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Uganda has two parks with mountain gorillas: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, about an hour’s drive apart in the far south-west. Bwindi is the obvious choice for most people, with many habituated families, four trekking sectors and the widest range of lodges. Mgahinga is small and scenic, with one gorilla family on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes plus golden monkeys. Here is how they compare and which suits your trip.
The short answer
Choose Bwindi if you want the best chance of getting a permit on your dates, a choice of trekking difficulty, or the four-hour habituation experience. Choose Mgahinga if you have secured one of its few permits, want volcano scenery and golden monkeys in the same trip, or are coming from Rwanda and want the shortest drive. The gorilla permit costs US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November. The price is the same in both parks.
Gorillas and permits
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park holds roughly half of the world’s mountain gorillas, and around twenty of its families are habituated for tourism, spread across the Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo sectors (see the four sectors compared). That means many permits each day and a real choice of where to trek. Read about the Bwindi gorilla families before you book.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park has a single habituated family, the Nyakagezi family, so only eight permits are sold per day. They go quickly in the dry seasons, and because Mgahinga is part of the Virunga range that straddles Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo, its gorillas have in the past moved across the border for long periods. They have stayed on the Ugandan side in recent years, but the small number of permits is the main reason most visitors end up in Bwindi.
Landscape and the trek itself
Bwindi is a steep, dense rainforest of ridges and valleys, and treks range from under an hour to most of the day depending on where the family has moved overnight. Mgahinga is quite different: you walk up through farmland, then bamboo and montane forest on the lower slopes of Mount Gahinga and Mount Sabyinyo. The views of the volcanoes are some of the finest in Uganda, and the open bamboo zone can make gorilla photography easier than in Bwindi’s thick undergrowth.
What else each park offers
Mgahinga packs a lot into 34 square kilometres. Besides gorillas you can track endangered golden monkeys, climb Mount Sabyinyo, Gahinga or Muhabura, and walk the Batwa Trail with Batwa guides. Our 3-day gorilla and golden monkey trip shows how they fit together. Bwindi offers forest walks, waterfalls, community visits, superb birding with Albertine Rift endemics around Ruhija, and the Gorilla Habituation Experience in Rushaga, which is not available in Mgahinga.
Getting there and where to stay
Mgahinga is reached through Kisoro, about three hours by road from Kigali via the Cyanika border, which makes it popular with travellers flying into Rwanda. Kisoro airstrip has scheduled flights from Entebbe. Bwindi’s southern sectors are also close to Kisoro and Kabale, while Buhoma in the north is usually reached via Kihihi airstrip. Lodges near Mgahinga are fewer and mostly mid-range, while Bwindi has options from budget guesthouses to some of Uganda’s most expensive lodges.
Combining both, or comparing with Rwanda
Many itineraries do both: a gorilla trek in Bwindi’s Rushaga or Nkuringo sector and golden monkeys in Mgahinga the next day, using the same lodge near Kisoro. If you are also weighing Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, read Uganda vs Rwanda, and our guide to gorilla permits for how to book.
Frequently asked questions
Bwindi suits most visitors because it has many habituated families and four sectors; Mgahinga is smaller, with one family and volcano scenery.
One habituated family, the Nyakagezi group, so only eight permits are available each day.
No. Permits cost the same as in Bwindi: US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November.
Yes. They are about an hour apart, so many trips combine a Bwindi gorilla trek with golden monkeys in Mgahinga.
