Choosing a trek
Gorilla or chimpanzee trekking?
They are not the same hour. A gorilla trek is a harder walk to a quiet, close encounter with a family on the forest floor. Chimpanzee tracking is an easier walk to something loud and fast, mostly above your head. If you can only do one, choose on which of those you want — and on how much walking you want to do. If you have a week, do both.
Side by side
| Gorilla trekking | Chimpanzee tracking | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga in Uganda; Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda | Kibale Forest in Uganda; Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda |
| The terrain | Steep, often muddy forest. The trek is the hard part and it is unpredictable — the family moves overnight. | Kibale is lower and flatter, with better trails. Nyungwe is steeper and more strenuous than Uganda's lower forests. |
| How long you walk | One to several hours each way, depending on where the family has moved to. Porters are available. | Usually shorter. Chimpanzees are tracked from known ranges and sessions run more than once a day. |
| The hour itself | Quiet and close. A family on the ground, feeding and resting, largely ignoring you. | Loud and fast. Chimpanzees are mostly overhead, moving and calling, and you move with them. |
| Permit, per person | US$800 in Uganda · US$1,500 in Rwanda | US$250 in Kibale |
| Minimum age | 15 | 15 |
Permit prices are set by the wildlife authorities, not by us, and are shown per person for foreign non-residents as of June 2026. They are marked provisional: the published tariff has expired without a successor, so we confirm the current figure with the authority when we book. More on how permits work.
Which should you choose?
Choose gorillas if…
- You want the encounter that defines the region, and only have room for one.
- You are content with a demanding walk on steep, muddy ground.
- You want stillness — an hour sitting a few metres from a family that is ignoring you.
Choose chimpanzees if…
- You would rather a shorter, flatter walk, or are travelling with less confident walkers.
- You want the forest itself as much as the primate — Kibale carries one of the highest concentrations of primates in Africa.
- You want a full day in the trees rather than an hour, in which case the habituation experience is the one.
Most travellers with a week do both, and the routes are built for it: 11 of our safaris reach a gorilla forest and a chimpanzee forest, from 7-Day Uganda Amazing Safari at 7 days upward.
Common questions
- Which is harder, gorilla or chimpanzee trekking?
- Gorilla trekking, usually. The walk is steeper and longer, over forest that is often muddy, and the distance depends on where the family moved overnight. Kibale's chimpanzee trails are lower and flatter. Nyungwe is the exception — chimpanzee tracking there is more strenuous than in Uganda's lower forests.
- Should I do both?
- If you have a week, yes — and most of our itineraries assume it. 11 of our safaris reach both a gorilla forest and a chimpanzee forest, from 7 days upward. They are genuinely different hours, not the same experience twice.
- What is the difference between chimpanzee tracking and habituation?
- Tracking is the popular one-hour visit to a community already used to people. The habituation experience is a dawn-to-dusk day in Kibale with a community still being accustomed to human presence — far longer, far more involved, and the forest gives up more of its life along the way.
- Are you guaranteed to see them?
- Neither is guaranteed, and no operator can promise it. Both are wild, habituated groups located by rangers and trackers who set out ahead of you at first light. Sightings are the norm rather than the exception, which is not the same thing as certain.
- Is there an age limit for either?
- Yes — 15 for both, in Uganda and Rwanda alike.
Not sure which suits you?
Tell us how much walking you are up for and how long you have, and we will tell you which trek to build the trip around — or how to fit both.