Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Gorilla trekking in Bwindi starts early, with a ranger briefing at the sector headquarters. Trekkers are grouped by fitness and given a habituated family, then follow ranger guides into the forest while trackers ahead radio in the gorillas' position. Only eight people may visit each family in a day, and when you reach them you have one hour: a silverback feeding, juveniles playing in the branches, mothers keeping their infants close.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park covers 331 square kilometres of steep ridges, deep valleys and thick undergrowth in southwestern Uganda. Reaching a family can mean hours on slippery slopes, often in mist. Mornings are cool, so bring a warm layer, a rain jacket and boots with grip, above all in the wet months.

There is more here than gorillas. The forest holds over 120 mammal species, among them forest elephants, L'Hoest's monkeys and black-and-white colobus, and more than 348 bird species, including Albertine Rift endemics that are hard to find anywhere else in East Africa. Guided forest walks pass waterfalls and orchids, with views across the canopy to the Virunga volcanoes.

Bwindi became a forest reserve in 1942, a national park in 1992 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. Protection has helped the gorillas recover, but the Batwa, who had lived in the forest for generations, were evicted when the park was made. On a Batwa cultural experience, Batwa guides show how their families hunted, gathered wild honey and used forest plants as medicine.

Bwindi pairs well with Queen Elizabeth National Park, Lake Bunyonyi and Kibale Forest, and with Volcanoes National Park across the border in Rwanda.