Everyone books June to September. Everyone is not wrong, exactly — but the months they avoid have advantages that rarely make it into the brochures.
The trek is often shorter, not longer
This surprises people. In the wetter months, gorillas tend to feed lower down the slopes where the vegetation is richest. Lower usually means closer to the trailhead. Several of our shortest treks on record have been in April.
The trade is underfoot. The mud in Bwindi in April is a serious proposition and the volcanic soil in Volcanoes National Park is worse. Gaiters and a porter stop being advice and start being necessities.
The light is better
Dry-season forest light is high-contrast: hard shafts through the canopy and deep black shadow, which is exactly the wrong condition for photographing a black animal. Overcast wet-season light is flat, even and soft — the closest thing a rainforest offers to a studio.
The green is also at its best in May and November, and it photographs like a different forest.
It is empty, and it is cheaper
Permits never change price. Lodges do — typically 20–35% lower in April, May and November, and the better properties become available at short notice. The briefing at Rushaga in November might have twelve people at it instead of forty.
The honest downside
You will get wet. The rain generally arrives as heavy afternoon downpours rather than all-day drizzle, but it does arrive. Murram roads into Ruhija and Nkuringo get slippery and a 4x4 stops being optional. And if your trip includes savannah parks, grass is high and game harder to spot.
If you are travelling once in your life and want the best odds on every variable, book July. If you would rather have the forest to yourself and spend less doing it, look at May and November.
What we book
Our own staff, given a free choice, trek in late February or November. Make of that what you will. The month-by-month guide has the full picture.
Next
Keep planning
- Best time for gorilla trekking — month by month
- What to pack — gaiters, seriously
- Permits and costs — where low season saves money
- 4-day budget gorilla safari — built around green season