About Us
About Trek Gorillas
Trek Gorillas Uganda started with a simple observation: the people who know these forests best, the guides, trackers and communities living alongside Bwindi, Mgahinga, Volcanoes National Park and the savanna parks around them, were rarely the ones shaping how travelers experienced them. We set out to change that, building a safari company run by people who grew up a short walk from the parks we now send you into.
What began as a small operation arranging gorilla permits for independent travelers has grown into a full-service safari company covering Uganda and Rwanda, without losing the part that mattered most to us: local guides who know a specific forest, a specific gorilla family, a specific bend in the Kazinga Channel, rather than a generic script.
What we do
We plan and run trips across Uganda and Rwanda built around four things travelers consistently tell us they came for: mountain gorillas, the wider wildlife of the savanna parks, the region’s living cultures, and the landscapes that connect all of it.
- Gorilla and chimpanzee trekking in Bwindi, Mgahinga, Kibale and Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park
- Wildlife and Big Five safaris across Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth and Lake Mburo
- Birding trips built around the shoebill, Albertine Rift endemics and Uganda’s Congo-biome specials
- Cultural experiences with the Buganda Kingdom, the Batwa, the Karamojong and Rwanda’s Iby’Iwacu community
- Honeymoon, solo, group-joining and photography itineraries tailored to how you actually want to travel
Let's plan your trip
If you’ve read this far, you probably already know roughly what you’re after, gorillas, wildlife, culture, or some combination of the three. Tell us your travel dates and what matters most to you, and we’ll build a route around it, the same way we’d plan a trip for a friend.
Our guides and local partners
Our driver-guides are licensed, English-speaking, and assigned by region rather than rotated randomly, so the person driving you through Queen Elizabeth has spent real time in Queen Elizabeth, not just passed through it once. We work directly with the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Rwanda Development Board on permits, and with community-run programs, the Batwa cultural trail, Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village, Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, rather than routing that income through a third party.
Our approach to conservation
Gorilla tourism exists because gorilla tourism funds gorilla conservation; park fees and permit revenue are a primary source of funding for ranger patrols, veterinary care and anti-poaching work in both Uganda and Rwanda. We build our itineraries to support that system rather than work around it, which is part of why we don’t discount permits or encourage shortcuts around park regulations.
Where we can route spending directly to the communities living alongside these parks, the Batwa, the Karamojong, Rwanda’s cooperative-run cultural villages, we do, because a park surrounded by communities with no stake in its survival is a park under long-term pressure.