Seeing the Gorillas
 

My husband and I (babyboomers) would like to see the mountain gorillas in Africa. Is Rwanda the best place? What time of year is best and which adventure/safari travel group do you recommend? Thanks

Well you have come to the right site. Just do a search on "gorillas" and you will find more info and trip reports than you can handle.

My vote is Rwanda over Uganda. I went end of October and it was great. Used a company called R&N Explorer

All these links discuss Uganda vs. Rwanda, what to bring, is it safe, odds of success, and other things.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34890917

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=35013945

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34996773

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34979403

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34941979

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34863680

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34896670

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34909593

Here are weather links. I like June-Aug.

Rwanda
http://www.africaguide.com/country/rwanda/info.htm

Uganda
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/c...ml?tt=TT000750

Operators, that probably are mentioned in the links above: R&N Explorer as Wayne states, Volcano Safaris, Primate,, Travelust, Great Lakes.

Are you thinking of doing more than just gorillas? If so, you could spend a week or two in Uganda. Or add Kenya or Tanzania onto Rwanda.

Then you might consider groups like Wilderness Travel in CA or Mountain Sobek or Natural Habitat. Or you could choose an Africa specialist that would do an East Africa destination along with the gorillas, such as Roy's, Africa Adventure, or Go2Africa.

There are many more outfitters besides the ones mentioned, but these have been used with success by Fodorites.

Good luck!

Lynn has given you all the information you need, and Wayne is correct that this topic gets discussed on this Forum a lot, so doing a search will yield a lot of information for you.

We went to both Rwanda and Uganda and did 2 treks in each, and I am very glad we did. Doing more treks means more chances of different kinds of experiences, as well as more chances of good weather -- even in the "dry" season it can rain heavily in the areas where the gorillas live.

Also, the gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda look different -- and the difference is not subtle! I like them both equally, but many people like the ones in Rwanda better. You can see the way they look on my photo site (www.pbase.com/cwillis/gorillas).

We used Volcanoes Safaris, one of the companies Lynn mentioned, and they were wonderful -- I would highly recommend them.

Let us know if you have some more specific questions after reading the links Lynn gave you. Good luck in planning your trip.

Chris
www.pbase.com/cwillis

Hi Chris,
Can you tell me if you got your visas for Uganda on arrival ? My tour operator likes us to get them beforehand, but I would prefer is possible to get them in Uganda.
Thanks.

No, we got ours in advance from the Ugandan embassy in Washington DC. I believe you can get them on arrival if you fly into Entebbe. However, if you are going into Uganda overland (like driving north into Uganda from Rwanda), I seriously doubt you could get one at the small border crossing near Mgahinga. It is quick and easy to get in advance -- just use a visa service like Travisa.

Chris

Like Chris, I did two treks each in Rwanda and Uganda and enjoyed both. The scenery is different and the drive between Rwanda and Uganda was fanastic. We also used Volcanoes Safaris and the two lodges that they use in each location had spectacular views.

I would recommend that you do as many gorilla treks as you can afford.

I travelled in January and the weather was warm, humid with a small amount of rain. Very muddy.

You could also stay one night between the two in Mgahinga (spelling?) where you could rest or take a golden monkey trek.

Chris,
I just looked at your gallery again and I wanted to say what a nice set of images (birds of the souteast), particularly #1965 (cedar waxwing). aaare you using any noise plug ins? I am using a couple of 40Ds right now but hate to shoot over iso 400 for fear of noise. I'll be adding a 1Ds Mark III as soon as I'm convinced all the focus issues of the 1D Mark III haven't carried over to that model. Once again some really nice images. Sorry to all for appearing to hijack this thread, excuse me.
Cheers-Chuck