Is mountain gorilla trekking better than savannah wildlife safaris? This is a tricky question to answer given these two safaris are unique in their own right, one is a primate safari and another is a savannah wildlife safari. So, we can’t say which is better than the other, they both give you a different experience.

However, what we shall do in this article is detail what you will expect in each safari and hope that, that will help you to compare and contrast.

We shall start with the mountain gorilla trekking safari.

Mountain gorilla trekking safaris are safaris that allow you to go into the mountainous forest to find and spend time with the mountain gorillas.

In East Africa Mountain gorilla trekking safaris are done in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Their parks are volcanoes national park in Rwanda, Bwindi national park and mgahinga national Park in Uganda and Virunga national park in the democratic region of Congo.

These safaris are usually booked about 3 – 1 month ahead of the day you wish to have the trekking experience.

On these safaris, you will travel to the mountain gorilla park a day before and spend a night there. You will then bed up early the next morning, have breakfast pack and snack for the trek and then head to the park headquarters for a brief before you enter the forest.

After the brief your will enter the forest and trek for between 3 to 4 hours looking for the mountain gorillas. When you find them, you will spend an hour in their presence, looking at them, studying them, taking pictures and videos among other things.

After the one hour you will exit the forest and return to the park headquarters for a debrief and collecting of certificates. After that you will go on with your business.

Usually, the gorilla parks have other activities like bird watching, community tours, mountain climbing, cycling, nature walks, forest walks and many more. If you feel like it you can engage in any of them.

These mountain gorilla trekking safaris will take up to 3 days or 5 depending on where you are trekking and will cost 1500 USD in Rwanda, 700 USD in Uganda and 400 USD in the democratic republic of Congo.

Is mountain gorilla trekking better than savannah wildlife safaris?
Is mountain gorilla trekking better than savannah wildlife safaris?

We now move to the savannah wildlife safaris. The savannah wildlife safaris are the most popular safaris in the region because of the numerous savannah parks that are in the east African region. So most probably when you search up safaris in East Africa, the first option that will come to you will be the savannah wildlife safaris.

These safaris are done in Uganda, Rwanda Kenya and Tanzania. The savannah parks include but not limited to queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Kidepo National Park, lake mburo national park and more in Uganda. Akagera National Park in Rwanda, Serengeti National Park, Mt Kilimanjaro National Park, Ngorongoro Crater Conservation, Tarangire National Park and more in Tanzania. Maasai mara game reserve, Amboseli national park, lake Nakuru national park, Nairobi national park, Tsavo national Park and others in Kenya.

When you visit any of these parks you will definitely have a game drive to view the different animals in the park mostly including but not limited to the big five lions, buffaloes, elephants, rhinos, leopards and other animals Cheetahs, hyenas, wildebeests, zebras, giraffes, Impalas, topis and others.

Other activities you can do in these parks are bird watching, nature walks, boat rides, camping and many other activities, usually different parked offer different things.

These safaris cost between 1000 to 5000 USD and more if you are booking luxury.

Well, thats what you can expect in either the mountain gorilla trekking safari or the savannah wildlife safari and from your preference you can choose which of the two is better for you.

book a safari