Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp

A once in a lifetime experience.

There is a once in a lifetime experience to see Gorillas in the wild. We travelled to Uganda in September 2017 and stayed at Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp, a luxury camp, in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. I had seen video clips of unique experiences guests had when gorillas walked into the camp. We arrived for our stay to find the most superb tented camp and it was everything you could want in Africa. Our canvas tent had the most beautiful African décor with cotton nets over our bed, and African artefacts placed throughout the tent, a private bathroom with a large bath tub to soak after a hard day trekking. The main communal hut has a dining room and lounge area with views over the forest. The meals are all from local produce, good selections of drinks at the bar, and they even pack you a boxed lunch and snacks to take on your gorilla trek and our last day when we checked out for our drive back to the airport to fly to Entebbe. There is a campfire that just adds to the whole glamping experience. This camp is all inclusive - all meals, drinks and laundry are included.

Gorilla trekking permits need to be pre-booked as they are strictly limited and they only allow 8 trekkers each day to each gorilla family. It is expensive and a lot of effort but worth every penny for this magical experience. You do need to be fit as it is unknown how far you need to trek to find the gorilla family, and it can be up and down hills. We did 2 gorilla treks and the first trek it took 4 hours to find the family and the 2nd trek only 45 mins. There is a ranger’s station within walking distance of the camp so if you are lucky enough to get a permit from there it saves a drive.

We had a fabulous day gorilla trekking and we were sitting in the lounge having a glass of wine late in the afternoon when in walks a male gorilla. Of course, we were ecstatic and there are no words to describe this experience. He was 2-3 meters from us and we watched him make his way around the camp, consuming leaves from various bushes and then moving near the kitchen where he tore down 4 banana trees to get to the very juicy stalks at the bottom. He was not scared of us and staff watching and as the staff explained, they normally have gorillas in camp once a month, and even though they are wild they appear to be used to human interaction. This was just the icing on the cake for the most wonderful experience. 10/10 for Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp.