uganda: trekking the albertine rift

We put gorilla treks in Uganda at better than 95 per cent successful, since trackers set off at dawn for the place each family slept.

This route improves on that by not relying on a single morning: it passes three trailheads, Mgahinga, Nkuringo and Buhoma, in two national parks.

They make for different days out:

• Mgahinga has one habituated family and about eight permits a day, tracked across the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes
• Nkuringo, on Bwindi's southern ridge, is steep rainforest where the trek drops into the valley and climbs back out
• Buhoma, in the north, is where gorilla tourism in Bwindi began in 1993 and remains the forest's main trailhead

Each trek needs its own permit, issued for a named area on a named date, with eight visitors to a family, so tell us whether you want one trek, two or all three and we will book them before anything else.

As ever with wild animals, no sighting is promised, by us or by the park.

Both are hill walks on village paths, with nothing technical, but they are full days and you should be used to walking.

For the first, between Lake Bunyonyi and Lake Kayumbu, the trail's stages run from about six kilometres to about 21 in a day, part of each by dugout canoe, between roughly 1,900 and 2,500 metres, and are graded moderate.

For the second, up to the Nteko ridge at Nkuringo, the usual route from the Kisoro side is 10 to 18 kilometres on foot plus a stretch by canoe on Lake Mutanda, four to eight hours in all, also graded moderate, with bags going round by vehicle.

The ridge stands at about 2,160 metres, so that day finishes uphill. The two nights on the first walk are spent in a simple lightweight camp, the only nights of the trip under canvas.

Distances on a private trip can be adjusted, so have us send the stage plan before you commit.

Yes, and on a trip built around walking it is the change we would suggest first.

As written, the route simply moves you north to Buhoma, and by road that means a long loop around the outside of the park. On foot there is a way straight through it.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority's River Ivi Trail follows an old road through the forest and comes out near Nkuringo; it is about 14 kilometres and six to seven hours, graded moderate, and walked with a park ranger.

A second route along the Kashasha River is steeper and graded strenuous, though kinder from Nkuringo to Buhoma than the other way, because the big climb is on the Nkuringo side. We recommend the Ivi trail to birdwatchers.

Bags can go round by vehicle and meet you at Buhoma. We arrange it with the park in advance, so ask when you enquire. It is a forest walk, not a gorilla trek, and you should not expect to meet gorillas on it.

For a route with two multi-day walks and up to three gorilla treks, dry ground matters more than anything.

June, July and August are recommended on every one of our best time pages for this route, Kigali's included, and give the firmest paths in the Kigezi highlands and on the forest slopes.

September, December, January and February are close behind; Kigali can be showery in those months but the walking country is settled. October sits between the two, with softer ground.

The wet months are March to May, with November wet again, and then the village paths turn slick, the climb to the Nkuringo ridge becomes a slog and a night under canvas is a damp one, and we rate those months as challenging in Bwindi and at Mgahinga.

If those are the only months you can travel, the forest is at its greenest, the birding around Lake Bunyonyi is strong, permits open up at short notice and the soft light suits gorilla photography; we would simply suggest swapping the camp nights for a lodge.

The trip starts in Kigali and ends at Buhoma, in a different country, so both ends need planning.

Going in, the road north from Kigali meets the Ugandan border at Katuna after about 100 kilometres, and Lake Bunyonyi is reached the same day.

Coming out, the scheduled flight from Kihihi airstrip, 90 minutes to two hours by road from Buhoma, takes 70 to 75 minutes to Entebbe direct and longer when it stops elsewhere on the way, in a Cessna Grand Caravan seating eleven whose 15 kilogram soft-bag limit includes what you carry on.

Or you can drive back to Kigali, which takes about seven hours.

On paperwork, one joint tourist visa is good across all three of Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya for repeated entries over 90 days, as both the UK Foreign Office and Rwanda's immigration service set out. The country you apply through has to be the one you enter first, which on this route means Rwanda. Entry rules change, so check them again before you travel.

They are separate from the walking days and harder to predict.

A gorilla trek lasts as long as it takes to reach the family: two to seven hours in Bwindi and typically three to five at Mgahinga, off the paths, on steep and often wet ground. Bwindi's forest spans roughly 1,160 to 2,600 metres in height and Mgahinga's trailhead is at 2,227.

Nkuringo is the stiffest of the three, because the climb back up to the ridge comes at the end of the day. Anyone comfortable on the two highland walks has the fitness for it; what changes is the footing, which is mud, roots and undergrowth where the walks have paths.

At the morning briefing the rangers will usually steer anyone who asks towards a family that is closer in, a walking staff is provided, and porters from the villages by the trailhead can be taken on for the day. Gorilla trekkers must be 15 or over.