Gorilla tracking in Uganda: a typical day

It’s one of the world’s greatest travel experiences – but what to expect when you’re gorilla trekking in Uganda? Primatologist Ian Redmond OBE describes a typical day

Ian Redmond

19 January 2016

Tap, tap, tap… “Wake up! Time to go gorilla tracking!”

“But it’s not even light yet!”

Whether you’ve been sleeping soundly or awake half the night in nervous anticipation, gorilla visits require an early breakfast.

You should arrive at the park HQ by 7am to check your permits are in order. Once assigned to a gorilla group (it is sometimes possible to choose the closest, biggest or highest, depending on preference), your guide will begin a detailed briefing.

A short drive to the closest part of the park boundary and a walk through fields often precedes stepping into the shade of the forest (though in Bwindi some lodges are close to the forest). There’s another briefing – and a chance for anyone showing symptoms of a cold to own up and go back. Illnesses can be passed from humans to animals, so this is a legitimate concern. Own up now and you’ll get a refund; if you persist, and then show symptoms, you’ll be escorted out of the park with no refund.

Birders will be excited by some of the rare endemics, and you’ll see tracks of buffalo and forest antelope, though the chances of seeing other mammals are slim. With luck you might pass a nest site, where each gorilla over the age of four has built a structure like a giant bird’s nest to pass the night. Then you are hot on the trail – to check how hot, touch the back of your hand to the next gorilla dung you see; if it’s warm, you’re close.