Uganda travel guides

Uganda's dry seasons - roughly December to February and June to August or September - are the best time for its major adventures. Those months bring easier trails and clearer conditions for gorilla trekking in Bwindi, chimpanzee tracking in Kibale, and Rwenzori mountain expeditions, where July and August are the most popular months and book out 4-5 months ahead. Activities run year-round, but the wet seasons mean muddy trails and a higher chance of rain; it is rainforest, so rain gear is needed in every month.

Uganda is one of the world's premier primate destinations. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest shelters roughly half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas, Kibale National Park has the highest primate density in East Africa with around 1,500 chimpanzees among thirteen primate species, and the Rwenzori Mountains - the Mountains of the Moon - hold Africa's third highest peak, 5,109-meter Margherita Peak, along with the continent's last equatorial glaciers outside Kilimanjaro.

A mountain gorilla trekking permit in Bwindi costs 700 US dollars per person, while a standard chimpanzee tracking permit in Kibale has recently been around 250 dollars for foreign non-residents, with the full-day Chimpanzee Habituation Experience around 300 dollars. Permits are capped and peak-season dates sell out months ahead, and the Uganda Wildlife Authority reviews tariffs periodically, so current fees should be confirmed before budgeting. Encounters are tightly managed - one hour with the animals, with minimum ages of 15 for gorillas and 12 for chimpanzees.

Most itineraries start at Entebbe International Airport and travel by road: Kibale is a five- to six-hour drive west via Fort Portal, Kasese below the Rwenzori Mountains is about 5-6 hours, and Bwindi is an 8-10 hour drive or a domestic flight to Kihihi. A typical circuit runs Entebbe to Kibale for chimpanzees, then Queen Elizabeth National Park for game drives, then Bwindi for gorillas - the parks sit close enough that the Rwenzori trailheads are only 2-3 hours from Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Uganda requires a yellow fever vaccination certificate on entry, and visitors should arrange a visa in advance, either an e-visa or the East Africa Tourist Visa. Trekking activities have their own requirements: gorilla and chimpanzee visits are permit-based, guided activities run by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, with enforced distance rules and mandatory masks during chimpanzee viewing, and visitors who are ill are asked not to track because human respiratory infections endanger the animals.