Overview

Join us on an incredible two week expedition to Uganda to spend a week learning traditional skills and craft from the pygmy forest people, the Batwa, before heading into Bwindi Inpenetrable Forest in the Virunga Mountains, home of the Great Ape – the Mountain Gorilla.

As the original dwellers of this ancient jungle, the Batwa were known as “The Keepers of the Forest.” We will join them to learn their ancient ways of living and hunting, learning about medicinal plants and craft, and joining them on walks through the forest to observe the way they lived harmoniously with the forest wildlife. In doing so, we are directly supporting these people since their eviction from their ancestral natural homes that they have lived in for 60,000 years, when Bwindi became a national park to protect the 350 remaining mountain gorillas back in 1992.

We will take the spirit of what we have learnt from the Batwa and apply it in our second week which will be spent in the rainforest, monitoring the wildlife, recording everything from spore to spoor. We will be using non invasive techniques such as tracking (spoor) and camera traps to record all wildlife encounters as part of a long term monitoring project set up collaboratively between Panash Adventures and the Ugandan Wildlife Authority to help better understand and conserve the wildlife there. The expedition will culminate with searching for the Mountain Gorillas!

*If two weeks in this beautiful country isn’t enough for you then please see our option for an extra week add on .

Itinerary

3- 16th (23rd)
Day one – fly into Kigali, Rwanda. From here you will be picked up and taken to a nearby hotel to relax and meet your fellow travellers.

Day Two – Straight after breakfast we will drive to Akagera National park to give you your first introduction to the incredible wildlife of Africa. You will be hosted by professional guides who will be able to provide you with information on the different wildlife we see and historical monuments.

Days Three to Seven –Drive from Akagera to Rubugari. We will be staying at a local homestead and travelling the short journey each day to spend time with Batwa people for the next four days making shelter, tracking wildlife, making baskets, crafts, cooking and eating traditional food and learning directly from the Batwa.

Day Eight – We will move into a lodge for the week where we now begin the research and data collection of the trip. Our focus is on the mammals in the park and we will be using tracking, camera traps and observational data to record the species. We will also gather data on the birds, plants, insects, reptiles, amphibians and fungi, all of which helps the UWA in their management of the park for conservation.

Day Twelve –Today we walk out in search of the Mountain gorillas!

Day Thirteen – Head back to Kigali for an overnight in a hotel
If you are staying on for the extra week, then please click on link to take you to the weeks itinerary which will continue in Rubugari.
Day Fourteen – Fly home

Accommodation

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