Rwanda’s permit is USD 1,500; Uganda’s is USD 800. Rwanda’s trailhead is 2 hours from Kigali airport on tarmac; Uganda’s Bwindi is a long drive or a light-aircraft hop.
Rwanda’s Volcanoes NP is open bamboo and potato fields on a volcano’s flank — photogenic, often muddy, sometimes high. Bwindi is true rainforest: darker, denser, more of a scramble.
The best trips do both, back to back — one trek in each, crossing at Cyanika. See our Uganda–Rwanda combo.
Bwindi has more gorilla families, more trekking sectors and the higher success rate — but thicker forest and steeper ground. Nkuringo and Rushaga in the south are the toughest and quietest; Buhoma in the north is the most developed and the easiest to reach.
Mgahinga is a single habituated family, more open walking, often a shorter day, and far fewer people. The catch: the family occasionally crosses the border into Rwanda, and treks are suspended until it comes back.
If it’s your only gorilla trek and you want the surest thing, pick a Bwindi sector matched to your fitness. If you’re also doing golden monkeys or climbing a volcano, Mgahinga earns its place.
