The 10 best places to see gorillas in the wild

1. Nigeria

Visitor infrastructure: 3/5
Chance of sighting: 1/5


Cross River gorillas are found only in Cross River State, where the government has invested heavily in tourism infrastructure (for example, the spectacular cable car up to the Obudu Cattle Ranch Hotel). However, the chances of seeing gorillas here are still slim. Their total population now consists of 200 to 300 individuals, spread across an area of 3,000 square miles, which includes Afi Mountain, Mbe Mountain, and the Okwangwo Division of the Cross River National Park. For this reason, scientists are cautious about habituating any.

But visiting the habitat does help to conserve it, and two outstanding primate sanctuaries and reintroduction projects – Pandrillus for drill monkeys and chimpanzees, and Cercopan for numerous monkey species – are based in Calabar.

2. Cameroon

Visitor infrastructure: 2/5
Chance of sighting: 3/5 (western lowland gorillas), 1/5 (Cross River gorillas)

Western lowland male gorilla (Shutterstock)


Cross River gorillas live in the English-speaking part of Cameroon bordering Nigeria, in small pockets of forest that are the focus of a conservation project but with no tourism component yet.

Western lowland gorillas live in the French-speaking part of the country. The WWF is developing ecotourism in Campo-Ma’an National Park in the south-west, but it’s early days so gorilla viewing is not guaranteed.

Limbe Wildlife Centre cares for about 15 western lowland gorilla orphans with a long-term goal – funding permitting – of rehabilitation back into the wild.

More rescued western lowland gorillas – orphans of the illegal bushmeat and wild animal trade – can be seen in forest enclosures at Mefou National Park, located close to the capital city of Yaoundé.

3. Equatorial Guinea

Visitor infrastructure: 1/5


The Monte Alen National Park is a spectacular forested park, and its rugged terrain served to protect it from commercial logging. As yet, there are no habituated western lowland gorillas. The tourism infrastructure is in early stages of development, and trained locals have started to conduct guided day treks.

4. Gabon

Visitor infrastructure: 3/5
Chance of sighting: 3/5

Western lowland male gorilla, Gabon (Shutterstock)


Gabon made a bold bid to diversify its economy by creating 13 national parks in 2002, most of them containing gorilla habitat. The western lowland gorilla habituation programme at the Mikongo Conservation Centre in Lopé National Park was terminated in 2010. But although visitors are no longer taken on specific gorilla-spotting treks, visitors can still see them while looking for other wildlife.

Moukalaba-Doudou National Park has some of the highest densities of gorillas, and an ecotourism project has begun there with help from The Gorilla Organization.

Loango National Park offers the rare combination of rainforest and Atlantic beach, where hippos have been seen surfing, whales and dolphins surface offshore and the forests are home to gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants.

5. Angola

Visitor infrastructure: 1/5
Chance of sighting: 1/5


Western lowland gorillas are found only in the Cabinda enclave, the part of Angola north of the mouth of the River Congo. There is little in the way of tourism infrastructure, but if it’s adventure you want..!

6. Congo

Visitor infrastructure: 2/5
Chance of sighting: 4/5


Since the loss of the habituated Lossi gorillas to Ebola in 2002, the nearby Odzala National Park now presents one of the best options for seeing western lowland gorillas. It’s currently home to two habituated family groups that can be seen by visitors. They can also be seen from hides as they visit bais (open clearings in the forest).

The most famous bai is Mbeli Bai, in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, where about 100 gorillas have been monitored by the Wildlife Conservation Society for a decade; gorilla groups can be seen wading into the marsh to forage for water plants alongside forest elephants, buffalo and antelope such as sitatunga.

Rescued western lowland gorilla orphans are being rehabilitated back into the forest in the Léfini Reserve (two hours’ drive north of Brazzaville), where visitors can view silverbacks on a forested island from a boat.

7. Central African Republic

Visitor infrastructure: 2/5
Chance of sighting: 4/5

Western lowland female gorilla, Central African Republic (Shutterstock)


One of the best places to track western lowland gorillas is Bai-Hokou in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. A WWF project has succeeded in habituating a group, and a calm contact is likely, though the dense forest and low light beneath the canopy make photography challenging.

8. Rwanda

Visitor infrastructure: 5/5
Chance of sighting: 5/5

Family of mountain gorillas, Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda (Shutterstock)


Rwanda is about the size of Wales, with good main roads (making it quick to get around) and a relatively well-developed infrastructure.

But it is the work of Dian Fossey, as dramatised in the film Gorillas in the Mist, that really makes Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park many people’s first choice for a mountain gorilla safari.

Relaxed gorillas and relatively open habitat – montane vegetation, often with stunning views – greatly improve the chances of good gorilla watching.

The professionalism and kindness of the guides – many of whom have spent decades helping visitors cope with steep slopes, stinging nettles and nerves – makes every muddy, gasping step that bit easier. But when it’s sunny, and the gorillas are only a short stroll from the park boundary, people tend to wonder what all the fuss is about!

9. Uganda

Visitor infrastructure: 5/5
Chance of sighting: 5/5

Mountain gorilla, Bwindi, Uganda (Shutterstock)


Second in popularity to Rwanda, the two gorilla parks in the south-west of the country offer different experiences. Mgahinga National Park is part of the tri-national Virunga Conservation Area, and its habituated gorillas often cross into the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, climbing to the top of Mt Sabinio, where Rwanda, Uganda and DRC meet, is an outstanding way to see the whole mountain gorilla kingdom – an island of forest surrounded by a sea of densely populated farmland.

Just to the north, on dramatically winding roads, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is more biodiverse and at a lower altitude. It has four groups well-habituated for tourism, and two more are being habituated to cope with demand. Some taxonomists regard the Bwindi gorillas as a separate sub-species of eastern gorilla – the lack of hair on their brow easily distinguishes them from their shaggier Virunga cousins.

One of Uganda’s real plus points is the range of other activities on offer: combine your gorilla tracking with the country’s other national parks and adventurous activities, from hiking the glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains to white-water rafting on the Nile.

10. Democratic Republic of Congo

Visitor infrastructure: 1/5 (western lowland gorillas), 3/5 (eastern lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas)
Chance of sighting (security permitting): 1/5 (western lowland gorillas), 3/5 (eastern lowland gorillas), 5/5 (mountain gorillas)

Silverback eastern lowland gorilla, Democratic Republic of Congo (Shutterstock)


Three of the four sub-species are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Gorilla tourism with habituated groups began here in the mid-1970s, in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a stronghold of eastern lowland gorillas, and this park still offers one of the best gorilla-viewing experiences. Bukavu is the nearest town (with some beautiful lakeside hotels), but check the security situation if entering DRC from Rwanda.

Mountain gorilla tourism in Virunga National Park is also excellent, if security allows. Things have improved since the early 2009 arrest of rebel leader Nkunda, but the area is still unsettled. However, even during the troubles many people visited the gorillas at Djomba on day trips from Kisoro, Uganda, because permits were available in the DRC and sold out in Uganda. Take advice on the spot – it can change from one week to the next.

Some western lowland gorillas survive in the far west of DRC in the beautiful Madiakoko Mountains, Bas-Congo, crossing back and forth from Cabinda (Angola), but you’d be a pioneer tourist here.

More on the world’s gorillas:

Know your gorillas – four species explained

Why Rwanda’s price hike for seeing gorillas is a disaster

Searching for gorillas in Brazzaville, Congo

Kate Humble goes gorilla-watching in the Democratic Republic of Congo

7 of the best things to do in Cameroon

1. Atlantika Mountains

Mountains around Poli, Cameroon (Shutterstock)

This mountain range in the north of Cameroon is made up of more than 600 peaks, some of which are active volcanoes. The range forms a natural border between Cameroon and Nigeria. Most visitors explore the region on a small group tour or with a local guide – Poli is the nearest town. You can trek in the mountains all year round, although June to October is rainy season.

One of the highlights is meeting the Koma people who inhabit villages in the massif such as Bakiba, Bimlerou le Haut, Koilo, Librou, Louga, Nagamalo and Somlari. The tribe follows a traditional way of life, living in mud dwellings and wearing skirts made from leaves. If you’re lucky you may be able to join them around a campfire or in a dance, listen to drumming and handmade musical instruments, or observe an animal sacrifice ceremony.

2. The Dja Faunal Reserve

A mandrill (Shutterstock)

Founded in 1950, this reserve in the south east of Cameroon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, valued for its unspoilt rainforest and biodiversity. The Dja River circumnavigates most of the rainforest, 90% of which is untouched – making it one of the largest and best-preserved primary forests in Africa.

Roughly the same size as the county of Norfolk in the UK, the reserve is home to 107 species of mammal, including forest elephants, leopards, the stripy antelope-like bongo and African grey parrot. Visitors may also spot primates such as chimpanzees, gorillas, white-collared mangabey and the red and blue-nosed mandrill.

3. Sangha Trinational

Sitatunga antelopes (Shutterstock)

So-called because it’s shared between Cameroon and neighbouring Congo and Central African Republic, this conservation area is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is home to three national parks – one of which is Lobeke National Park in the south east of Cameroon – which have largely been left alone by humans.

A buffer zone protects the vast area, which is made up of wetlands, swamps and tropical forests of evergreen species. On land, visitors may get to see forest elephants, critically endangered gorillas and endangered chimpanzees, while the waters are the lair of Nile crocodiles and Goliath tigerfish, a formidable silver fish with sharp teeth. Sitatunga antelopes inhabit the swamps.

4. Mongo ma Ndemi National Park

Mount Cameroon (Shutterstock)

This National Park is close to the coast in the west of Cameroon, near the city of Buea. The park’s highest peak, Mount Cameroon, is also known by the indigenous name Mongo ma Ndemi, which means Mountain of Greatness. At 4,070m, it is great indeed.

Fako is the highest of the two peaks. Even though it’s an active volcano which erupts frequently, it’s still popular with campers and hikers, who must hike with a registered guide. There are plans for night tours and a canopy walkway, too. Every winter, you can also watch endurance runners race the 38km from Buea to the summit and back, which takes about four and a half hours.

The park is home to forest elephants and various primate species with distinctive features. As well as chimpanzees, you may come across drill, red-capped mangabey, the putty-nosed monkey – which has a white nose – mona and red-eared monkeys and Preuss’s and crowned guenon. Twitchers, stay close to your binoculars, as Mount Cameroon spurfowl and Mount Cameroon speirops are endemic here.

5. Mandara Mountains

Mud houses in the Mandara Mountains, Cameroon (Shutterstock)

Like the Atlantika, the Mandara massif is also volcanic and along the border of Nigeria, but it’s in the far north corner of Cameroon. At 1,494m, Mount Oupay is the range’s highest point and it’s a popular hiking spot.

Mandara tribes live in villages nearby, in huts with dirt walls and thatched roofs. They farm sheep, goats, chickens and bees, and exchange handicrafts and produce at local markets.

6. Foumban

Crafts and jewellery made in Cameroon (Shutterstock)

This historic town near the middle of Cameroon has a Saturday market, a landmark mosque with green domes and a palace. Completed in 1917, Foumban Royal Palace is home to the Sultan’s Museum, where you can browse displays of royal gowns, weapons and jewellery.

But most visitors are drawn to Foumban because of its art scene. A road lined with artisans selling sculptures, baskets, embroidery and wood carvings runs south of the town from the palace to Village des Artisans, which is home to Musee des Arts et des Traditions Bamoun. Here you can browse traditional African art and cultural exhibits such as musical instruments, statues and masks.

7. Limbe

Limbe, Cameroon (Shutterstock)

Once an epicentre for the slave trade, the seaside town of Limbe on Cameroon’s south west coast is now better known for its black sand beaches, botanical garden and wildlife centre.

Limbe Wildlife Centre rescues orphaned and injured native animals. Visitors can see a silverback gorilla and ill-treated former pets including chimpanzees and baboons.

The 52-hectare Limbe Botanical & Zoological Garden is nearby, en route to the seafront. Here you can see native species such as orchids, as well as palms, medicinal plants and fruit trees including the moabi. Look out for herons and kingfishers on the banks of the garden’s riverside trail, then stop for a picnic on the lawn.

If you visit in spring you may experience the town’s annual Festival of Arts and Culture, which is celebrated with a parade, canoe race, wrestling and traditional dances.

Read more about Cameroon:

Wanderlust’s guide to Cameroon

Secret monkey business in Cameroon

Cameroon to Gabon on a loaf of bread

Travel in the time of ebola

Stateless people lived in the handful of scruffy villages lining the 20-miles of no-man’s land between Congo and Cameroon. I was muddy and shirtless when I rounded a corner and unexpectedly arrived at the makeshift hut housing the immigration office. It looked like a makeshift slum house but an immaculately-dressed guard stepped out and started shouting at me. His furious French suggested he was saying something like “How dare you arrive here in such an indecent state? What if there had been women here? Go away and put a shirt on!”

I wheeled my bike back around the corner to dress. While doing so, I spotted two village women emerge from the bushes with water containers. They wandered off down the track, topless like me.

It took an hour for the immigration officer to be fetched. He welcomed me kindly, stamped me in and wished me luck. The track bobbed over tightly-packed hills and splashed though clear streams between them. The humidity felt intensified by the close-pressing trees which thankfully kept the sun off. I had no map and everyone I asked had different opinions on where I would next find a shop. I was completely out of food at the end of 30 miles. There had been only one village which had no shop, and where nobody had extra food to sell me.

I was experiencing hunger cramps when I arrived at a jam of ten or so trucks, each with formidable trunks of African hardwood strapped to their backs. The path had become a cloying pit of rich red mud. I watched as some of the trucks wiggled hopelessly halfway into the foliage in their attempts to free themselves. It was odd to see 20-ton vehicles sliding slowly sideways while their wheels span uselessly within the eternal embrace of mud.

Barefooted men squelched and sucked their way up and down the problem with their trousers rolled to the knees. I joined them and was soon speaking to Gilbert: a friendly man in his 30s from Cameroon’s Anglophone southwest. Gilbert was on his way back to the capital having delivered barrels of petrol to power the generators in the region’s various telecommunications towers.

It was obvious that I couldn’t cycle this track, and the reports of the next 50 miles were similar. I accepted a space in the empty back of Gilbert’s truck and we eased our way past the heavily-laden logging vehicles. After three hours of skidding and getting stuck several times, the track improved and I got back on the bike. I bought some smoked bushmeat in a village to keep me going. I think it was antelope.

It was early morning when I arrived in Djoum and managed to better stock my food bags. A petrol pump attendant mentioned something to me about the border with Nigeria (my next destination) closing due to Ebola. There was no power in the town so I couldn’t verify this with the internet. I tried to bury the potential roadblock in my mind while pedalling onwards along a rattling stony track.

The path climbed and the jungle thinned but my fretting increased about what I might do if the border rumour were true. Little Bastard’s (my bicycle’s) frame cracked by the seat post again and I was forced to stand on the pedals. My strength sapped quickly.

I was keen to reach Yaoundé and get on the internet. The next few months of my life would hinge on what I found there and what subsequent decisions I made. I sped past numerous roadside vendors flogging fat snakes, porcupines and other bushmeats. The animals all hung from tree branches by their necks and span slowly in the warm breeze.

There were an increasingly frequent series of roadblocks on the way into the capital. At each one I was stopped and my passport was inspected. Many asked me absurd questions and treated me with suspicion. In the eyes of the police, my burned and bearded face looked Arabic and the high security alert was due to recent cross-border raids made by the fundamentalist Islamic group Boko Haram. As I cycled through the suburbs, many people shouted “Arab” and “Boko Haram” at me.

I was approaching the end of a geopolitical cul de sac: the border with Nigeria was closed for ebola, Niger’s for Boko Haram, and Central African Republic’s for a civil war. I would have to fly.

But to where?

Charlie Walker is a bicycle adventurer on a four-year, 40,000 mile cycling trip to the four corners of the Earth. He is hoping to raise £20,000 for a variety of charities. You can follow his exploits on his website: CharlieWalkerExplore.

Know your gorillas!

1. Cross River

The world’s most critically endangered sub-species of gorilla was captured on camera in the wild for the first time in 2012, which isn’t surprising as there are only about 300 left. They look similar to their western lowland cousins, but with smaller and shorter skulls.

Where found: The largest numbers live in Nigeria but they’re also found (and were filmed) in south-west Cameroon. The bad news is the population is divided across human-inhabited areas; the good is that more suitable habitat for them has been found. There’s hope yet.

2. Mountain

Shaggy coats and sideburns: no, not a 70’s throwback – mountain gorillas. The most famous of all the gorillas are the ones you’re mostly likely to see: gorilla tourism is a mainstay of both Uganda’s and Rwanda’s economies. Often called a ‘perfect hour’ by people who’ve met them, visits to habituated groups are well controlled. Apart from poachers (still a big problem), your germs are the greatest threat to the remaining 790 or so animals; steer clear if you have a cold.

Where found: West Uganda, north-west Rwanda, east DR Congo.

3. Eastern lowland

The eastern lowland gorilla is the largest sub-species, and a bit of a smooth operator: they have longer faces, they’re less shaggy and more muscular than the other eastern species (mountain gorilla) thanks to climbing fruit trees. This sub-species also holds the record for the largest gorilla recorded – a silverback measuring 1.94m, which was shot in 1938. There are thought to be around 5,000 left in the wild, but the population plummeted during DRC’s civil war due to bushmeat hunting.

Where found: Eastern DR Congo.

4. Western lowland

Chances are you’ve seen these guys (Gorilla gorilla) if you’ve ever been to the zoo. However, the world’s most widespread gorilla is actually quite tricky to see in the wild. You’ll know these critically endangered creatures by their short, brownish-black coats and ginger crowns. Estimates suggest there are up to 200,000 individuals out there; threats include bushmeat hunting, habitat loss and disease.

Where found: Angola (Cabinda only), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Would you get a manicure by candlelight in Africa?

Here’s how taxis work in Yaounde, Cameroon. A taxi driver sees you and slows down his cab. You yell out your destination – in French – followed by how much you’re willing to pay. If he agrees, he honks once and stops his taxi. If not, he keeps going.

Great, I thought, when my bus pulled in from the Cameroonian coast. So hailing a taxi in Yaounde would be… well, not easy, considering I can’t speak French.

Fortunately, there were taxi drivers waiting at the bus park, so I didn’t have to test my poor language skills. Of course, they couldn’t understand my accent and didn’t know where the hotel I’d chosen was, but at least I didn’t have to yell at them from the side of the road.

I tried asking for my hotel, Meumi Palace – which I’d chosen due to its location near embassies – using different pronunciations.

“Moo-mi Pah-lass?”

Blank stare.

“May-you-me Pah-lahce?”

Nothing.

“Chad Embassy?”

Ah, that worked. The hotel was across the street from the Embassy of Chad. I checked in and headed downstairs to a small shop in search of a bit of chocolate.

I was in Yaounde because I needed visas before I could continue the next leg of my ten-month round-the-world trip. Gabon. Republic of Congo. Democratic Republic of Congo. Each would take at least a day, more if I didn’t pay for express service, but given the price of hotels in Yaounde (on the high side), it was in my interest to pay the express fees.

I asked at the hotel reception for directions to the Embassy of Gabon.

“It’s not far,” said a woman that wore a cool wig featuring a purple streak. “But it’s complicated. You’d better take a taxi.”

Could you be an International Adventure Wrangler?

After three years, eight months and three days of gallivanting around the globe organising ridiculous adventures, I have finally departed the cosy bosom of The Adventurists. Making the jump has felt rather like splitting up with a long-term boyfriend, and telling Tom Morgan, The Adventurists’ Chief, of my departure, felt akin to that ghastly, gulping moment when you tell your other half it’s all over. But a freelance life of writing calls, hence the gusset-wrenching decision to leave the life of an International Events Wrangler behind.

Before I begin the next chapter of This Life, here’s a spot of insight into some of the weird, wonderful and occasionally dastardly aspects of setting up new adventures for The Adventurists. It ain’t all tea swilling and swanky hotels you know.

On my first day at The Adventurists in March 2008 Tom, turned to me and asked ‘How do you feel about Africa?’ A few days later I was sitting on the runway at Paris airport, bound for Cameroon, with a riot escalating around me. A Cameroonian man was being deported from France, held down by eight heavily armed French gendarmes. The more he screamed and fought, the more it inflamed my fellow Cameroonian passengers. After an hour long battle the police gave up and the man was bundled off the aeroplane, back onto French soil. It was my first taste of Africa.

Then there was hearing Jock Munro, the oldest rider on the first ever Mongol Derby, playing the Scottish bagpipes in the middle of the Mongolian steppe at the finish party of the Derby. The visceral, incongruous sound of the bagpipes drifting on the steppe wind was quite extraordinary.

Multiple visits to the Nouvelle Destinee Orphanage in Douala, Cameroon during the 2008 and 2009 Africa Rallies have stayed in my mind too. In 2008 enough funds were raised from the Rally car sales in Cameroon to put 33 of the children through school for the year. The children were always so cheerful, and the ladies who ran it so dedicated and compassionate, being able to help them was a brilliant feeling.

Surreal moments include trying to convince the Malaysian Department of Road Transport that no, we really didn’t want a 250km police escort through Malaysia on the Pioneer’s ASEAN Rickshaw Run. While the Malaysian Government thought they were offering our teams the ultimate token of hospitality, we had to politely tell them that being mollycoddled by a fleet of Malaysian police cars wasn’t quite in the spirit of The Adventurists.

Organising the first Mongol Rally Czechout party in the summer of 2008 was a challenge. Our original castle pulled out a few weeks before the event, leaving me to scour the entire Czech Republic for a willing and suitable replacement. After seeing over 30 castles in a week, I found Klenova, a ruined 14th century pile nuzzling in the rolling hills of Bohemia. In the end, the party was a storming success. Seeing 800 people dressed up as ‘Knights and Wenches’ was a sight to behold, even more so when they were still dancing to searing techno at 4 am.

Drinking ten bottles of vodka on a Mongolian mountain top, with four large Mongolian men, at the end of the 2010 Mongol Derby was not my wisest move. We sat in the burning steppe sun, toasting Tengri and Gadzer (the gods of the sky and earth), drinking shot after shot of Chinggis Gold vodka, getting increasingly plastered and taking it in turns to sing. Hilarious.

Chuntering across the Siberian wilderness on the back of an old Ural motorbike last winter, on a test trip for the Ice Run, was a real highlight. Nowhere have I ever witnessed stars like it, or looked up at that diamond scattered vault and felt so infinitesimally small.

I could have done without being shouted at by one of the 2009 Africa Ralliers when the plates temporarily ran out at the finish party supper. We were in the Cameroonian jungle, at a bash I had pulled together with the help of the local Bantu pygmies. The plates had run out and one of the pygmies had delved off into the jungle to find a few more. I felt the shouty chap was perhaps being a little unreasonable, given the circumstances.

Another bizarre moment was watching two high-ranking officials from the Cameroonian Ministry of Tourism and the Customs Department, having a fistycuffs over the auction of the Africa Rally cars in Douala in 2008.

Who could forget the short spells in hospital in both Siberia and Jakarta? Once for being reversed into by a drunken fool, the other time for some mystery virus.

Discovering that Avi Sivan, the charismatic co-director of the charity we were working with in Cameroon, was head of the BIR, the elite army unit that looks after Cameroonian President Paul Biya, was a surprise. He was also a former commander of the Israel Defence Force’s elite Duvdevan unit; not the sort of fellow to be taken lightly. The charity’s HQ in Yaounde was always swarming with heavily armed soldiers, one of whom, Molu, was given the task of being my personal bodyguard. Molu was a former national karate champion, muscles and guns straining at every inch of his BIR uniform. I never did quite get used to him checking his three guns were all loaded before we got out of the car to go to government meetings.

I’ll never forget trekking into the Cameroonian jungle behind a machete-wielding local to go and meet the local pygmy chief, hoping to enlist the musical talents of his tribe for the Africa Rally finish party. His cooperation was secured upon receipt of five litres of ‘pygmy gin’ (ferocious local moonshine).

Then there was meeting Vassily, our self-appointed Russian bodyguard on the test trip for the Ice Run. Vassily insisted that because of the all ‘bears, wolves and bandits’ Tom, Buddy and I couldn’t possibly set off across the frozen tundra on our own. A few days later, miles from anywhere, we had stopped to fix the bike (again) when Vassily appeared from the car, a large gun in each hand, maniacal smile spread across his face, and started shooting randomly into the sky. ‘Wolf’ he said, pointing to fresh wolf tracks on the snow in front of us. At that point I’m not sure who we were more scared of, Vassily, or the wolf.

Finally, my most mystical moment, undergoing a ceremony with a Buryat shaman in northern Mongolia, to ascertain whether the spirits would allow her to do a ceremony at the Mongol Derby finish party. I was the first foreigner her spirits had been exposed to, and before I was even allowed into the room she went into trance to see if I was worthy of being in their presence. Luckily they deemed me a ‘white spirit’ and approved her participation in next day’s finish party.

I have a feeling my life won’t be quite as adventurous for a while!

You can follow Ant’s new adventures on her blog, The Itinerant, or on Twitter, @AntsBK.

From time-to-time The Adventurists are looking for new adventure wranglers in some form or another. Keep an eye on their job board here.

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Looking for a job in travel? See Wanderlust’s job site for more job opportunities in the travel industry. Or check out our series of articles on getting paid to travel.

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Africa’s alternative classics

These days, you need a hefty budget to enjoy classic experiences such as a Kilimanjaro climb or a Serengeti safari, a jeep trip across the Namib Desert or gorilla-watching in the Virungas. But the cheap thrills are still out there. These are not second-bests, but amazing adventures in their own right – the only difference is, they won’t break the bank.

Mountains: Instead of Kilimanjaro…

Trek the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia

What is it? A stunning hike through what Edwardian traveller Rosita Forbes described as ‘the most marvellous of all Abyssinian landscapes’, its immense canyons rising to at least a dozen peaks topping the 4,000m mark.

What’s good about it? The scenery is thrilling: impossibly steep river gorges hemmed in by jagged mile-high escarpments, green meadows strewn with wildflowers, and mist-swept Afro-alpine moorland clumped with heather and otherworldly giant lobelias. Other visitors are few and far between and the ‘because-it’s-there’ brigade can bag the 4,620m Ras Dashen (the fourth-highest mountain in Africa) without facing the crowds or serious risk of altitude sickness associated with the steeper ascent of Kili.

Protected as a national park, Simien hosts a trio of iconic large mammals unique to Ethiopia. Most common and approachable is the gelada: a sociable baboon-like primate with a flowing golden mane, bright-red heart-shaped stomach patch, and (despite its ferocious leonine appearance) a diet composed almost exclusively of grass. Just as striking (but less often seen) is the critically endangered walia ibex, a large, heavy-horned goat restricted to the precipitous cliffs of this one mountain range. Trekkers might also encounter the russet Ethiopian wolf, the world’s most endangered canid, while birdlife includes the magnificent and highly visible lammergeyer (bearded vulture).

Need to know: Provided you’re moderately fit and give yourself time to acclimatise to Ethiopia’s high altitudes, this is a relatively straightforward guided trek, and porters and pack mules are all available to ease the load. There’s a case for avoiding the rainy season (late May to early September), but scenically there’s no better time to trek than September and October, when the countryside is green and wildflowers grow in profusion. All trekking arrangements can be made at Debark or Gonder or through various tour operators based in Addis Ababa or overseas.

What you can do with your loose change: Ethiopia is one of Africa’s cheapest countries, and (unusually for Africa) its highlights are almost all equipped with affordable accommodation and accessible on public transport. You could fund several weeks travel here on the difference between a Simiens trek and a Kili climb, exploring the mysterious rock-hewn churches at Lalibela, absorbing the pre-Christian ruins at Aksum, and sampling the spicy local cuisine.

OR TRY THESE…

  • High Atlas, Morocco Cheap treks in Bedouin country
  • Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania A steep overnight climb up lava-strewn slopes to the smouldering volcanic crater of the Maasai ‘Mountain of God’
  • Mount Kenya, Kenya Second in altitude only to Kili itself, but far cheaper to climb, less crowded and arguably more scenic

Safari: Instead of the Serengeti…

    • Explore Kruger National Park, South Africa

    What is it? A game reserve the size of a small European country, home to some of the continent’s greatest concentrations of wildlife, yet serviced by a network of all-weather roads and affordable rest camps that make it accessible to the first time safari-goer.

    What’s good about it?     It’s so unpackaged, for a start. Purists might tell you the Kruger is too commercialised, but most of them have never been, and inexpensive DIY-friendly tourist facilities (rest camps with restaurants, self-catering facilities, grocery shops, ATMs, filling stations and garages) don’t make the animals any less wild than those that inhabit more exclusive destinations further north.

    There’s the gameviewing, of course – the best chance of rhino sightings of any major African reserve, good cheetah, leopard and African hunting dog, and huge numbers of lion, buffalo, elephant, giraffe, zebra, baboon, warthog and other safari favourites. A bird checklist topping the 500 mark includes the dazzling lilac-breasted roller and flocks of ground hornbills fluttering their eyelashes like turkeys in drag.

    As a self-guided safarigoer you might not spot as much game as on an organised tour. But then nor is the enormity of this primal experience likely to be sullied by annoying fellow passengers and inflexible itineraries. Put simply, there’s no better game reserve for independent travellers who don’t have the resources or inclination to mount a full-on expedition.

    Need to know:     Book accommodation well ahead and don’t try to cover too much ground – a good seven-day itinerary might be split into three two-night stopovers at Skukuza or Lower Sabie, Satara, and Olifants or Letaba. Oddly, the peak tourist season (November to April) is the worst time to visit – June to September has a better climate and the best gameviewing.

    What you can do with your loose change:     Keep going! The untrammelled northern Kruger retains a wilderness feel absent from the more congested south, and is serviced by two of the park’s most likeable camps – riverside Shingwedzi and tiny hillside Punda Maria. Scenic Blyde River Canyon is a worthwhile stop on the escarpment west of the Kruger.

    OR TRY THESE…

    • Etosha Pan, Namibia More remote than the Kruger, but an equally realistic goal for a self-drive safari
    • Mikumi National Park, Tanzania One of the few game reserves passed through by a public road – eland, elephant and buffalo might all be seen for free from a passing bus window
    • Liwonde National Park, Malawi An underratedand relatively affordable reserve notable for stunning boat trips down the hippo-infested Shire River

    Primates: Instead of mountain gorillas…

    • Track chimpanzees, Uganda/Tanzania

    What is it? A face-to-face encounter with man’s closest genetic relative in the heart of the African jungle – a ‘pinch me’ experience as poignant as it is thrilling.

    What’s good about it?     Is there any sound so evocative of the African rainforest as the pant-hoot call of the chimpanzee: a communal bonding ritual that starts with one extended hoot, then another and another, rising in tempo until a dozen or more voices erupt in a bloodcurdling crescendo, only to fade abruptly into a silence you can practically touch?

    On first sighting, chimps are bulkier than most visitors expect (the perception of small size is due to the widespread use of juveniles in advertising), and they probably interact more regularly than gorillas. They are fun to watch, too: by turns bossy, playful, inquisitive, indolent and argumentative, with facial features and mannerisms as recognisably individualistic and expressive as our own. On a good day, you might catch them on the hunt – despite being primarily vegetarian, chimps will often catch and devour monkeys – or ‘fishing’ for termites with a twig, tool-using behaviour that reinforces their proximity to humans on the tip of the same branch of the evolutionary tree.

    Need to know:     The best sites are Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains on Lake Tanganyika, where chimp habituation started in the 1960s. Next best are the more accessible Kibale and Budongo Forests in Uganda. Other options are Rwanda, Gabon and Cameroon. Booking is seldom necessary. Try to visit in fruiting season, which varies according to locality, so seek advice. At other times of year chimps are less sedentary – it will be harder to keep up as they charge through the tangled undergrowth.

    What you can do with your loose change:         Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream tie in neatly with the legendary ferry trip on Lake Tanganyika. Uganda’s Kibale Forest is the springboard for several affordable excursions: try the community-run Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary for its diversity of forest birds and monkeys, or the Kasenda Crater Lakes for unguided hiking or chilling out in lush surrounds.

    OR TRY THESE…

    • Jozani Forest, Tanzania: the last stronghold of the Einstein-on-a-bad-hair-day Kirk’s red colobus monkey, a Zanzibar endemic that’s easily approached on foot
    • Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana Delightful mona monkeys roam freely around the village thanks to a local taboo on killing primates
    • Entebbe Botanical Gardens, Uganda Within walking distance of the international airport, this park is teeming with acrobatic black-and-white colobus and mischievous vervet monkeysThe best sites are Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains on Lake Tanganyika, where chimp habituation started in the 1960s. Next best are the more accessible Kibale and Budongo Forests in Uganda. Other options are Rwanda, Gabon and Cameroon. Booking is seldom necessary. Try to visit in fruiting season, which varies according to locality, so seek advice. At other times of year chimps are less sedentary – it will be harder to keep up as they charge through the tangled undergrowth.

    Desert: Instead of the Namib desert…

    • Cross the Chalbi by truck, Kenya

    What is it? An eight- to ten-day truck expedition through the remote and ethnically fascinating badlands of northern Kenya, culminating in a bumpy descent of the Rift Valley escarpment to the gusty shores of croc-infested Lake Turkana, the world’s largest desert lake.

    What’s good about it?         This is one of Africa’s truly great off-the-beaten-track circuits, passing through the arid badlands of northern Kenya, a thinly inhabited and little-visited region whose expansive horizons and austere volcanic outcrops feel worlds away from the same country’s bustling southern tourist circuit. At its parched heart lies the Chalbi Desert, a godforsaken expanse of cracked earth where ostriches run off hysterically at your approach, and the domestic camel are only slightly more habituated to a rare passing vehicle.

    Turkana itself is stunning – a 250km-long inland sea whose brilliant jade waters are hemmed in by the sheer rock-strewn walls of the Great Rift Valley. As for wildlife, the superb Samburu National Reserve is nothing special in crude ‘big five’ terms, but there’s no better place to see dry-country specials such as the outsized Grevy’s zebra, beautiful reticulated giraffe and rubbernecked swala twiga (giraffe antelope) or gerenuk.

    Uncompromising landscapes and unusual wildlife are an indelible part of the northern Kenya experience. But it is the people who impose themselves most firmly on the imagination. Desert pastoralists such as the Samburu, Turkana and Gabbra don’t merely shun the modern trend towards cultural homogenisation, but seem almost to inhabit an alien mental landscape, one bequeathed to them by generations of stoic nomadic ancestors. In many respects,it’s like the 20th century never happened.

    Need to know:     The established specialist is Gametrackers. Seasonal factors don’t really come into play but departures do depend on sufficient passengers. You should bring all the personal effects you might need – shopping opportunities are somewhat limited after you leave Nairobi.
    What you can do with your loose change: After a week breathing the desert air, head down to the sultry Indian Ocean coast. Here, a winning combination of atmospheric Swahili settlements, postcard-perfect beaches and brooding medieval ruins is capped by the time-warped ports of the laidback Lamu archipelago.

    OR TRY THESE…

    • Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa Excellent self-drive destination; its red dunes and parched riverbeds support a selection of predators and antelope
    • Timbuktu, Mali Few place names possess a resonance comparable to this sandswept Saharan city
    • Siwa, Egypt Situated below sea level, this traditional oasis, famed for its date palms and studded with ancient ruins, lies in the heart of the desert