African Safari

[alphahydro 334]

7 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

When I was doing all of the research, the gorilla permits were a lot more expensive in Rwanda.  Uganda is the budget option, if you will, or if you are really adventurous, you can see them in DRC as well, but that is a level of sketchiness that would never fly with the wife so I didn’t bother looking into it beyond the fact that I know you can see them there.

I think it's $800 per person in Uganda and $1500 pp in Rwanda. 

I think you almost have to buy 2 days of permits- it would suck to fly all the way down there and not see any gorillas on your trek, then fly all the way back.  So, depending on how many people are in your group, the price difference could add up.  One good thing about Rwanda is you can just order the permit off a website from the gov't.  In Uganda, it seems a little sketchier.  I think you basically have to go through a third party (or if there's a way to book directly, i didn't see it). 

In Uganda, they also have habituation permits ($1500, iirc - but more time with the gorillas), where you trek to gorillas who aren't fully habituated yet.  Sounds great on paper, but based on the reviews, it sounds like the unhabituated gorillas most often just go deeper into the forest when they see you, so most ppl just end up hiking through the forest a lot chasing the unhabituated gorillas.  as a result, you get to spend less time actually near the unhabituated gorillas.  Unhabituated gorillas could be spectacular and you get test charged and live to tell about it.  Or you could spend 10 hours slogging through rainforest to get 8 glimpses at a gorilla from afar.  

When I was looking through the reviews, people who did the experience in Uganda consistently raved about it.  Comparatively, the people who saw the gorillas in Rwanda were a lot less effusive in their reviews (on average--could be wrong, but that was my definite impression).

I think area near the rainforest is a little more spectacular/exotic in Uganda, and they do a better job of getting people to the gorillas.  Like the overall experience that day seems more authentic.  Idk.  In Rwanda, each morning they pool every park tourist for the day in one spot, and from the reviews, it seems like the morning gathering is disorganized/feels like waiting around at disneyland/kills the vibe.   I got the impression that Rwanda is less of an experience (the difficulty of getting to the forest in Uganda is part of what makes the entire experience).  It kinda felt from the reviews like Uganda was more remote/wild/authentic and Rwanda feels more like a conveyor belt out to the gorillas.  Idk.  Just my impression. 

idk, after all my research, i thought uganda sounded better, but it wouldn't fit into our trip, because of the extra time needed to get from the int'l airport to bwindi.   so i was gonna go to rwanda, then decided to do this trip another year (had nothing to do with gorillas - we were gonna spend time in egypt to kill the jetlag and egypt just shut down the country's best tomb plus their national museum is basically temporarily closed). 

 

[millhouse 2617]

Thank you@alphahydro. we have heard about the difference between the reserves/conservancies and regular parks so are planning for a mix of both (part of the reason we've ruled some places out).