Things to do
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Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Dense montane forest on the edge of the rift shelters roughly half the mountain gorillas left in the wild, tracked in small groups from four trailheads. Hikes range from an hour to a full day on steep, muddy ground. Permits are issued for a set date and sector, so accommodation is booked to match.
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Lake Bunyonyi
Terraced hills fall steeply to a deep, island scattered lake northeast of Kisoro, free of crocodiles and bilharzia and so safe for swimming. Canoes, island visits and a circuit road make a restful pause after trekking. Nights are cold at this altitude, and most accommodation clusters on the shore nearer Kabale.
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Lake Mutanda
Islands and drowned hilltops break the surface of a long lake between Kisoro and the Virungas, with the volcanoes filling the horizon on clear mornings. Dugout canoe crossings run out to the islands, and a shoreline track links the villages. Lodges sit above the water, and the road down from town is rough after rain.
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Park
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Three volcanoes rise along the Rwandan and Congolese border inside the smallest national park in Uganda, home to a single habituated gorilla family and a troop of golden monkeys. Batwa guides lead a forest trail explaining life here before the community was resettled. Trekking is shorter than at Bwindi, and permits are easier to secure.
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Mount Sabyinyo
A jagged crown of three peaks marks the meeting point of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, climbed in a single long day from Mgahinga. Ladders and wooden steps carry the route up bare ridges. The ascent gains serious height and takes eight hours or more, and weather turns fast near the summit.