Adventure Level

Moderate - it can be very hot and humid, which may lead to some discomfort. Camping is often very rustic with few facilities, you will be required to set up your own tent and assist with some camp chores. A cook will prepare all meals. Roads in Uganda are extremely poor in places, so travel can be rough, slow and not particularly comfortable. Trekking to see the gorillas may be extremely arduous or may actually be relatively easy – it just depends on where they are!

Climate

Uganda has an equatorial climate, though the overall altitude of the country moderates temperatures. In most areas daytime temperatures range from around 21ºC – 27ºC though this may increase slightly in the hotter months of December to February. Night-time temperatures drop to around 16ºC in the plains east of Lake Albert though this could be considerably lower in the mountains around Bwindi. Roughly speaking, the wet seasons are from September to November and from March to May though in Western Uganda where we travel, it can rain almost any time of year. For worldwide climate information go to www.weatherbase.com

Display Name

2009 Itinerary

Gorillas

Gorillas, the largest apes in the world, originally inhabited the entire rainforest stretching from the equatorial Atlantic coast to the present-day Ugandan border. Over time the climate dried, the forests receded into pockets and the gorillas became split into three sub-species. The mountain gorillas, found only in two small areas are by far the rarest – there is one mountain gorilla for every ten million people on earth. They are on average, the biggest of the three varieties and have developed longer hair, wider chests and broader jaws than their lowland counterparts.

Genetically, humans and gorillas are very closely related; we share 97% of the same genes. Gorillas live in family groups and whilst all-male groups do exist, the norm is for there to be a dominant male silverback with a harem of females and the assorted offspring and juveniles.
The odd insect and snail aside, gorillas are vegetarians, eating a wide variety of different plant species and an adult male may well eat as much as 20kg of vegetation a day. Surprisingly, due to the high water content of the plants, a gorilla can go for much of the year without drinking, topping up their supply by licking water from their fur during rainstorms and the occasional drink from streams during the dry season.

Moving on average no more than a kilometre a day, it is easy for an experienced guide to track the gorillas from their position the previous day. They tend to rise at daybreak to travel and feed in the morning before settling down for a long midday siesta. They will move off again in the afternoon to find a suitable place to spend the night. Here each individual will build a nest in which to sleep, the unweaned young sleeping with their mothers.

It is a rare privilege and honour to be able to see such magnificent and proud animals in their natural habitat and no one can fail to be awed and elated by the experience. They are however critically endangered and the work done by national parks like Bwindi is essential to their survival.

Local Payment

USD$665 (approx. £331) is payable in cash on arrival in Kampala at the start of the trip. The Local Payment is part of the total price of the trip that is paid by you to the Group Leader or local agent at the start of your holiday. This is in addition to the amount you pay to The Adventure Company when settling your final invoice. The Local Payment must be paid in the specified currency when requested by the Group Leader or local agent, or you will not be permitted to join the trip.

Responsible Travel

Your flight will have the largest environmental impact on your holiday. Climate Care offers you the opportunity to offset your carbon dioxide emissions with set amounts from £5. If you would like to offset the carbon emissions generated by your flight, please go to www.climatecare.org

Since the increase in popularity of bottled water, many countries are experiencing a problem of litter especially where adequate recycling is not available. Please could you try, where possible, to use purification tablets or filters for water or buy bigger bottles of water between group members and decant into your individual water bottles.

For every person travelling on this trip we pay US$5 to Friends of Conservation to help save the rhino.