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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Second & Third Gorilla Trek Day in Images
This photo report is being sent from a tiny island on Lake Mutanda where mobile internet is patchy at best; please pardon our high compression and brevity. Over the weekend we will be in a similar situation, so allow us to complete the story on Monday. 🖋️ text by: ML Rwebandira is an adventure and…
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Despite the Wisdom of Mountain Goat
It was a glorious day. A day that only those who know Bunyonyi‘s usual climate will know how to fully appreciate. The perfect, sunny, easygoing opening act to four days of rather demanding hiking. The first four miles out of 40 on land and water. Many of the 26 East African Playgrounds volunteers from three…
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4-Day Gorilla Trek Starts Tomorrow
The biggest thing that happens on the Gorilla Highlands Trails every year are the East African Playgrounds groups. Over 150 English volunteers will trek from Lake Bunyonyi through Echuya Forest to the lakes of Kisoro and eventually to Rushaga (Bwindi Impenetrable National Park) where mountain gorillas are expecting them… They are divided in eight groups…
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Innovation: Budget Family Travel in Uganda & Rwanda
The Gorilla Highlands Team is co-hosting #Africhat, a monthly gathering on Twitter that will take place between 7:30 and 8pm this evening (Uganda time). The topic: Family Travel in Africa. The occasion calls for us to share our recent pioneering experience with budget family travel in our region… At the end of December 2015 an…
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Backpacker on a Wheelchair Tracks Gorillas
Despite the anything-but-insignificant cost and physical strain of tracking mountain gorillas, this is an encounter many people feel they definitely have to experience. Even the disabled. Sunday Ndayakunze, the tourism warden of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, says that on average once a month they get a gorilla tracker who needs assistance. A visitor with disabilities…
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Fresh Photos from Sabinyo Gorge
In March we wrote about the upgrades in Sabinyo Gorge and announced that the waterfall at the end of the hike may be at its best in May. These photos taken last Sunday by Yonah Okoth take us back into the luxuriant wilderness… 📸 photography by: Yonah Okoth is a ranger guide with decades of experience…
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35 Days of Backpacking with a Donkey
Ever thought of travelling with a donkey? Marc Ethienne Cuendet, 26, once briefly tried it in Morocco and liked it so much that he bought Rafiki in Mubende and walked with her to Lake Bunyonyi! Their 35-day route went through Fort Portal, Kibale Forest and Ibanda; they avoided Queen Elizabeth National Park not to tempt…
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Ultimate Toad
We bring souvenirs from our travels; some tangible, some not. A visit to the Gorilla Highlands region is an experience powerful enough that there should be a whole bunch of interesting things stored at your homes… Would you be so kind to share them with the world, together with your special memories? Please contact us!…
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Life of a Gorilla Highlands Volunteer
Katharina Lahner, sent to volunteer with Gorilla Highlands by Grenzenlos (Austria), is ending her three-month stay with us. We will miss her abundant positive energy, devotion and marketing skills! To celebrate her contribution we’ve asked for a little summary of her Gorilla Highlands life. This is what she wrote on Friday, before going to Queen…