The hike begins with a bang: up a steep incline, through a non-native eucalyptus woodland, past tea plantations at 6,200 feet above sea level, then down into dense brush. Once inside Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, we traipse along a narrow path lined with mahoganies and strangler figs, skipping over branches and columns of angry red ants. By the time we see our first gorilla, after two hours of vigorous hiking, I’m ready to sit down on a patch of grass and, to be honest, have a rest – ask the gorillas if they can just hang on a moment so I can catch my breath. But gorillas do not wait. Particularly this group of 17, which is extremely active, and, because there’s another gorilla family nearby, very territorial. As we follow them, clambering up hills and over plants and roots, our guide, Ngabirano Onesmus, hacks away at branches to make way. Suddenly it’s raining gorillas. They’re dashing past us and shuttling up trees, then sliding back down awkwardly. Some rest pensively, gazing into the distance – one resembles Rodin’s The Thinker, his chin gently placed on his hand. Despite my amoeba-like legs, I don’t want to miss a second. My first inclination is to frantically snap photos, but I know I don’t want to see them through a screen. I want to marvel at their human-like movements, as they pick their noses and play with their feet.
This is my first time tracking mountain gorillas in Uganda. I’ve seen them before in Rwanda – most people associate these phenomenal primates with that country. But a 2018 census (results from the most recent, in 2025, haven’t yet been released) revealed that Uganda has almost half the world’s mountain gorilla population: 445 of the 1,021 that are split among three countries. “Rwanda did so well, so Uganda thought, Why not capitalise on it?” says Adielah Misbach, general manager of the Silverback lodge in Bwindi, who came from One&Only Nyungwe House in Rwanda. Uganda is now making a compelling case: new lodges have reopened in Bwindi, and Asilia Africa lands this summer with Erebero Hills, a lodge in 45 acres of reforested land on the northern fringes of Bwindi. Plus, the cost of a permit is almost half that of Rwanda’s – technically visitors can do two days of tracking for the price of one.
