Visiting Bwindi to see the mountain gorillas was the absolute highlight of my trip to Uganda. However, there are a few things I wish had known before I went there. First of all, make sure you are in good shape. I did two treks, the first one was 1.5 hours, the second one was 2.5 hours, both one-way! Plan for at least a 3 hour hike one way, and do not underestimate how steep the mountains can be or how thick the brush is. Make sure you have plenty of water. I had 2.5 liters of water with me and it was just enough for the second hike. Make sure you have enough food; including your packed lunch, you may also want to consid taking some energy bars or bananas as a snack. If it is too much to carry, the consider hiring a porter, which should be Ush30,000 (about $12) for the day (excluding tip). I do not have problems with fire ants in Bwindi (as in Kibale). I did have problems with the thorns. They are everywhere and I managed to rip both of my t-shirts during my hikes. I would recommend taking clothing you don’t mind if they get trashed. I would also recommend taking a pair of leather garden gloves. Several times I reached out to grab hold of something or to stop my fall and managed to cut my hands on the thorns. Gloves would have been a big help! Be sure to bring a rain jacket in case it rains or gets colder. Otherwise, just go there! Consider that visiting the gorillas brings revenue to the local community and gives them an incentive to protect the forest. Plus, it is an amazing experience to see these beautiful creatures in their natural environment.
There were about 16 gorillas in our group and they ended up in a big circle around us. The silverback did the usual chest beating, we saw a couple mating, there were baby gorillas swinging in the trees and one of the mid-sized gorillas actually came up to me and played around with my leg. Very scary at the time but an The drive from Kisoro to the Ruhija gate took 3.5 hours and it was pretty awful … terrible roads not helped by heavy rains from the previous night and dense fog. But our excellent driver did an amazing job to get us to the gate just in time for the start of the rangers briefing.experience I will never forget.
Paola
selfdriveuganda 
Dear Billy
we are now home from our Uganda trip and I want to give a short report about your help and ourAmazing self drive trip through Uganda:
We are back from our Amazing Uganda self drive trip from Dec.20th 2013 till Jan 4th 2014.
As we wanted to travel independant and on a budget-basis we needed a car for selfdriving. On the Internet we found “(info@vacation-safaris.com) the company name Active African vacations” and got in contact with Billy.
After a few E mails with him we made a reservation we went off to Uganda.
I can report:
Billy came exactly at the time we had proposed. He brought us the car to an Entebbe-Hotel as we did not want to go to Kampala to avoid the traffic and to save time. With a minimum of paperwork we got the keys and began our trip. Billy also fullfilled our extra wishes with no problem and without extra payment. I wanted a second spare tyre (which I did not need, I even did not need the first one) and a Jerry can for20 litres (which I also did not need) but both gave me a save feeling which is important if you do not know the road conditions.
The car was an Toyota RAV 4 with automatic transmission and this was exactly the car you need for this country. Roads are sometime not very good and especially if you go into the National Parks (where you need your own car) it has to be a car which some distance to the ground. People in Uganda also go with salooncars everywhere but it is not advicable. (neither for the car, nor for the driver) The automatic transmission was very comfortable for difficult passages.
We had not one problem with the car. It brought us safe everywhere and sometimes the “roads” have been really difficult.
At the end of our circuit we decided not to go on Ssese Islands what we had planned before and asked Billy if we could have the car a few days longer. Also this was no Problem for him and we payed the extra days after arrival.
We asked again to give back the car in Entebbe and Billy send someone to our Hotel.
It was really a very good experience with him and his company and next time we come to the region we will certainly ask him again for a rental.
So I can really recommend Billy. He is very reliable and flexible.
What concerns our trip I can give you following advices:
Buy an MTM Sim card. It works almost everywhere where we have been and it is good for making reservatins.
If you are on a low budget trip: Bring a tent with you. Mostly you find accomodation between 50 and 60 Dollars for two people (with Breakfast) but sometimes you find only very expensive lodges or “Bandas” are full. You can camp at almostin every lodge (they are mostly in very nice areas)for a minimal costs and food is not expensive even in lodges for a few hundred Dollars.
We went on the “southern loop” to Lake Mburo (Zebras !), then to Lake Bunyonyi (beautyful !), over Ruhija (cold, bring warm sweather) to Ishasha, from there to Crater Lakes (also very beautyful and relaxing).
We did not see the Gorillas as 500 Dollars/Person is a lot of money but saw a lot of animals on Game drives, morning treks. People we met have seen the Gorillas and have been very entusiastic about their experience.
Ending, I want to thank Billy again and we hope to come back for the “northern loop” up to Kidepo
All the best
TArch. Thomas Gellert