Are There Gorillas in Tanzania? What You're Actually Booking

Short answerNo. Tanzania has no gorillas — no wild population, no permit, no habitat. Its great apes are chimpanzees, at Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains on Lake Tanganyika. Mountain gorillas live only in the Virunga volcanoes and Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, several hundred kilometres north-west. Trips sold as “gorilla trekking and Tanzania safari” fly you to Uganda or Rwanda for the trek — a superb combination, just not one that happens inside Tanzania.

The short answer is above, because that is what the question deserves. What follows is the part that actually helps: what Tanzania does have, where the gorillas really live, and how to build the two into one trip that works.

No — and the map explains why

Mountain gorillas occupy one of the smallest ranges of any large mammal on earth — two forest blocks totalling a few hundred square kilometres, holding roughly 1,063 animals between them:

• The Virunga Massif, a volcanic chain straddling Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC — Mgahinga, Volcanoes and Virunga national parks.
• Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in south-western Uganda, with the adjoining Sarambwe reserve in the DRC.

Tanzania sits on the far side of Lake Victoria from all of it. The Serengeti is roughly 700 to 800 kilometres from Bwindi, with the whole of Uganda or Rwanda in between. There is no ecological corridor, no historical population, and nothing for a gorilla to eat at Serengeti altitude — these are animals of wet montane forest between about 1,200 and 3,800 metres, not open savanna.

Tanzania's apes are chimpanzees

Tanzania is not ape-free — the confusion is understandable. It holds two of Africa's most significant wild chimpanzee populations, and one of them is arguably the most studied group of wild animals in history.

Worth being blunt about the practicalities: Gombe and Mahale are a very long way from the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, on the opposite side of the country. Adding them to a northern-circuit safari is a serious undertaking. Adding Uganda's Kibale Forest to the same trip is, oddly, easier — and it comes with gorillas next door.

Where the gorillas actually are

For a Tanzania combination we default to Bwindi. The permit costs meaningfully less, far more are issued daily so peak dates are obtainable, and it holds the most habituated families. The full Uganda-versus-Rwanda argument is in Uganda vs Rwanda for gorilla trekking.

Gorilla trekking and a Tanzania safari

This is a genuinely excellent pairing, and the reason is that the two halves are not the same holiday twice. The northern circuit is open country, vast herds and long sightlines. Bwindi is a steep, dripping, close-quarters forest and a single hour at arm's length from a silverback. People remember them as two separate trips.

The connection is a flight, not a drive. Entebbe to Kilimanjaro routes through Nairobi and takes most of a day door to door — which sounds like a lot until you price the overland alternative in days rather than hours. Nobody drives this.

Routings that work

Eleven days — gorillas and the northern circuit. Entebbe (1) → fly to Bwindi (2, trek) → fly Entebbe–Nairobi–Kilimanjaro, overnight Arusha (1) → Tarangire (1) → Serengeti (3) → Ngorongoro (1) → Lake Manyara (1) → depart Kilimanjaro. This is the itinerary below.

Fourteen days — both apes. Add Kibale and Queen Elizabeth to the Uganda leg. Chimpanzees, gorillas, the Serengeti and the crater in one trip — the strongest fortnight East Africa offers.

Nine days — compressed. Entebbe (1) → Bwindi (2, trek) → Arusha (1) → Serengeti (2) → Ngorongoro (1) → depart. Drops Tarangire and Manyara. Workable, though two Serengeti nights leaves the migration partly to luck.

Timing the two halves

The good news is that the seasons broadly agree, which is not true of every two-country combination.

More on the Uganda side of that calendar in the best time to visit Uganda, and on what the trek itself demands in gorilla trekking fitness and difficulty.

Reading a “Tanzania gorilla” listing

A number of operators run pages titled “gorillas and best of Tanzania” that never once say the gorillas are in another country. The underlying trip is usually sound; the description is doing something it should not. Check these before paying:

1. Which authority issues the permit. Uganda Wildlife Authority or Rwanda Development Board, named, with a park and a date.
2. Whether the permit is bought or just “held”. Uganda no longer holds permits unpaid — see how to book gorilla permits.
3. Which Bwindi sector, and does the lodge match it. The sectors are hours apart; compared here.
4. Whether the inter-country flights are in the price — Entebbe–Nairobi–Kilimanjaro is not a trivial line item.
5. How many nights at Bwindi. Two, or walk away.

We would rather tell you where the gorillas are than let a trip name imply otherwise. See how our two-country trips are routed, or tell us your dates and we will say honestly whether the combination fits the time you have.

Gorillas in Tanzania: common questions

Are there gorillas in Tanzania? No. Tanzania has no wild gorilla population and issues no gorilla trekking permit. Mountain gorillas live only in the Virunga volcanoes — where Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo meet — and in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, well to the north-west of Tanzania across Lake Victoria.

Can you do gorilla trekking in Tanzania? Not in Tanzania. Itineraries sold as gorilla trekking and Tanzania safari are combination trips: the gorilla trek takes place in Uganda or Rwanda and you then fly to Tanzania for the northern circuit. The permit is issued by Uganda or Rwanda, not by Tanzania National Parks.

Does Tanzania have any great apes? Yes — chimpanzees, but not gorillas. Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains on the shore of Lake Tanganyika both hold wild chimpanzee populations, and Gombe is where Jane Goodall began her research in 1960. Both parks are remote and usually reached by light aircraft from Arusha or Dar es Salaam.

How far is the Serengeti from the nearest gorillas? Roughly 700 to 800 kilometres from the Serengeti to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. In practice it is a flight rather than a drive: Kilimanjaro or Arusha to Entebbe via Nairobi, then a light aircraft to the airstrip serving your gorilla sector. Budget one full travel day between the two halves of the trip.

Is it cheaper to trek gorillas in Uganda or Rwanda on a Tanzania combination? Uganda. The permit is substantially cheaper than Rwanda's and there are many more issued each day, which also makes peak-season dates easier to secure. Rwanda's advantage is shorter ground transfers from Kigali, which matters less on a trip where you are flying between countries anyway.

Should I do the gorillas before or after the Tanzania safari? Before. The gorilla permit is a fixed, dated, non-refundable purchase, so it belongs early in the trip where a delayed international flight cannot cost you the trek. The Tanzanian half has no equivalent hard deadline and absorbs disruption far better.