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Papa & Mama Abby’s First Guests
How rewarding! A week ago our office team spent a full day on Uganda’s notoriously terrible roads of Kisoro, preparing the ground for three Slovenian ladies about to embark on a three-day hike. Today we hosted them for lunch in Musanze, Rwanda, hearing their impressions. It all went swimmingly! But let’s start with the most…
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Ask for Teacher, Pour Some Beer
Ask anyone in Bufuka, our little village on a Lake Bunyonyi peninsula, for “Teacher” and you won’t get directions to the primary school. You’ll be pointed to a home filled with laughter, chat, and the smell of obushera, the local brew.That’s where you’ll find Meble Kyarimpa, a 58-year-old grandmother of five. She’s never stood in…
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Don’t Miss Upcoming Trips
Did you know you can join someone else’s adventure in the Gorilla Highlands of Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo — and pay less for it? On our Tours page you’ll find real departures by real travellers. Join their group, split the costs, see more. Or add your own dates and let others join you. Either…
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Cape Town: Third Time, Slovenian Charm
See the ship bathing in the sunset light over my left shoulder? Not far from it lies the Cape Town International Convention Centre, where your ML Rwebandira took to the panel on Monday, 13 April 2026. Oh yes, it worked! It felt pretty unbelievable: I knocked yet again on the door of South Africa, with only…
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Four Tiny Troublemakers, Gone
Remember Sammy, our resident rat-chaser? She’s been having quite the adventure lately. It all started with the former official cat of Edirisa on Lake Bunyonyi. He’d swapped his cushy lakeside life for the bush, but curiosity got the better of him when he clocked lovely Sammy. So back he came, and before long the two…
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Travelling Groups Just Got a Better Deal
Diana and Sasha are relieved — the rate card is ready at last! They’ve spent countless hours poring over costing spreadsheets and debating what’s fair and what will work. The biggest change is a return to tiered pricing, after years of offering one unified rate. In short, we’ve become more affordable to groups of travellers.…
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The Quinoa House of Musanze
The Afroquin team has found a home!Illumineers alumni Maxime Kabanda (2023 cohort) and Emmanuel Rangiryayo (2024 cohort) now rent a house in Musanze, and have even obtained some tea-packaging machinery. They are getting ready for the standards inspectors to visit, as you can’t start production without a proper building. “The Illumineers program didn’t just teach…
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Our Website: Wanna Look In?
An 8-minute tour of everything that matters on this website — and what’s coming next. 🎥 video by: ML Rwebandira — formerly known as Miha Logar — is an adventure and cultural tourism expert, writer and multimedia producer who co-founded Gorilla Highlands Experts. His most recent publication is the Pocket Treasure. A national of both…
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Friendship Camp: Where Connections Take Root
In the Gorilla Highlands, some encounters do not end when the tents are packed away and the campfire fades. They continue to open unexpected paths. Just over five months ago, Fred, Jonan, Patrick and Elie met for the first time during the Friendship Camp. For several days, young participants from the Democratic Republic of Congo…
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Pocket Treasure’s Bumpy Road to 20 Resellers
This hasn’t been easy, our friends. A tiny booklet can cause huge headaches. More than half of what we received from our Kampala printers had to be discarded. The cases meant to protect the Pocket Treasure arrived in disturbing condition: the laminate was peeling away. But the booklet pages themselves were far from blameless —…
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Walking the Congo Nile Trail: A Day-by-Day Hiking Video Resource
César Niyonkuru has seen a great deal during his decades as a hiking guide on Rwanda’s Congo Nile Trail. When he was introduced to Rinda Scheltens, he worried early on that the long route might prove demanding for her. Their first day began at a gentle pace, and his doubts quietly grew. He wondered whether…
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24 Hours to 25 Years — Join Us Online
This frame from our Treasures exhibition looks back a quarter of a century, to the moment when Edirisa — the mother of the Gorilla Highlands idea — was unveiled to an equatorial community on 20 February 2001. * * * That’s why we travelled to Lake Bunyonyi this morning — Diana and Sasha from Rwanda, Elie from…
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Best Little Guide to Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo?
Made with love.Sung into being.Carried through the journey.Pocket Treasure. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gorilla Highlands Experts (@gorillahighlands) in the featured photo: Steven Bizimana, 21-year-old barista at Crema (Musanze); his big dream is to become a cybersecurity expert one day 🎥 video by: Elie Cirhuza is a freelance journalist and digital…
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Love Has Been All Around
The silver anniversary of the window idea (“Edirisa” in the language of Bunyonyi) is less than a week away. And since today happens to be Valentine’s Day, it feels like the moment to dive into all the love Edirisa on Lake Bunyonyi has witnessed over 25 years. Here’s the thing. It was first built as…
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Let’s Create Provia’s Homestay 2.0
When Provia’s son approached us with a request to upgrade some of their homestay facilities, he had no idea how far our proposal would go. After all, why stop at repairing toilets if we could in fact improve the houses themselves? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if guests arriving on Lake Bunyonyi’s Habukomi Island could opt…
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Listening to the Batwa, Not the Noise Around Them
With the imposing Virunga volcanoes on the horizon, the tapestry of Echuya Central Forest Reserve becomes even more striking. Once upon a time, this was all one uninterrupted woodland expanse, but some 400 years ago Bantu farmers split what is now Mgahinga Gorilla National Park from Echuya. Our partners, the Batwa “Pygmies” of Rwamahano, invite…
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Elie’s Offline Anguish at Lake Bunyonyi
On 20/12/2025 Elie Cirhuza set foot on Ugandan soil again, four months after his first stay on the shores of Lake Bunyonyi. Passionate about tourism and cultural diversity in the region, this Congolese Friendship Camper returned as a volunteer with us. Elie was driven by the desire to improve his English and sharpen his multimedia…
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Who Holds the Speed Record on Mount Karisimbi?
The gorilla national parks of Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo are superb hiking destinations, with the Virunga volcanoes as the centrepiece. The highest peak is Mt Karisimbi (4,507m/14,787ft), usually conquered over two days. But some exceptionally fit people manage the climb in a single day. Rangers at Volcanoes National Park whisper about seven hours being…
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