Both spellings can be found online. However, tracking is correct, since the term comes from tracking down, following a trail. Although you hike to the animals, this has nothing to do with trekking, since trekking is a multi-day hike. Therefore, the groups of visitors are preceded by trackers and not trekkers.

let us explain the different functionalities around the gorilla tracking:

•  first of all, there are the Ranger TRACKERS, who work in groups of 2-3 and go together at 6:30am the into the forest. When they reached the place where they left the gorillas the day before, they start to find them. They look for signs as gorilla tracks, broken branches etc. Then they keep in touch with the rangers who will come with the visitor group and inform them where they located the gorillas. After the visitors finished, the trackers stay in the forest and follow the gorilla group until they start to build their nests for the night.
• Then there are the RANGERS, your Gorilla Guides, who are responsible to guide the visitors to the gorillas and back and to explain them everything before and during the track. They meet you at 7:30am at the meeting point for the briefing and start the tracking with you at about 8:15am. After the track you will get your certificate from your Gorilla Guide.
• Then there are the Security Rangers, who escort the visitor group for the whole track. There will be 2 of them per group. One goes in front and one behind. It is their responsibility that you are safe at all times. The visitor group may encounter wild mountain elephants, which are quite aggressive or a group of wild gorillas, which are not used to human visitors in the forest. This does not happen very often. In case it happens and the situation is risky the Security Rangers will scare the wild animals by shooting in the air.
• last but not least there are the PORTERS. I prefer to call them SUPPORTERS. These are strong young ladies and men from the surrounded communities, which help you during the track. They carry your day backpack and support you when the track leads you through difficult terrain. This can be steep areas, muddy areas, river crossings, slippery downhill tracks etc. They will give you a firm hand, push you, pull you and take care that you do not slip away. The porter’s salary is not included in your permit. This is an optional service for 20$ plus tipp. They usually get only 1-3 jobs like this per month.

(Author Jones Tugume, gorilla expert of Nature Responsible Safari Uganda Company)

•  bring your passport - you need it for briefing
• Good waterproof hiking boots with a profile with good grip are a must, because the terrain tends to be challenging most of the time. The good traction under feet helps to avoid a lot of slippering, especially when it rains.
•  As you might pass muddy parts or cross small rivers, gaiters are not a must but a good decision to wear.
• Long pants and long sleeves are advised for all gorilla trackers as you will go through areas with a lot of stinging nettles and thorny bushes and might get seriously hurt without coverage.
• For the same reason you should bring garden gloves as tracking equipment. They help as well on steep slopes, when you might walk on four limbs like gorillas and you need to protect your hand from sharp stones or thorns.
• You should wear clothes in decent colors. Shouting colours like red, pink or yellow scares the gorillas. The colors should be environment friendly like khaki, beige, brown, black, dark blue or green.
• Rain jacket or poncho – light weight, breathable and absolutely water proof – is a must as this is a tropical rain forest in which heavy rainfalls can happen at any time of the day. You are on a hike and this will proceed even in heavy rain.
• please carry enough drinking water and a packed lunch with you. 1-2 l of water will be necessary as your track may last the whole day. Your guide will be able to offer bush toilet stops if necessary.
• A sun hat and sunburn lotion are as well important during a gorilla track day. It may happen that you walk or your gorilla visit takes place on plain land without being under the protection of tree canopies.
• Insect repellant should be sprayed on entire body before entering the forest. When you use during your track the fresh smell of the repellent may attract wasps.

(Author Jones Tugume, gorilla expert of Nature Responsible Safari Uganda Company)

Part 1 – The Briefing Process

• You should arrive latest at 7:30am at the Gate.
• Your driver guide will collect your passport and present it together with your valid tracking permit to the officials at the registration.
• As the registration process takes a while, you will be entertained by groups either from the rare ethnic tribe called Batwa or from dancers of the surrounded communities with folks and traditional dances basically related to mountain gorillas and Bwindi Forest.
• At about 08:00am the head ranger guide of the day will give all visitors a detailed briefing, basically talking about history of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the distribution of gorillas in their habitat. Plus, the do’s and don’ts and what to take with you like enough drinking water, food, rain jacket, walking sticks (wooden ones are provided at the briefing banda) etc.
• After briefing the visitors will be splitted in groups of max. 8 to track the different habituated gorilla families. Each gorilla family can be visited once per day by one visitor group for one hour. This restriction is for conservation purposes.
• You will be introduced to your gorilla guide. He will ask the group who wants porters, which are a big support during the track. They carry your day backpack and support you when the track leads trough difficult terrain. This can be steep areas, muddy areas, river crossings, slippery downhill tracks etc. They will give you a firm hand, push you, pull you and take care that you do not slip away. The porter’s salary is not included in your permit. This is an optional service for 15-20$.
• As well your gorilla guide will introduce the security rangers to the visitors.

PLEASE OPEN PART 2 NOW!

Part 2 – The Hiking Part:

• NOW it is about 8:15 to 8:30am and your gorilla tracking starts. Feel free to ask any questions related to gorillas, birds, herbs and whatever catches your interest during the track.
• YOUR gorilla guide will be in steady touch to the ranger trackers, who are in the forest since dawn to find the exact location of your gorilla group and advise your guide which shortcuts to use to meet the ranger trackers and the gorillas.
• DURING your track you will have breaks to drink, to stop for a moment, when the hike is very exhausting …. The ranger will adjust the group speed to the capabilities of the weakest in the group. And it is nothing to be ashamed about to be the weakest. Visitors with any capabilities get the chance to visit gorillas. Even handicapped by booking the track in combination with a stretcher, which means a top up of 300$.
• SHORTLY before you reach the gorillas your guide will add a preparation period to give the visitors a chance to drink water and prepare their cameras.
• NOW you will be introduced to the ranger trackers, who together with your guide take the full responsibility of your encounter with the gorillas for one hour. The porters, your backpacks and walking sticks will stay behind during this time. However, the guide may decide to allow help by your porter during the visit.
• THE GORILLAS may stay at one place but as well they might move. Then you will follow them.
• TRACKERS and guide will make sure, that both you and the gorillas are safe. You will have to wear a face mask, you are not allowed to take food or drink in front of the animals, should not use the flash of your camera, should not point with your fingers towards the gorillas, keep as quiet as possible, move gently. If the gorillas are charging, keep quiet, don’t run, don’t look in their eyes. The official distance should be 10m. But as the gorillas do not have a meter to measure, it might be less sometimes.
• WHEN you finished your magical one hour the trackers will stay with the gorillas and the rest of the group will walk back to the starting point or a point, where your driver can pick you up.
• THERE you will get your certificate from your gorilla guide, pay your porte, give your tipping to the rangers.
• NOW it is time to say good bye and to drive back to your lodge with hopefully wonderful memories.

• The national currency is the Ugandan shilling (UGX). The exchange of euros or dollars into local currency is possible in cash at exchange offices in Entebbe. Outside Kampala or Entebbe, please as your driver how and where to exchange cash. 
• The better method is to use ATMs which can be found in every bigger town. They can be used with the Visa or Master card
• Don't forget your credit card PIN!
• Try to use ATMs of Diamond Trust Bank, Stanbic or Bank of Africa, they charge less than the others.

PLEASE NOTE

• US dollars are only accepted or exchanged nationwide if they are new notes (from 2009) without any damages or marks. Notes smaller than $50 have a very bad exchange rate.
• Touristic prices are mostly in USD, but everything can be paid in UGX as well. UGX can only be used within Uganda.

Thanks to its altitude, Uganda has a pleasant, temperate-tropical climate, which has hardly any seasonal temperature fluctuations due to its location on the equator. The temperatures are therefore not as high as one is used to from other countries and regions in Africa. A daily temperature of 25-30°C is only exceeded in rare cases. At night, temperatures can drop to an average of 17°C. At an altitude of 2,000 m, the temperatures are about 7°C lower. This will be the case on our journey in the southern part of Uganda, in Bwindi, the gorilla destination and in Lake Bunyonyi region.

The humidity usually remains tolerable.

Only in deeper regions in the north as Kidepo NP and in Murchison Falls NP are significantly warmer and often there is a sweltering heat.

There are two dry periods that last from December to February and from July to August. However, this does not mean that precipitation is not to be expected, but only that the amount of rain is only about half as large as in the other months.

Rainfall amounts to 1,000 - 1,500 mm throughout the year in most of the country, with the rainiest month being April. The mountain slopes facing the prevailing wind direction, especially in the area around Lake Victoria, receive with 2,000 mm, in the Bwindi even up to 3,000 mm, the highest annual precipitation, in the rain shadow lying parts of the country, such as the edge and the bottom of the Central African trench, but only 750 mm.

As NRS Uganda will accommodate you only in good and clean lodges, only the following points should be considered:

• use only water of safe origin to drink or brush teeth.
•  never drink tap water - use sealed bottled water or the safe water provided by Eco lodges in glass bottles to avoid plastic
• As well in our cars as in the lodges you will be provided with safe water
• Wash hands with soap or use disinfectant as often as possible.

Yellow fever is mandatory.

Please NOTE, that a yellow fever vaccination is effective for life.

Recommended are hepatitis, tetanus, diphtheria and typhus.

Discuss with your doctor what  makes sense for you in addition to the yellow fever vaccination.

Yes, in Uganda you have to take precautions:

• Use mosquito nets when sleeping (available in the lodges), use insect repellent, wear long sleeves and long pants in the evenings, as well treat your clothes with insect repellent or use Craghopper clothing.
• In addition, it is up to each traveler to decide together with your travel doctor whether malaria prophylaxis should be used.
• Malaria tests are quick and easy be done almost everywhere in Uganda and a very good malaria medicine in case of infection is also easily available.

How do I recognize malaria?

• the first symptoms are not accompanied by a high fever, as is often assumed, that comes in most cases later.
• It usually starts with one or more of these symptoms:
• absolute loss of appetite, body aches, circulatory failure, stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhea, bitter taste in the mouth
• The incubation period is 12 days or longer.
• Treatment as soon as possible after the first symptoms appear is extremely important. The drug treatment then lasts only 3 days.

The lodges we choose for your booking depend on your budget.

The prices in our examples are based on so called good to superior midrange lodges. They are all situated close to the days starting point, have nice rooms, good beds, private bathrooms. Some have pools, some Aircondition and are situated in a nice surrounding. The service is sometimes slow in Uganda, which takes getting used to. You should be prepared for this.

All lodges have WiFi.

Uganda only has mobile network coverage, landline is not available.

In the lodges, WiFi is usually only available in the restaurant area. Some lodges are located in areas with poor network coverage, while on the main roads you can expect very good coverage while driving.

If you need a more consistent connection, you can buy a SIM card at the airport or in the larger cities. Airtel is slightly cheaper than MTN. Both have good network coverage. Depending on the data package, you should expect costs of 5-12$.

We discuss your trip program in detail with you and send you a tailor made detailed itinarary.

Every effort will be made to operate tours as planned, but alterations may occur after the final itinerary has been issued which are outside our responsibility and control.

More details are explained in the Terms and Conditions

Uganda is essentially a safe country to travel to. However there are regions especially a few parts inside Kampala which are considered not to be as safe. 

Our travel programs take this into account and asure a safe travel.

Every traveler should find out about current travel warnings from their responsible foreign office before the trip.