Without doubt one of the world’s greatest wildlife experiences - the thrill of a close encounter with reclusive mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.

Our range of gorilla watching safaris gets you up close and personal with these gentle giants. We operate our tours responsibly, taking care not to disturb these fascinating creatures. We keep a respectful distance – but it’s not unusual for an inquisitive gorilla to come closer to us!

Gorilla tracking in East Africa

Mountain gorillas are one of the world’s most endangered species, with only some 600-700 left in the wild. These magnificent animals live in small troops, each within its own defined boundaries and each with several females and their young being led by a single dominant male – the magnificent ‘Silverback’. Distinct from their cousins who live in the open plains and lowland forests of West Africa, mountain gorillas are normally found in at an altitude of between 1520m and 3650m.

We are lucky enough to be able to offer mountain gorilla tracking in two unique locations - Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in southern Uganda and in the Virunga massif of Rwanda’s Parc National des Volcans.

At both locations, gorilla tracking is limited to a daily maximum group size of six people for each habituated gorilla family group. You will be accompanied by expert trackers and park rangers and, although sightings of gorillas can never be guaranteed, the fact that the family groups are tracked daily means that locating the families is easier.

What's it really like?

Our very own Paul Bondsfield recently went on the Ugandan gorilla watching trip. Read his blog entry and find out what it is really like to come face to face with a silverback mountain gorilla! Read Paul's gorilla watching blog.

Helping to protect the gorillas

Explore work closely with The Gorilla Organisation to help protect the remaining 700 mountain gorillas.  Each year we sponsor and take part in The Great Gorilla Run in London. Find out more about our partnership with The Gorilla Organisation.