See Silverback gorillas cheaply?

[Ferco]

Hi all, slightly random perhaps but a friend and I would really love to see these amazing animals in the wild in Africa; probably Rwanda or Uganda I guess but a lot of the 'safaris' we've found are focussed around luxury accommodation etc. and are slightly out of our price range... like £2,500 and above.
Now is that pretty much what we're going to have to pay or is there a way to do it more cheaply, perhaps trekking or something?
We're going to hopefully be taking a few jobs between now and the end of the Summer as we're still at college and don't have much free time but we would really love to do this... Does anyone have any ideas or even recommendations? Would really love to hear, we don't mind ruffing it lol
Thanks for any help :D

Richard

[hollis_f]

£2500 is about as cheap as you're going to get, and I don't think you'll be in luxury accommodation for that price. A lot of the cost is the permit. In Rwanda it's $500 per trip, so three trips up the volcano will eat up nearly half of that £2500. You could try booking flights to Kigali, accommodation, transport and permits yourself. But I'd be surprised if you could get it any cheaper.

If you can possiblt get the cash together it's definitely worth it. The hour you spend with the gorillas is truly magical. And Rwanda itself is an incredible country.

http://photos.imageevent.com/frankhollis/africa/kenyarwanda/huge/Kenya-Rwanda%20070921%20300.jpg

[Ferco]

wow awesome picture- yea I was afraid of that lol but thought I'd ask...just in case
Thanks for the help.

[EveryMilesAMemory]

If you want to do it on the cheap, fly to any of the zoo's in America that have inclosures with the silverbacks and you can sit and shoot all day long :D

http://everymilesamemory.smugmug.com/photos/399812729_D4TLB-L-1.jpg

I've never been, so forgive my ignorance, but do they have zoo's in Scotland?

I know what you're thinking though as my wife and I would love to do one of the Polar Bear expeditions in the Artic, but after looking at the prices of the trip, we figured we'd save the cost of a new auto and just go to the zoo....LOL

[jrntr6]

Hey, check out a company called Nomad, based in South Africa. They run Overlanding tours all over southern africa. One called Massai Mara starts in Kenya in the serengeti and goes to uganda to find gorillas. Best part is Overlanding tours are camping based and cost less then €700 plus $500 for the Gorilla permit. Here's the Link for details.

http://www.nomadtours.co.za/masai_mara_and_gorillas_c_5_2009.html

I did a nomad tour last summer going to Hlane NP in Swaziland, then about 8 days in mozambique (for awsome snorkeling and swiming with whale sharks and dolphins) and finishing with a few days in krugar NP... I had a great time. I was planning on doing this gorilla tour this summer, but I lost my job this week.... But on the up side I will be heading back home to canada and some great camping (and hopefully some black bear photography).

[hollis_f]

Hey, check out a company called Nomad, based in South Africa. They run Overlanding tours all over southern africa. One called Massai Mara starts in Kenya in the serengeti and goes to uganda to find gorillas. Best part is Overlanding tours are camping based and cost less then €700 plus $500 for the Gorilla permit. Here's the Link for details.

http://www.nomadtours.co.za/masai_mara_and_gorillas_c_5_2009.html


Wow! There's some serious travelling being done on that trip. And the price seems to be €625 plus $515 local payment plus $500 - $605 gorilla permit.

But this is the bit that would put me off -

Should we not obtain permits to visit the Mountain Gorillas in either Bwindi or Mgahinga NP in Uganda then we will inform all passengers beforehand that the tour will travel to Rwanda or DRC :shock::shock:

If they were the last gorillas on Earth, I don't think I'd be persuaded to go to DRC (especially that part of it) at the moment.

[jrntr6]

Wow! There's some serious travelling being done on that trip. And the price seems to be €625 plus $515 local payment plus $500 - $605 gorilla permit.

But this is the bit that would put me off -

Should we not obtain permits to visit the Mountain Gorillas in either Bwindi or Mgahinga NP in Uganda then we will inform all passengers beforehand that the tour will travel to Rwanda or DRC :shock::shock:
If they were the last gorillas on Earth, I don't think I'd be persuaded to go to DRC (especially that part of it) at the moment.

If you read the extended version about the trip it is a little more clear. It is actually not €625+$515 local payment+500-600 gorilla permit... The local payment is in fact for the gorilla permit... This actually happened to me on my trip last year, the trip said their was $200 local payment and a optional excursion costing $200... it turned out the excursion was not optional and the local payment was the excursion price.

Also, I understand how the part about the DRC is a little unnerving, but I personally was willing to take the risk, knowing that going there would be a last resort...

[hollis_f]

Explore have just announced a short break to Rwanda (http://www.explore.co.uk/holidays/Tour%20Detail?ItineraryId=1100), including one day for Gorilla Trekking. £1625 including flights, two nights in a hotel and one night in a mud hut!

[AdamJL]

bookmarked!

thanks Frank

[Ferco]

sweet thanks all- this is possibly looking like a Gap year possibility (ie working for a year to pay for it lol)

[riyazi]

This is the "dream trip" for the wife and me. Always wanted to go and see the gorillas in the wild. The nomad trips sounds great and reasonably priced but the problem of getting tickets and going DRC looks like a problem. Anyway would be great if we could organise a POTN group trip to do this

[hollis_f]

If you really want to dream - how about this (http://www.andyrouse.co.uk/blog.asp). If I won the lottery I'd be booking myself on the next available trip to Rwanda with Andy Rouse.