Mountain gorillas in Bwindi, chimpanzees in Kibale, tree-climbing lions in Ishasha and the Kigali memorial — two countries, one border crossing, and the permits that pay for all of it.
Entebbe
Arrive on the lake. Entebbe is calmer than Kampala and the botanical gardens on the shore are a good first morning. Ngamba Island, an hour by boat, is a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees and a reasonable way to deal with jet lag.
West to Fort Portal
A long drive west across the country to the crater lake region below the Rwenzori. The road is tarmac and the journey is most of the day. Fort Portal sits among dozens of explosion craters, several of them filled and swimmable.
Kibale chimpanzee tracking
The highest density of primates in Africa. The standard permit gives an hour with a habituated chimp community; the full-day habituation experience follows a group from their morning nests and is a different order of experience for roughly twice the cost. Bigodi swamp nearby is a community-run birding walk.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
South to the Kazinga channel, a 32-kilometre natural waterway between two lakes with the highest concentration of hippo anywhere. The afternoon boat is the set piece; game drives on the Kasenyi plains in the early morning are where the lions are.
Ishasha
The southern sector, where lions climb into fig trees and lie along the branches through the heat of the day. Nobody is entirely sure why they do it here and in one other place in Africa. Sightings are not guaranteed and the drive south continues afterwards.
Into Bwindi
The Impenetrable Forest, which earns the name. Roughly half the world's mountain gorillas live here across four sectors — Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo — and which sector you stay in determines which family you track, so this is booked together with the permit months ahead.
Gorilla trekking
Briefing at seven, then anything from one to six hours of walking through dense wet forest behind trackers who have been with the family since dawn. You get one hour, at seven metres, wearing a mask. It is the most expensive hour in African travel and almost nobody regrets it.
Lake Bunyonyi
A decompression day. A deep lake at 1,960 metres with 29 islands, no crocodiles or hippos and therefore safe swimming — unusual in this part of Africa. Dugout canoes, terraced hillsides and the best two nights of rest on the route.
Cross into Rwanda
The Cyanika or Katuna border, then down good tarmac into a country that looks and feels immediately different — terraced to the ridgelines, orderly, and with speed cameras. Plastic bags are confiscated at the border, including duty-free ones.
The Volcanoes foothills
Golden monkey tracking in Volcanoes National Park is a fraction of the gorilla permit price and worth a morning. The Dian Fossey grave hike climbs to the Karisoke research site where she worked and was buried beside the gorillas she studied. Musanze caves fill the afternoon.
Lake Kivu
An hour and a half west to Gisenyi on the shore of Lake Kivu, with the Congolese city of Goma immediately across the border. The Congo Nile Trail runs south along the shore and a section of it makes a good afternoon by bike or on foot.
Kigali
Three hours east on excellent road. The Kigali Genocide Memorial is the resting place of more than 250,000 victims and the clearest account of 1994 available anywhere; allow the whole afternoon and do not schedule anything after it.
Kigali and depart
A last morning for the Nyamirambo women's centre walking tour, the Inema arts centre and coffee — Rwandan coffee is very good and mostly exported, and Kigali is one of the few places to drink it at source. The airport is fifteen minutes from the centre.
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The permit is the trip. Uganda charges US$800 for a gorilla permit and Rwanda US$1,500 for the same species; Uganda's lodges are cheaper too, which is why this route treks in Bwindi and uses Rwanda for the border, the memorial and the easier exit. Permits are limited daily and sell out for June to September and December to February — book six months ahead through the Uganda Wildlife Authority or an operator. Chimp permits in Kibale are US$250, and the full-day habituation experience US$300. Hire a vehicle with a driver-guide rather than self-driving: the roads to Bwindi are rough, the distances are long and the guide is what finds the wildlife. Yellow fever certificates are compulsory for both countries and checked. Malaria prophylaxis is standard for Uganda's lowlands. Take a porter on the gorilla trek — it costs about US$20, it makes the walk substantially easier, and it is direct income to a community that has to live beside the park.
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Kigali, Volcanoes and Lake Kivu in six days, trekking in Rwanda at the higher permit price. Far less driving — the park is under three hours from the airport on tarmac — and the right choice if time is the binding constraint rather than money.
Three days north from Entebbe before heading west: the Nile forced through a seven-metre gap, boat trips to the base, and the Ziwa rhino sanctuary on the way. Adds a full savanna park to a route that is otherwise forest-heavy.
April, May and November bring rain, mud on the trek and discounted permits from some operators. The forest is at its best and the lodges are empty; the trekking is genuinely harder and gaiters are not optional.