Bwindi offers the widest range of trekking routes and some of the most rewarding sightings of mountain gorillas. Two treks are ideal here. If you’re short on time, three nights is workable, but the area has more to offer for a longer stay, notably including interaction with the local Batwa pygmy tribe.

Bwindi  : 3–5 nights

Rwanda’s gorilla experience is sleek, organised and efficient, which means you can do it in two to three nights without feeling rushed.  Two nights with one trek is the minimum. Three nights with two treks is the polished version. But you can easily stay 4-5 nights for a more relaxed approach.

Virunga : 2–3 nights

Odzala is a completely different world. Trips are built around an obligatory three-camp circuit, with most travellers spending six to nine nights across Ngaga (for gorillas), Lango (for wetlands) and Mboko (for rivers and savannas).

Odzala : 6–9 nights

Our safari experts have incredible 
first-hand knowledge and an average
of 12 years experience building great 
trips.

Expertise and experience

Since 1999, we have created over a million sample  trips and helped over 120,000 guests fall in love with  safari Africa.

A proud history

Over the years we have polished our operation to be super-reliable. Arranging your trip should be almost as much fun  as going on safari. 

Seamless and fun

Your trip should cost no more than if 
you had booked all the components directly. You effectively get our services for free.

Delivering value

Every single trip that we build is unique. Your trip will be precisely tailored to meet the exact requirements of everyone in your group.

Supremely tailor-made

The first safari company on the internet, we helped to shape the modern safari and we continue to be the prime innovators in our field.

Original innovators

Tell us your whatever you know about your ideal trip. Whether you're drawn to specific wildlife, particular regions, or have preferences about the style of accommodation, the more we understand, the better we can help you to craft the perfect experience.

Share your ideas

Your dedicated safari specialist will work with you to build a selection of sample trips. We'll discuss seasonality, wildlife movements, logistics, lodge options, activity levels, whatever is necessary. And we will keep on refining until we are all confident that we have reached the perfect trip.

Crafting your trip

Everything is arranged. All you need to do is turn up. You probably won’t even need to show your paperwork, you will simply glide from one group of friendly and efficient local hosts to the next. And our support team remains on hand throughout, leaving you free to focus entirely on the extraordinary experiences ahead.

Travel with confidence

Many of us here at ATR have travelled extensively with our own kids, so we know for a fact that safari is great for families.

This is the kind of trip that guarantees to generate memories that you will share for the rest of your lives.

It is critical to note that the minimum age for joining a gorilla trek is fifteen years old. This is a park regulation and there are no exceptions, no way around. You will be required to show your passports.

We should also point out that we would not normally recommend that children under 12 travel to remote tropical areas, the health risks are too great, regardless of whether or not you take anti-malarials. Tropical fevers can be very dangerous for youngsters.

Family safari 

Safari is an inherently romantic experience that can be endlessly tailored to suit you.

We have been helping guests to build awesome honeymoons for many years. We have intimate knowledge of some of the wildest and most romantic places in the world.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to be yourselves. Please don’t feel it is necessary to fit into the usual romantic tropes if they’re not for you. Just focus on having a great trip.

We very much understand the importance of these trips, we know that your honeymoon needs to really hit the heights and be a truly life-punctuating experience.

Honeymoon safari 

On safari, luxury means different things to different people.

The most conventional meaning is that the accommodations are extremely comfortable, with elevated levels of hospitality. This is relatively easy to deliver, there are lots of luxury lodges.

However, simply inserting more luxurious lodges into your trip is no guarantee of a better safari. In fact, the opposite can be true.

For us, the hallmarks of a truly high quality safari are a suitably slow pace, wonderful remote locations, superb safari guiding, exclusive and intense wildlife interaction, precisely tailored experiences and considered attention to detail. We can do that.

Luxury safari 

Gorilla safari trips are notoriously pricey. Usually, we try to offer low, medium and high budget options of each trip shape, but with gorillas, there are some heavy costs which simply cannot be avoided.

The first big cost is the gorilla permits themselves, which range from USD 800 per person per trek in Uganda, to USD 1500 in Rwanda. We strongly recommend that you include two permits, in order to ensure good sightings.

The next biggest cost is accommodation. For high-end safaris, there are lodges in Rwanda especially that are priced right up at USD 2000-4000 per person per night. Fortunately, there are also mid-range lodges in Bwindi and Virunga that are in a more reachable USD 500-1500 range. But in no gorilla areas are there lower cost lodges that can be relied upon. With the gorilla permits being in such short supply, the higher cost lodges are able to buy them all up in advance, meaning that guests at lower cost properties may find themselves unable to even go see the gorillas, which naturally makes the whole exercise rather pointless.

The third significant cost element is the transport in and out, these are remote areas, so the air and road transport can add significantly to the total.

Finally, and probably most importantly, almost everyone who goes gorilla tracking also wants to go on a savanna safari. Whether that is done by spending longer in Uganda or Rwanda, or whether you fly across the border into the Maasai Mara (Kenya) or Serengeti (Tanzania), the costs are very significant. The gorilla-and-safari combination is famously and unavoidably pricey. But it is great.

"We just returned from a weeks safari organized  organized   organized by ATR and have nothing but positive reviews!"

Bwindi, Uganda

Set in the southwest of Uganda, Bwindi Forest is one of the prime locations in Africa for viewing mountain gorillas. It is arguably a prettier and more intriguing location than Virunga, more adventurous.

The area contains a handful of good lodges and offers an excellent range of other forest and cultural activities, notably including interaction with the Batwa pygmies.

Although the core gorilla experience is very similar, Bwindi is lower cost than Virunga, and also offers the chance to continue north into the savanna safari areas of Queen Elizabeth and Murchison, as well as the chimpanzee area of Kibale Forest.

Bwindi can also be relatively easily combined by light aircraft with the key safari locations of Serengeti (Tanzania) and Maasai Mara (Kenya), although the flights are not always operational on these routes.

Lodges USD 750-2200 pppn
Permits USD 800 pp per trek

Virunga, Rwanda

Set in the northwest of Rwanda, Virunga Mountains is one of the prime locations in Africa for viewing mountain gorillas, plus options for other primates and cultural interaction.

These days, Virunga is best known for its very high-end accommodation, with a handful of extremely polished and pricey lodges servicing the very top end of the market. With the limitation on gorilla permits, it is easy for this level of tourism to dominate.

The gorilla experience is roughly equivalent to that in Bwindi, but treks tend to be on the slopes of a single mountain, rather than exploring a maze of forested valleys, as it is in the latter.

Virunga can be relatively easily combined by light aircraft with the key safari locations of Serengeti (Tanzania), but connections to the Maasai Mara (Kenya) are more likely to be in a large aircraft via Nairobi.

Lodges USD 750-4000 pppn
Permits USD 1500 pp per trek

Odzala, Congo

Set in the remote north of Congo, Odzala Kokoua is a substantial national park, the best location in Africa for viewing lowland gorillas, plus other rare and unusual wildlife including bongos and forest elephants.

Unlike the two mountain gorilla areas in Rwanda and Uganda, Odzala is rarely combined with other safari locations. This is an expedition in its own right, with weekly departures by light aircraft from Brazzaville, typically spending 6-11 nights at the three fixed camps in the area.

This is an unavoidably pricey undertaking, quite understandably given the extraordinary remoteness of the location and the level of infrastructure needed to deliver trips of this quality and reliability in such an environment. It’s a real trophy trip for experienced safari travellers.

Lodges USD 2000-3000 pppn
Permits USD 800 pp per trek

There is no wildlife experience to compare with meeting great apes in the wild. When you look into their eyes and know that they know, that you share an overlapping cognitive space. And that you are there and still alive thanks to their good grace.

Face to face

Usually, when we speak of gorilla tracking, we are referring to the experience of encountering the mountain gorillas of Uganda and Rwanda. The other more unusual option is to visit the lowland gorillas of Congo.

Two main types

If you pre-book two gorilla permits, the chances of a first-class up-close encounter is extremely high. If you draw a blank the first time, the park authorities will move you onto a more-or-less guaranteed sighting, with a family that is close by and accessible.

Reliable encounters

The fact that there are so few of these creatures remaining in the wild is something about which all mankind should be utterly ashamed. If it weren’t from the revenues generated by tourism, they would have become extinct in the wild by now. Your visit will represent a significant contribution.

Conservation

If you go to Bwindi in Uganda for your gorillas, then you can continue north by road, to explore the amazing scenery of the Rift Valley, adding some modest savanna safari, plus chimpanzees.

QE and Kibale 

If you want to add a serious savanna safari to your gorillas, then you can fly by light aircraft from Kigali (Rwanda) and Entebbe (Uganda) direct into the dirt airstrips deep inside the reserve.

Serengeti

Gorillas are such a draw that guests combine with distant safari areas, regardless of the clunky connections, including Maasai Mara (Kenya), Kruger (South Africa) and Okavango (Botswana).

Other safari

If your priority is the easiest trekking, the long dry season in Uganda (Bwindi) from June to August and in Rwanda (Virunga) from June to September offers firm trails and shorter treks. Rwanda is particularly consistent, making it a safe bet for first-time trekkers or those who prefer predictable conditions.

Easiest trekking

If you are drawn to dramatic rainforest immersion, Congo (Odzala) shines during its drier periods in January to March and October to November, when the forest is lush, vibrant, and atmospheric. Uganda (Bwindi) also delivers this moody rainforest experience during its wetter months of March, April, October, and November.

Dramatic 
experience

For travelers seeking solitude, March, April, May, and October through November are the quietest months in Uganda (Bwindi) and Rwanda (Virunga). Congo (Odzala) tends to remain low-traffic year-round due to its remoteness.

Solitude

Photographers looking for clear light and better visibility generally do best in January, February, June, July, August, and December in Rwanda, or January, February, June, July, and December in Uganda (Bwindi). Congo (Odzala) provides softer, diffused light, ideal for intimate forest shots rather than wide vistas.

Photography