[Trip Review] Waka Waka Africa: Rusumo Border and Uganda Gorilla Trekking

For the adventurous AND animal lovers, you may not be satisfied with just a Serengeti Safari experience. So if you want to be closer to wildlife, what are your options?

I suggest Gorilla Trekking at Bwindi National Park! It is not easy to get to Uganda and but there is a way for u to get there from Serengeti: by crossing the Rusumo Border on a journey of 888km.

Mwanza and Rusumo Border

If you are interested in taking the overland route to Rwanda and Uganda, please inform your tour operator in Serengeti. Let them know that you are keen to travel to Kigali (Rwanda's capital) and that you need a drop off at Mwanza instead of going back to Kilimanjaro.

Mwanza is a city situated by Lake Victoria. There isn't much to do in Mwanza, but you can just spend the day walking around and chilling. That's what I did and trust me, you'll need the rest!

I took the 5:30AM bus departing from Nyegezi Bus Terminal on the next day. The bus ticket costs around 25000TSH, and I got my guide (from my Serengeti trip) to purchase this for me. When I took the trip, I had to take a ferry to cross Lake Victoria. The bus would stop at the port, allow passengers to disembark and board the ferry, while the bus drives onto the ferry. However, the Magufuli Bridge (previously named Kigongo-Busisi Bridge) should be completed by end 2024, and I expect the bus to cross Lake Victoria using the bridge going forward. The bridge was almost completed when I took the ferry!

Once over at the opposite side of the like, the bus will drive continuously towards Benaco, only stopping to pick up new passengers. Upon reaching Benaco, the bus company arranged a shared taxi for me to transfer to the Rusumo Border. Be prepared to pay around 3500TSH per pax. The border crossing was uneventful, and it was obvious that we were the only tourists around. The Rusumo Border post was actually developed with the aid of the Japanese government, and you can spot this plaque when crossing the bridge.

After crossing the border, it was more of the same. I found a minibus that took me to Kigali, and it costs me around 4000RW.

You must be wondering how long this whole trip took. I reached Kigali at 8pm. So that's easily a 14 hours trip.

Bwindi National Park

I won't bore everyone with the details of another border crossing. At Kigali, my guide picked me up and we were off to Uganda. Do take note that you should expect to depart Kigali around 4am, as it is a long ride to Bwindi National Park.

If you have done some research, you will realise that you can experience gorilla trekking in Rwanda too. So why did I choose to cross another border and experience gorilla trekking at Uganda? It is all about the price! Gorilla trekking in Rwanda will easily cost you double for the same experience at Uganda. I paid slightly under a 1000USD for my gorilla trekking experience at Uganda. Another tip: book early with your travel agent as there are limited permits per day.

After I reached Bwindi National Park, there was a briefing conducted. The brief covered the do's and don'ts of the trekking experience, so do pay attention! I was then assigned to a group, and there were 3 park rangers that gave my group another short brief. I was then brought to my start point and it wasn't long before I was rewarded with the following.

The gorillas were massive. That's my first impression. Despite the many days in Serengeti, there's just something special about seeing a wild animal just right in front of you. I kid you not, but the gorillas were no more than just 3 metres in front of me. It was too surreal and you have to experience it for yourself.

This was a once in a lifetime encounter.

The gorillas are not aggressive. Do stay close to the assigned rangers, and do not provoke the gorillas, and don't be anywhere closer to them than needed. There's the temptation to go closer and interact with the babies, but please, stay away.

The mountain gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are critically endangered, but due to conservation efforts, their numbers are starting to trend positively. I recommend visiting the gorillas at recognised national parks, so please don't go with a tour operator that says they can get you a good deal to view the gorillas. Whatever deal you are getting is probably at the expense of the animals.

Conclusion

I was glad that I took the risk to cross a land border in Africa.

Speak to anyone in Singapore, and they will think nothing of crossing a land border. That's because most of us here are pampered, and our impression of crossing a land border is just that of crossing over to Johor Bahru in Malaysia.

There's something thrilling about crossing a land border in Africa. I was in a foreign country. There's only 1 bus a day to Benaco. If the connections don't work or if there was a delay, my bus journey would have become an overnight journey. I could have ended up in the middle of nowhere.

It was a convoluted way of getting to Uganda, but I will remember this memory fondly.

If your adventure takes you to Rwanda or Uganda, do take time to visit the gorillas. You will not regret it!

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