exceptional Service and Staff
As usual the staff and accommodations were first rate but I do have to single out Elii. He is the epitome of Sanctuary staff. He was always there when we needed something from bringing us a cheese and fruit platter because we had missed lunch, which we mistakenly left on our deck and was promptly finished off by the local monkeys, to figuring out why Jan’s phone wouldn’t connect to the internet. He knew what we ate for breakfast and what wines we wanted with dinner.
Planning Your Visit
The easiest way to get to the camp is to take a plane from Entebbe to Kihihi. There’s an airstrip located about 1.5 hours from the property and Bwindi. They will pick you up from the airstrip and will stay with you for the remainder of your stay. He drove us to our activities and would brief us daily.
Sanctuary’s rates correspond to the different seasons of the year. The rainier season will be the least expensive time to stay at Sanctuary, and the peak tourism season will be the most expensive.
Seasons and Rates:
| Season | Rate |
|---|---|
| Rainier Season | Least Expensive |
| Peak Tourism Season | Most Expensive |
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tags: #Uganda
