Are you a traveller who wants to leave a positive impact? We are your people!
The Gorilla Highlands Experts team prides itself on creating unusual experiences lasting from a couple of hours to a full day and multi-day treks. Whether you are interested in the biggest attractions or off-the-beaten-path jewels of Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo, we are there for you. Best known for our partnership with Batwa “Pygmies”, we should be your partners if you care about responsible travel (we won two Responsible Tourism Awards at WTM 2022).
No, we are not your standard tour operator with a fleet of LandCruisers and an animal focus. We want to highlight our region’s richness beyond primate tracking and we continuously train our staff, local partners, other companies’ guides and freelancers. Our experts bring in deep knowledge from: accessible travel, culinary tours, cycling adventures, educational trips, family tours, volunteer tourism, and more.
Need a starting point? Have a look at the overview pages summarising our growing list of day experiences or seven multi-day treks. If you fancy putting together a bigger trip covering Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo, we also have some sample road tours.
All our day experiences, multi-day treks and road tours are private by default; we will not add other travellers to what we have agreed with you. Some guests, though, choose to open theirs up for company or to reduce costs. Here’s a regularly updated list of such opportunities:
Upcoming Trips to Join
Join Edmond & Belle on Their Grand Gorilla Highlands Adventure
2–4 spots availableEdmond grew up in Africa as an Iraqi Jew, built a career in computer logistics, and has since traded spreadsheets for curiosity. Belle is a German-born multimedia artist whose life revolves around travel, people, and landscapes. Together since 1990, they bring three decades of shared adventures to this trip.
Entebbe → Kampala → Kidepo Valley → Murchison Falls → Queen Elizabeth → Lake Bunyonyi → gorilla tracking in Mgahinga → Congo Nile Trail → Nyungwe Forest → Kigali
Not available for the full 20 days? You are welcome to join for a section — tell us what works for you.
No scheduled group trips right now — contact us to organise your own.
Ready to talk? Let us schedule a call with you, hear you out and get to work!
Our Stories From Tours & Treks:
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Honestly, It’s Been an Insane Six Months!
Have you noticed us going quiet? Have you explained that away with a simple, “the pandemic is over and they must be very busy”? You were right. Or did you maybe think, “Probably there isn’t much new to report”? Well, you were correct again! The last few months have seen Gorilla Highlands Ltd (our travel…
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SABA Episode #12 — Gorilla Tracking in a Local Helicopter & Other Questions
It wasn’t our original plan to have the 12th episode of SEE AFRICA BREATHE AFRICA limited to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. But then we ran into obstacles getting gorilla tracking clients and park officials from Rwanda and Congo to join Tuesday’s Zoom call, and adjusted a bit …To listen to the 26 information-packed minutes of…
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Is This Where You Come In? (Gorilla Highlands 2018-2021 and Beyond)
This is the fourteenth and final instalment of a series that marks 20 years of Edirisa and 10 years of the Gorilla Highlands Initiative. Click here for Part I. A man at peace because his mission had been accomplished, I stretched my legs and listened to the faint voices in the night. A new year…
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Our Gorilla Trek Well Beyond Gorillas
Strange enough, it all started in Prague.It was summer 2009, my wife Marta and I were in town for our vacations, and decided to pay a visit to the local zoo.That was the first time we had the chance to meet face to face with the gorillas, and we spent more than an hour marvelling at…
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Slapped by a Gorilla: 30 Ultimate Hiking Images
We are back into lockdowns and travel restrictions throughout the Gorilla Highlands region, so we remember last month especially fondly.May 2021 was the go-time for nine eager Dutch boys to fy into Uganda, tired of the one-year wait for their Ultimate Hike — a combination of Volcano Quest and Parks Reunited — to finally take…
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Power Wellness: Never Underestimate Things You Haven’t Tried
Do you know that your life is a gift and that your feelings are valuable? Can you concentrate your heart and mind and take a weekend off, just for yourself? These are the essential requirements for Anina, an intuitive healer from the European Union, to help you find who you really are…Anina does not force…
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Living to Eat: Digesting Our First Food Tour
“Do we eat to live — or do we live to eat?” we asked ourselves as we sat down at the veranda last Saturday. Awaiting lunch at the Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel in Musanze, we were embarking on a daring new Gorilla Highlands chapter… Half a year after we began working on Local Experiences, here…
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Confessions: How an Anina Experience Changed My Life
It was two years after I won at Miss Tourism and I appeared to be doing pretty well. But the result had turned my life upside down… Yes, I had found my calling in the tourism business and was receiving invitations to beauty pageants from around the world — but emotionally, I was a mess.…
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“Guides were Amazing”
We had two big groups of hikers in the Lake Bunyonyi basin today, kicking off the second half of the high season. The Gorilla Highlands Trails of Uganda and Rwanda have been quite busy since June, abounding in canoeing, trekking and cultural experiences for adventurous people of all ages. We shall commence this half-season account…