10 Day Rwenzori Mountain Climbing + Gorillas & Wildlife Trip
Overview
Combine a three Days of Rwenzori Mountain Climbing, hiking & Trekking with Chimpanzee Trekking, Kibale National Park, Gorilla Trekking Bwindi/Mgahinga gorilla national park & Wildlife Safari, Queen Elizabeth National Park.
You start in Entebbe/Kampala Uganda & end in Kigali, Rwanda with a visit to the kigali genocide museum, a 1994 Rwandan genocide against Tutsi remembrance place.
Included/Excluded
- 1X Uganda Gorilla Trekking Permit
- 3 Days Rwenzori Trekking
- Rwenzori Park entrance fees
- 1X Chimpanzee Trekking Permit
- 1X Golden Monkey Trekking Permit
- Services of English speaking guide driver
- Accommodation listed on the itinerary or similar
- Meals (9 breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners)
- Park entrance fees QE
- Boat cruise Trip QE
- Cross countries transfers in a standard 4X4 Safari van among others
- Price excludes all other things of personal nature like the bar bills, visas, gratitudes, personal insurance, porter hire among others
Tour Plan
Day 1; Kampala/Entebbe transfer to Kibale Forest National Park
From your residence in Entebbe, your guide driver meets you, shortly after safari briefing transfer to Kibale Forest National Park. The drive through the tea estates and farmland gives you a glimpse of Uganda's beauty. In afternoon you will do the Bigodi wetlands Community walk. Overnight at Kibale Forest Lodge or similar
Day 2; Chimpanzee Trekking, Kibale National Park transfer to Rwenzori National Park
After an early morning breakfast, transfer to Kanyanchu visitors centre. At Kanyanchu, you will meet with a senior ranger guide who will lead the hike in the forest with searching for a family of Chimpanzees. When you find them, you're permitted to be with them for an hour. Afterwards return back to the starting point for issuance of Trekking certificate. After this amazing adventure transfer to rwenzori Mountains National Park a head of your Rwenzori Mountain hiking & trekking adventure. Overnight at Trekkers hostel.
Day 3; day 1 of Rwenzori Mountain Hiking, Climbing and Trekking.
Start at Trekkers at 1,450 meters and sleep at Sine Hut at 2,596 meters being a height gain of 1,146 meters, or those who are fit and want to proceed to Kalalama Camp at 3,134 metres may do so and apart from the fantastic views of both the cliffs above and views across the lowlands, Kasese town and across Lake Edward in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Start by walking up the valley floor through tall forest trees of the Afro Montane Forest Zone. This is a steady climb for the first six kilometres then after crossing a river it is a steep climb up to Sine Camp. The forest trees are tall with multitudes of birds and a chance of seeing blue monkeys scampering off through the forest. Enock’s Falls are just 200 meters from Sine Hut and offer a splendid opportunity to capture a great screensaver for your memories as brightly clouded green lichen grow on the many lives hanging from the trees with the waterfall as a background.
At Sine Camp 2,596 metres there’s a wooden huts set between tall forest trees on a narrow ridge where you may sit and enjoy the beauty forest while you look down at a long set of rapids and waterfall crashing over the rocks. Some clients prefer to sit outside enjoying the warmth of the campfire and chat with guides about the mountains and life in their community. Sine is bottom edge of the bamboo zone and the area around has many different bird species. 150 meters from the camp is Enock falls which is set in livid green vegetation and hanging vine. Truly beautiful.
During the afternoon you may wish to walk down to Enocks falls where there is many swinging vines covered with bright green lichen and mosses. You may decide to continue down the forest trail about a kilometres to see more of the swinging vines and absorb the beautiful environment before returning to Sine Camp for the night.
Overnight is planned at Sine Camp, or those who are fit and want to proceed to Kalalama Camp at 3,134 metres may do so and experience spectacular views.
Day 4; Day 2 of Rwenzori Mountain Hiking, Climbing and Trekking
From Sine Camp start by climbing up through the bamboo forests which is quite steep but very beautiful and inspiring. AS you climb through the upper part of the bamboo zone there is small patches of mixed forest trees many of which bear fruit and berries and atracts many different types of birds.
You will hear the calls of the Rwenzori Turaco bird which has bright red or crimson wings and a magnificent sight as they fly between trees also during the drier season the female Malicite Sunbird comes down the mountain to feed on nectar producing flowers before heading back to the high altitudes to mate and rear their young. At about 3,000 metres altitude you reach the Heather zone where the Giant Heather trees reach 15 metres in height and are truly magnificent.
At 3,147 metres you find Kalalama Camp which is an alternative to sleeping at Sine camp and has spectacular views. Here you stop for a quick snack and where you have the option to climb further up the mountain towards Mutinda Peaks for about 2km and where you can see the beautiful Giant Lobelia plants and floweres in a vast peat bog. After which you return to Kalalama Camp for lunch before crossing to Samalira Camp at 3,170 metres for the night.
The walk across to Samalira Camp is more or less level as it cuts across the high ridge covered woth Giant Heather trees and an incrediable atmosphere particually in ther fog as you cross beautiful streams which then drop over the edge and away. A beautiful experience indeed!!
At Samalira Camp the dinning hut is perched on the side of the gorge and where you look down on two of the five waterfalls while you enjoy your meal or cup of tea. After a break you can walk down a trail to the base of the waterfalls and look up to see the water tumbling over the falls though the Giant Heather trees. A trully magnificent sight. You may also take a short walk above the camp, although steep up a narrow ridge where the ground and rocks covered with bright green moss and you look down on the camp
Day 5; Day 3 of Rwenzori Mountain Hiking, Climbing & Trekking followed with a transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
In the morning you descend down through the bamboo forests with fantastic views across the lower hills and valleys to Forest View Camp where you have lunch or a small snack before descending down through the Afro Montane Forest Zone with many birds and primates. At the bottom of the steeper descent you reach Nyamwamba Camp where you may rest again before walking out the final 6km to the park entrance and onwards to Queen Elizabeth National Park ending the 3 Days of Rwenzori Mountain Hiking, climbing & Trekking. Overnight at Bush Lodge or similar.
Day 6; Game Drive & Boat Cruise Safari, Queen Elizabeth National Park.
An early morning breakfast will be followed by a transfer to Kasenyi for a game drive. Kasenyi plains with highest concentration of prey attracts predators and which creates chances to encounter some of the big cats present in Queen Elizabeth National park while on this game drive adventure. In the afternoon participate on the boat cruise at Kazinga Channel that connects lake Edward and Lake George. During the two hours boat cruise safari, a lot of aquatic, semiaquatic, terrestrial & birdlife will be encountered marking the greatest day in Queen Elizabeth National park. Overnight at Bush Lodge or similar.
Day 7; Queen Elizabeth National Park transfer to Bwindi Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
After a leisurely morning breakfast transfer to Bwindi Mgahinga Gorilla National Park a head of uganda gorilla trekking adventure. Overnight at Travelers Rest Hotel or similar.
Day 8; Uganda Gorilla Trekking Bwindi/Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
After an early morning breakfast, transfer to the ranger station for Gorilla Trekking Briefing on dos and don’ts while you will be interacting with gorillas, afterwards you will be accompanied by a senior ranger guide & hike into the forest in search of gorillas. Once you find them, you will be allowed to stay with them for an hour & After the experience return back to the lodge. Overnight at Travelers Rest Hotel or similar
Day 9; Golden Monkey Trekking Transfer to Kigali, Rwanda.
After an early morning breakfast, transfer to Ntebeko Mgahinga Gorilla National Park for golden monkey trekking. After the golden monkey trekking experience, transfer to Kigali, Rwanda. Overnight at Hotel Des Melli Collines or similar.
Day 10; Kigali Rwanda Transfer to the airport for Departure
A leisurely morning breakfast, visit the kigali genocide museum to pay your last respect to the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide against Tutsi and depending on your outbound flight, this will be followed by a transfer to the airport targeting for your outbound flight marking the end of your trip.
Request Quote
Communication via WhatsApp to make arrangements went very smooth with Aron being quick and clear in his responses.
Aron drove us most of the time, but we also had a ride with driver Barnice. Every time they were in time, most of the times even early to make sure we could leave whenever we wanted. The service was more than just a private taxi service: Aron told us many interesting things about Uganda and let us taste some local food. That really made our trip more colourful and interesting.They know a lot of good places all over the country, like restaurants and accomodation. Although we organized our trip by ourselves, that was still an advantage. Above that, Aron uses his business in Uganda to help other Ugandans as well.
We would definitely recommend to travel with Safari 2 Gorilla Tours.
Jon Peters
USA
In my iniitial email to him I had explained that I'm Kenyan and would be travelling to Rwanda from Nairobi, Kenya. As an east African citizen I thought this information was useful in terms of national park fees and so on; little did I know that it would affect my whole Gorilla trek experience.
I'd settled the balance of my invoice in November 2019 and Aron emailed to confirm full payment. I never heard from Aron again except when I emailed him to find out the arrangements for when I arrived in Rwanda. At the time I didn't think much of it as I'd read so many glowing reviews of Aron and his tour company; his attentive nature, professionalism and general good nature. A fortnight or so before my arrival I'd still not heard from him so I emailed to find out the itinerary for when I arrived in Rwanda - nothing. Just a curt response confirming that he had the number for my hotel and presumably (Aron did not confirm) that he would call me at my hotel to arrange a time to pick me up from my hotel.
I arrived at the hotel, following a 10 hour flight from London on Friday, 24 January to find there was no message was left by Aron advising when I'd be picked up the following day. On Saturday, 25 January at about 9 am the receptionist knocked on my door to inform me that a driver had arrived to pick me up and drive me to Uganda. As I'd not had any advance information of this arrangement I was not ready; i hadn't showered or eaten breakfast. And so we did not set off until gone 10 am. This was the first poor service i'd received.
I'd paid for a 3-day Gorilla trek etc which included on the first day a visit to the Rwanda Genocide memorial. When the driver set off we'd been driving and passed a sign to the memorial site, after almost an hour I asked if we were still going to the memoial site, and only then did the driver inform me that due to the late departure he had decided to postpone the visit to the memorial until the return leg of my three day trip. The second poor service i'd received.
Bwindi national park is in Uganda and so I was driven through Rwanda to Uganda via a land border, an eight hour journey that ordinarily shouldn't have taken that long. The third poor service.
During the drive Aron maintained constant communication with the driver - whose name escapes me - and not once did he ask the driver to pass the phone to me so that he could speak to me. By that I mean even welcoming me, asking me how my trip was, finding out if there was anything I needed, any issues or problems with the trip I'd paid for. The fourth poor service I received
When we arrived at Rushaga camp each visitor at dinner was assigned a table with the name of their guide on it; stupidly I immediately thought Ohhh so Aron had sent a driver to pick me up from Rwanda and that now I was going to meet him! How wrong i was. When i sat down expecting to meet Aron who should turn up? but the driver! Cheekily I asked if he was Aron and offended he curtly replied no!. When i asked what happend to Aron he informed me that Aron had been in constant communication throughout the day! When I asked why Aron hadn't even said hello or welcomed me he just said that Aron was on another tour. At that moment I realised what was happening and why. In Aron's eyes I was a black African tourist that yes, had paid for the same service and support that my white counterparts had received but due to his low perception of me and fellow black Africans I did not warrant the same service, attention, or even respect. I did not speak to the driver again for the rest of the evening. I was surrounded by fellow travellers that were accompanied by guides who made them feel welcome, valued and respected; they sat together sharing stories from their travels whilst I and the driver sat silently. Even as I tried to get the driver to understand how insulted and disrespected I felt he just didn't get it. A part of me feels if i was white he wouldn't have found it so hard understanding how poorly I'd been treated. But as a black African what reason did I have to complain? The fifth poor service I'd received
On the second day i was due to visit Mgahinga national park almost a two hour drive away. As debrief started at 8 am we arranged to leave Rushaga Gorilla camp by 6 am; arranging to meet for breakfast at 05:30 am. 06:00 am the driver was nowhere to be found. Finally at 06:30 he appears in the dinning room feigning an alarm malfunction. I had to demand an apology from him. The sixth poor service i'd received.
We arrived at the national park at 08:25. I was the only black tourist and when I asked the guide to summarise the debrief he audibly commented that as I'd arrived late he'd not be able to repeat it for me. Cynically I felt that If I was white he'd problably have ignored the fact that the driver had got me to the debrief late and still gone through the key points. The seventh poor sevice I'd received.
I could go on and on but I won't. I think you get the gist. I never once spoke to Aron, met him or communicated with him during my time in Rwanda and Uganda. I left Rwanda on Tuesday, 28 January 2020 and have delayed posting this review until now to see whether or not I'd hear from Aron. I haven't and I know I never will.
I would never recommend this company to anyone regardless of who you are. I pity and despise racists and would never support a business that openly discriminates against black Africans.
Would absolutely recommend Safari 2 Gorilla Tours! Thanks Aaron and Martin for an unforgetable trip!
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Makanga Hill,
P.O.BOX 568 Kabale