Volcanoes National Park

Uganda's smallest park, pressed into the corner where Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC meet, beneath three extinct Virunga volcanoes. It offers gorilla trekking with a fraction of Bwindi's traffic, plus the golden monkey — a bright, endangered primate restricted to these bamboo slopes. The Batwa Trail is led by the forest's original inhabitants and is among the most honest cultural experiences in the region.

Half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas live in this ancient rainforest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site draped across the Albertine Rift. Trekking begins at dawn with a briefing from your guide, then follows the trackers into dense, mist-hung undergrowth. The moment you find a habituated family — a silverback at rest, juveniles wheeling through the vines — you are granted one hour in their company. The forest is 25,000 years old and holds over 350 bird species alongside the gorillas.

One of Africa's oldest montane rainforests, old enough to have survived the last ice age, which is why it holds thirteen primate species and around 300 birds including numerous Albertine Rift endemics. The canopy walkway runs 70m above the forest floor on a suspension bridge — the only one of its kind in East Africa. Chimpanzee tracking and enormous troops of Angolan colobus are the other draws.