Dav Safaris 3 Day Gorilla Trekking Uganda

How the Listings Compare

The table sets these figures side by side, and anything not stated is marked that way.

Included in $2,600

You get the Uganda gorilla permit per person, two nights of accommodation with breakfast, lunch and dinner, drinking water in transit, transport in a 4 x 4 WD tourist vehicle, the services of an English speaking safari guide, a Batwa community tour and a canoe ride on Lake Bunyonyi. Hotel pickup from Kampala is included. Because the permit alone is worth $800 at the UWA foreign non-resident rate, the remainder covers roughly three days of vehicle, guide, fuel, lodging and food.

• Gorilla permit per person
• 2 nights accommodation with meals
• Drinking water in transit
• 4 x 4 WD tourist vehicle
• English speaking safari guide
• Batwa community tour
• Canoe ride on Lake Bunyonyi

Paid on Top

The listing excludes your international flight, tips and gratuities, personal expenses such as phone bills and antiquity purchases, and personal insurance. Drinks other than transit drinking water are not mentioned as included, so budget for them. Porters are not stated either way, and a porter fee is not printed on the official pages, so ask the operator what a porter costs if you want one on the trail.

• International flight
• Tips and gratuities
• Personal expenses and insurance
• Drinks beyond transit water
• Porter, if you hire one

One Line to Confirm

Some listing text mentions purchases of antiquities as excluded, which is an odd wording for a personal-expenses clause. It does not change what is covered. The permit inclusion is stated twice, so that is safe, but confirm the meeting point and pickup time on the booking page because the listing does not print either.

Visa

Uganda Immigration states there are no visas issued on arrival and all visa-prone travelers must apply online and carry the approval letter. The single entry tourist visa costs $50, and the approval is valid for 90 days from the day of approval with the visa granted for up to 3 months. Documents listed include a passport valid 6 months, tour plan, itinerary, photograph and hotel booking.

If you plan to continue to Rwanda or Kenya, the East African Tourist Visa costs $100, covers all three countries, is valid 90 days and is issued by the first country of entry.

Health

The CDC says the yellow fever vaccine is required for all travelers arriving in Uganda aged 1 year or older, so carry the certificate at the border. CDC also recommends prescription malaria medicine, with risk throughout the country. Anyone who turns up at the trek with a cold, flu or other contagious illness is turned back under the park rules, so travel with a plan if you are prone to respiratory infections.

Gear and Fitness

Official advice for gorilla trails calls for hiking boots or sturdy shoes, waterproof clothing, long sleeves and gloves, with trails steep and muddy in any month. Porters are available to carry backpacks and cameras and help on the route, though no fee is printed on the official pages, so ask the operator. The listing rates this tour suitable for all physical fitness levels, which reads generously for a forest trek, so judge your own fitness against a 2 to 7 hour walk.

Gumboots and raincoats can be hired at park headquarters in Rwanda, and Uganda parks offer similar local hire, but confirm with your operator rather than counting on it.

Age and Permit Deadline

The trek minimum age is 15 in Uganda under UWA rules, and the listing's adult 14 to 90 band is a booking category, not the park rule, so a 14 year old cannot join the trek. Foreign non-resident permits are booked only through licensed tour operators and are paid in full at booking since the 7 day reservation window was suspended, so book early and expect no payment hold.

How the Listings Compare

The table sets these figures side by side, and anything not stated is marked that way.

Day One, Kampala to Bwindi

Pickup from your Kampala hotel is included, though the listing does not give a departure time. UWA puts the road distance from Kampala to the Bwindi area at about 414 km of tarmac to Kabale, roughly 6 hours, then about 120 km of murram road to Buhoma, roughly 5 more hours, and recommends a 4WD. The tour uses a 4 x 4 WD tourist vehicle.

Expect the whole day to be travel, with dinner and the first night at your lodge. Entebbe airport sits 40 km south west of Kampala, so plan your flight arrival for the day before.

Day Two, the Gorilla Trek

This is the trek day in Bwindi. Uganda gorilla treks last between 2 and 7 hours with 60 minutes of observation, under UWA rules. The listing does not name the Bwindi sector, the briefing time or the return time, so confirm those with the operator.

The Batwa community tour and the Lake Bunyonyi canoe ride fall in and around this leg of the trip, though the listing does not pin them to a specific day.

Day Three, Back to Kampala

The final leg is the return transfer to Kampala. The same road rules apply, so allow a full day. The listing does not give an end time or a drop-off point beyond the return transfer, so set any onward flight for the evening at the earliest, or the next day.

The Park

UWA gives Bwindi an altitude range of 1,160 m to 2,607 m above sea level and counts about 459 mountain gorillas inside it, a figure that matches the 2018 Bwindi-Sarambwe census. The park has four trekking sectors: Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo. Trails are steep and muddy in any month, and rain slows them further.

Uganda's wet seasons run March to May and September to November per Explore Uganda, and June to August is called ideal for gorilla trekking because trails are drier.

The Trek Rules

UWA sets the minimum age at 15 years, a maximum of eight visitors per gorilla group, a 10 m distance from the animals, one hour per group per day and no flash photography. Anyone ill is turned back, so a cold on trek day costs you the experience. The booking categories on this listing read adult 14 to 90, but that is the platform's age band for buying, not the park rule: a 14 year old cannot trek.

Report times for Bwindi are not stated in this listing, so ask the operator when to be at the park. Foreign non-resident permits can only be booked through licensed tour operators and, from the 2026 tariff letter, are paid in full at booking.

The Road from Kampala

There is no official drive time from Kampala to the Bwindi trailheads, so do not plan around a single figure. UWA's own route description runs about 414 km of tarmac from Kampala to Kabale, roughly 6 hours, then 120 km of murram to Buhoma, roughly 5 hours more. Kisoro and Kihihi airstrips have daily flights from Entebbe if you would rather fly one way, with the Kisoro flight taking about 1 hour 10 minutes.

A long drive day one and a long drive day three are the price of starting in Kampala.

The Same Trip Across the Border

Rwanda offers the same hour with the gorillas at Volcanoes National Park, reached in about three hours by road from Kigali per Visit Rwanda. The catch is the permit: $1,500 from the Rwanda Development Board against Uganda's $800. Treks there run from 30 minutes to four or more hours at 2,500 to 4,000 m, groups are capped at eight, the distance rule is 7 m and briefing is at Kinigi at 7:00 am.

One-day tours from Kigali run from $260 plus the permit with Vista Safaris or $2,650 with it included through Shalom Safaris. Rwanda also gives a visa on arrival at $50, while Uganda requires an online e-visa. If a short transfer matters more than the permit saving, look at Antique Safari 3-Day Bwindi Trek from Kigali, which starts in Kigali and crosses at Katuna or Cyanika, or read the full Uganda vs Rwanda gorilla trekking comparison before choosing.

The Four Sectors

UWA names the sectors as Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo. Depending on permit availability at confirmation, you may be assigned any of them. Buhoma is the sector on the route UWA describes from Kampala through Kabale and Kihihi, but the listing does not commit to it.

Because permits are paid in full at booking through licensed operators, the sector you get depends on what is open when Dav Safaris secures your permit.

• Buhoma
• Ruhija
• Rushaga
• Nkuringo

What This Means for Your Booking

Sector determines your lodge location, your trailhead and how hard the walk tends to be, though the listing and the official pages do not rank difficulty by sector. Ask the operator which sector your permit is booked for before you pay, since a change later is not a given. If knowing your sector matters to you, Antique Safari 3-Day Bwindi Trek from Kigali and Eco Adventure 3-Day Gorillas and Batwa Trip are alternative Uganda itineraries worth comparing on the same question.

What Is Already in This Package

The Batwa community tour and the canoe ride on Lake Bunyonyi are both listed as included in the $2,600. Elsewhere in Uganda, the Batwa Trail Experience in Bwindi is priced at $40 for foreign non-residents by UWA, excluding entrance fees, and three day itineraries sold by other operators list canoeing on Lake Bunyonyi or Lake Mutanda and an equator stopover as optional activities. Here they come as part of the package, which is a large part of what separates this listing from cheaper Uganda tours that stop at the trek alone.

What You Could Add Elsewhere

If you want more than one cultural or lake activity, the five day option is Prime Safaris 5-Day Gorillas and Chimps at $2,863, which adds chimpanzee permits in Kibale, where chimp tracking costs $250 for foreign non-residents in the current tariff. For a cheaper three day package that still includes the Batwa element, Eco Adventure 3-Day Gorillas and Batwa Trip runs $1,860 with the Uganda permit included. An equator stop is not mentioned in this listing, so ask the operator if it can be worked into the Kampala drive.

The Math of the Route

Day one is the drive, day two is the trek, day three is the return. UWA's route notes put Kampala to Kabale at about 414 km and 6 hours, with another 120 km and roughly 5 hours of murram road to Buhoma. That is why a Kampala departure needs three days and cannot sensibly be done in two.

The trek itself takes 2 to 7 hours under UWA rules, so the gorilla hour is not the limiting factor, the road is. Because of the high cost, most travelers do a single gorilla trek, and three days fits exactly one.

When Three Days Is Not Enough

If you want two treks, or gorillas plus chimpanzees, you need more days. Lulu Safaris 4-Day Gorillas and Wildlife at $2,450 adds a wildlife day, and Prime Safaris 5-Day Gorillas and Chimps at $2,863 adds chimpanzee tracking with both permits included. If you are short on time instead, flying into Kigali and trekking from there cuts the road sharply: Antique Safari 3-Day Bwindi Trek from Kigali reaches the same park from a much closer airport. See the Uganda vs Rwanda gorilla trekking for the full Rwanda or Uganda for gorillas comparison.

Why the Odds Are High

Trackers head out ahead of your group and locate the habituated family before you start, then guide you to them. That system, plus the fact that the same families are visited daily by groups of eight, is why a no-show is unusual. UWA caps the visit at one hour and ten meters, and Bwindi holds roughly 459 mountain gorillas across its sectors, so there is a deep pool of families to assign.

What Can Still Go Wrong

The main way to miss out is illness, because anyone with a cold, flu or other contagious illness is turned back at the park. The other variable is effort: treks run 2 to 7 hours, and gorillas move, so a family deep in the forest makes a longer day. Book the permit early, since it is paid in full at booking through a licensed operator, and treat a missed sighting as a rare outcome rather than a planning case.