What is the price of a gorilla tour?
Every client wants to know the price for a gorilla tour or gorilla trekking Uganda costs and indeed this is an interesting questions that has been discussed in forums such as tripadvisor and lonely planet. Basically a 3 Day gorilla trekking safari costs from USD1400 to USD1900 per person sharing in a group of two excluding a gorilla permit at USD700.00 for one hour trek or USD1500 gorilla habituation experience permit for a four hour gorilla expedition.
Kindly note that what is expressed here about Uganda gorilla trek cost is Encounter Africa Safari opinion which should just act as a guideline and should you have any questions please do contact some of our experienced tour consultant for details. You can also check our our sample gorilla safari packages to enjoy our competitive prices for Bwindi Gorilla safaris.
Gorilla trekking Uganda cost breakdown
For a successful gorilla trekking tour, your Uganda gorilla trek costs should consider the cost of a gorilla permit whose price is USD700.00 per person for one hour trek and USD1500.00 per person for a four hour gorilla habituation experience, you also need to consider the cost of for you accommodation and then pay transport to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Mgahinga National Park (Uganda) and Volcanoes National Park in Uganda. Most Budget gorilla safari lodges charge between USD70 to USD100 while Mid Range Lodges charge between USD120 to USD200 while Luxury or Up Market Lodges charge from USD350.00 per person sharing onwards.
Depending on where you wish to trek gorillas, the minimum days for a gorilla trekking tour in Uganda is three while for Rwanda, it can be two days. Encounter Africa safaris organizes 3 day gorilla tours from Entebbe as well as 3 Day or 2 day Bwindi Gorilla safaris from Kigali. Please see some of our gorilla trekking packages below
Price and Cost of Gorilla Permits.
In your budget/cost for a gorilla tour, or Uganda gorilla trek costing, your number one item should be a gorilla permit. Its a gorilla permit that gives you permission to view the endangered mountain gorillas for one hour per person in Uganda or Rwanda.
Currently each gorilla permit costs US700 per person per trek but will be changing starting 1 July 2010 to US$700 per person and you can contact Ikiya Primate Safaris for your gorilla permit pre purchase.
Take advantage of our Low season discounted gorilla safaris in April, May and November and enjoy a 20% Discount. You can choose to book our 3 day low season gorilla tour, or our 5 day low season gorilla and chimp trekking safari . Rwanda gorilla permits cost USD1500.00 per person for one hour but you can also consider gorilla habituation experience permits at USD1500 to spend four hours with mountain gorillas in the southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Gorilla permits for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park are issued by Uganda Wildlife Authority head offices in Kampala on a fast come first serve basis while Gorilla permits for Rwanda are issues by Rwanda Development Board.
Please contact Ikiya Prmate Safaris for availability and booking of Gorilla permits at Uganda Wildlife Authority or Rwanda Development Board. It is advised that you pre purchase your gorilla permits 3-5 months in advance to avoid shortage most especially during high seasons of June, July, August and September then December, January and February. Check out our off season gorilla trekking offers for April, May and November.
Price and Cost of Transport.
You will need to budget and plan transport to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park as part of your gorilla trekking cost or pricing. The minimum days to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by road is three days. Therefore you need to budget for three days. The first day is for leaving Entebbe/Kampala to Bwindi and the next day is for moving around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. You need a Vehicle to transfer you to and from the starting point of your gorilla trek and the third day is to drive back to Entebbe/Kampala.
Thus you need to budget for a vehicle with guide per day and then fuel to cater for the long distance from Entebbe to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Please do contact us for the rates of vehicle hire. Encounter Africa safaris owns a fleet of 4×4 Safari Vans and 4×4 Land Cruisers for your gorilla trek safari.
You can as well plan to fly to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park as some companies such as Aerolink operate scheduled flights to and from Kihihi which is the nearest Air Field and as such, you need transfers from the Air strip to your lodge. Other companies like fly Uganda and Eagle air operate charter flights to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. It also possible to fly from Kigali and track gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Cost of Porters
We encourage all our clients to take porters for their gorilla trek for several reasons. They carry your bags and when you are approaching gorillas, they will remain with your packed lunches and all items that you might not need. They will give you a push or a pull during your trek in the forest. This extra effort is to enable you achieve your dream of viewing these endangered mountain gorillas. The other significance of taking a porter is that by doing so, you are contributing to community development since most of these porter are school going, this chance was only given to students to work and get money to for their school fees. By paying for a porter, you are contributing to community development indirectly
Cost of Tips
Tips are an appreciation of good service rendered to you by your safari guide, gorilla trekking guide, waiters and porters. Its not a must that you have to do this. As a responsible Tour Company, we recommend that you put some small funds aside for tipping.
Operator Markup
On top of the above costs, the company puts between 10-20% of the total cost as fixing or service fee. This is part of our profit as well as helping us to book all services such as gorilla permits, accommodation and making telephone calls to check availability and make sure that all is in order. For more information on cost for a gorilla tour or gorilla trek costs for Uganda and Rwanda, please contact Ikiya Primate safaris your trusted Safari operator
