For a honeymoon
Uganda: the wilder version, and what it asks
More variety, fewer people, lower permits — and more effort than any other country here.
The case
The same mountain gorillas as Rwanda, at a substantially lower permit price, in forest that is steeper, denser and wilder. Add the best chimpanzee tracking in Africa at Kibale, tree-climbing lions in the Ishasha sector, and the Nile pouring through a seven-metre gap at Murchison Falls.
It has more variety than Rwanda and a fraction of the visitors of either Kenya or Tanzania. For couples who want the wilder version of East Africa and have the time, it is the most rewarding country on this page.
The caveat
Effort. There is more driving than anywhere else here — the distances are real and the roads are not Rwandan tarmac. The forest is wetter, the trek is rougher, and there are fewer lodges at the very top end.
That is a good trade on a second African trip. It is a harder one on a honeymoon of ten days, when the thing you are shortest of is energy.
Who Uganda is right for
Couples who have travelled in Africa before, who want the trek to be the point rather than an excursion, and who have at least twelve nights.
For a first African trip of ten days, we would usually suggest Rwanda for the gorillas and Kenya for everything else — and say so plainly.
When to go
Year-round for gorillas and chimps. June to August and December to February are drier and the trekking is easier. The rains do not close anything; they make the tracks harder.
What it costs, relatively
The lowest of the five by a meaningful margin — lower permits, lower camp rates, and more road than air. The trade is time: what you save in money you spend in hours.
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