Wildlife watching in Bwindi Forest

There are only around a thousand mountain gorillas left on earth, all of them in this one stretch of forest and its neighbours across the Ugandan, Rwandan and Congolese borders. A permit buys you a single, strictly rationed hour at close range with a habituated family group — and it is, by common consent, one of the most affecting wildlife encounters there is.

Getting to them is the work. The trek in can take anywhere from one to six hours through steep, tangled, genuinely impenetrable forest, following trackers to wherever the group has moved. Then the hour begins, a few metres from a silverback and his family going about their day as if you weren't there. Nothing about a screen prepares you for the size and the calm of them.

Permits are capped daily, expensive, and sold months in advance; prices and the minimum age have both changed in recent years. Book early, re-check the current rules, and come fit enough for the climb in.

There are only around a thousand mountain gorillas left on earth, all in this stretch of forest and its neighbours across the Ugandan, Rwandan and Congolese borders.

A permit buys a single, strictly rationed hour at close range with a habituated family group — by common consent one of the most affecting wildlife encounters there is.

Getting to them is the work: the trek in can take one to six hours through steep, tangled, genuinely impenetrable forest, following trackers to wherever the group has moved.

Then the hour begins, a few metres from a silverback and his family going about their day as if you were not there. Nothing on a screen prepares you for their size and calm.

Book a gorilla-trekking permit months in advance — they are capped daily, expensive, and sell out, and both prices and the minimum age (currently around fifteen) have changed in recent years, so re-check the current rules before you commit.

Go in the drier windows, June to August or December to February, when the forest trails are less of a quagmire. A guide and trackers are mandatory and included. Come fit enough for a potentially long, steep climb through dense forest, with sturdy boots, gaiters and rain gear.

Base near one of Bwindi's trailhead sectors, and be ready for the trek length to be entirely unpredictable.