Gorilla tracking in Uganda

While lowland gorillas have, sadly, been kept in zoos and wildlife parks, mountain gorillas do not survive in captivity, so heading to the thickly forested – and yes, often misty – mountains along the Uganda-Congo-Rwanda border is the only way to view these animals. Throughout the 20th century their numbers dropped alarmingly due to habit loss and hunting, but thanks to impressive conservation measures including the gazetting of national parks and tightly regulated tourism, it is estimated that there are now around 880 mountain gorillas in the wild* – with close to half of these inhabiting Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and the rest in the nearby Virunga Mountain range.

*Source: WWF

Wheelchair accessible gorilla safaris

Travelers in wheelchairs or with mobility issues can still make the journey out to the gorillas. You can be carried in a throne chair by capable porters, your own wheelchair carried separately. The journey can be long, and not particularly comfortable, but so, so worth it.

Paul Callcutt at our leading supplier of gorilla trekking vacations, Natural World Safaris:
“Boots with a high ankle support are important, as this can be the difference between a rolled ankle or not, as this is a trekking experience. I have seen socks and sandals on a trek. I don’t get that really. And SLR cameras are the best for these trips although a lot of people don’t want to carry it. I wouldn’t obsess with long zoom lenses because you are going to be so close to them. Some people turn up with a 200-300 mm zoom on an SLR and then find out that they can’t get far enough away to take photographs. If I had to choose between a mid-zoom, a 24-70 or a 70-300, I would take the 24-70.”