Category: Advice for Travellers
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How to Support Kigali’s “Historically Marginalised People”
At first sight, the nursery beds and tiny cactuses in painted pots by the roadside look unremarkable. As in any other East African city, the residents of Kigali can conveniently buy decorative plants and earthenware straight from their cars. But the gentlemen who run the neatly arranged gardens that extend towards a swamp rich in…
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Virunga National Park is Closed. Time to Slow Down.
UPDATE, 24/1/2019: Virunga National Park will reopen on 15 February 2019. Yesterday’s announcement that Virunga National Park would stay closed for the rest of 2018 surprised no one. In a hot Congolese election year security was expected to become problematic, and the park leadership has always put client safety first. (The letter from the Chief Warden…
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Congo: How Deep Do We Go?
The headquarters of Kahuzi-Biega National Park overlooks a valley sprinkled with white buildings, as if in miniature, separated from the shining surface of Lake Kivu by gently rolling cultivated hills. Behind the thick walls of a visitor centre that could make Rwanda or Uganda envious, a coffee shop occupies one corner and a giant flat…
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Advice on Buying your Own Camping Gear
Last week we talked about the beauty and challenges of camping in the Gorilla Highlands and promised we would move a level higher today: into buying your own camping gear. We are still helping an East African beginner enjoy the thrill of sleeping in nature, but now we will be guiding your tent shopping in…
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A is for Adventure, B is for Beginners, C is for…
Are you new to camping, hiking, canoeing and all these adventure things? You’ve come to the right place! This year on the Gorilla Highlands blog there will be quite some emphasis on domestic tourism, on Rwandans and Ugandans getting comfortable in our astonishing wilderness. And, to be properly inclusive, we do know there are many…
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Building Traditions: New Year’s Eve Celebration on Habukomi Island
“How do local people celebrate New Year’s Eve?” visitors to the Gorilla Highlands often ask. Until 2007 there wasn’t much to say. The drumming that traditionally announces Christmas would get repeated to some degree, and that would be all. But now that we have awaited a new year on Habukomi Island ten years in a…
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![Here We Go: Apply Online for Uganda Visa [Updated]](https://gorillahighlands.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/e-visa-1-1.jpg)
Here We Go: Apply Online for Uganda Visa [Updated]
UPDATE, 22/7/2016: The cost of the single entry visa for Uganda has been reduced to USD 50. UPDATE, 15/7/2016: Two travellers coming from Slovenia have emailed us some details on how the border-crossing experience was. Business as usual, basically, but they did get a printout with the following text: “It is still possible to get a visa…
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Avoid Uganda Visa Worries by Flying through Kigali
Uganda is following in the footsteps of Rwanda and Kenya by introducing online visa applications. The plan was announced on the Uganda Immigration website in December 2015 and the latest information is that the new arrangement will start on 1 June 2016. (Update: it eventually got implemented on 1 July 2016.) Keeping in mind how, without…
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Hiking in Surprising Africa: Free Your Mind
When you consider trekking in the Gorilla Highlands of Uganda and Rwanda—towards our extraordinary mountain gorillas or through the dramatic cultural landscapes—you should free your mind first. There are many preconceptions that have to do with Africa and simply do not apply. How safe is Uganda? How safe is Rwanda? In one word: very. The…
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