uganda & rwanda: camping the highland lakes

One family does not mean worse odds.

We put gorilla tracking in Uganda at better than 95 per cent successful in either park, because trackers go out at dawn to the place the family nested the evening before; nobody can promise a sighting.

What one family does mean is scarcity. The Authority releases roughly eight permits a day for the Nyakagezi group, and Mgahinga has no second family to absorb demand, so on this route the permit comes first and the walking days at Lake Bunyonyi are counted back from its date.

Three nights at the park give a spare morning, which matters: if a trek fails to find the gorillas, the Authority's rules provide for a second attempt the next day. Treks leave the Ntebeko gate at 8am and typically last three to five hours, and the minimum age is 15.

It is hill walking, not mountaineering, but one of the two days is long.

The route follows a community trail with standard stages. The first, from the Bunyonyi shore to Habukomi Island, is short: about six kilometres, nearly half of it paddled in a dugout canoe.

The second, from the island on to Lake Kayumbu, is the real walk, about 21 kilometres including a further canoe crossing, rising from the lake at 1,960 metres to a high point just over 2,500, and graded moderate.

The paths are steep terraced hillsides and village tracks, so anyone who walks regularly at home will manage, with good boots.

The two camp nights are simple by design: a lightweight camp beside an island homestay the first night and another by the water at Kayumbu the second. They are the only two nights of the fifteen under canvas.

Ask us for the day-by-day distances and the camp kit list for your dates, and say if you would prefer shorter stages.

Not necessarily.

The East Africa Tourist Visa covers Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya on one document: the UK Foreign Office confirms it allows multiple entries to the three countries over 90 days, and Rwanda's immigration service says the same.

The detail that matters for this trip is where you apply. Rwanda's rule is that 'your first entry point must be the country through which you applied for the visa', and this route begins in Kigali, so the application goes to Rwanda, not Uganda.

The crossing itself is by road at Katuna, roughly 100 kilometres north of Kigali, where you clear immigration for both countries before driving on to Lake Bunyonyi, a short way beyond the town of Kabale. Allow a morning for the whole journey.

Entry rules change, so read the Foreign Office entry requirements for both countries before you travel.

Every animal on this route can be found in any month. What changes is the ground, above all on the two walking days.

June and July are the only two months we rate as recommended at every stop on the route, Kigali included.

August, December, January and February run them close, with firm paths around the lakes and on the volcanoes, and only Kigali or the Queen Elizabeth plains a shade less settled.

September suits the walking and the gorillas but is wetter in Kibale, and October brings the short rains and heavier going.

The wettest stretch runs from March to May, with November not far behind, and for a trip with two nights under canvas and a long day on foot these are the months we would steer you away from, April and November above all.

The rains are not without reward: quiet trails, green terraces, strong birding around Lake Bunyonyi, permits at short notice and the flat light that flatters gorilla photographs. But this is a route to walk dry if you can.

The chimpanzees of Kibale are the most dependable primate on the route after the gorillas: like the Wildlife Authority, we rate the chance of locating them at better than nine in ten.

Parties of up to six set out from the Kanyanchu centre, walk for two to five hours over gently rolling forest floor, and stay an hour with the chimps after reaching them.

Golden monkeys are a different morning. Outside the Virungas they barely occur at all, and the habituated troop here feeds in the bamboo on the slopes of Mount Gahinga. No success figure is published for them.

Reaching their territory means climbing for 60 to 90 minutes, and you then have an hour in their company. Two nights at Kibale and three at Mgahinga give each its own morning, separate from the gorilla trek. As with any wild animal, neither is promised.

One night is a taste, not a safari, and it is the first thing we would look at changing.

As the route stands you reach the park after a long drive from Lake Mutanda, which we put at seven hours or more, leaving time for one game drive on the Kasenyi plains before you move on to Kibale.

A second night makes room for the two-hour boat trip on the Kazinga Channel, which is one of the most relaxing ways to view game in the park, and for an unhurried morning among the kob and, with luck, the lions that follow them. We can also put a lodge in place of the two camping nights.

What cannot move freely are the permits: the Mgahinga gorilla permit, from about eight a day, and the Kibale chimpanzee permits, which must be booked in advance.

From Ndali, Entebbe is six to seven hours by road, or there is a scheduled flight out of Kasese, which will not run for fewer than two passengers and caps baggage at 15 kilograms.