Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge

Each of the guest cottages is built from locally sourced volcanic rock and features a comfortable sitting room, bedroom and bathroom. The lounge is centred around a large fireplace with plush armchairs and a sofa and includes beautiful artworks by local artists. The big picture windows allow guests to admire the amazing Virunga Volcano range. The bedrooms have a choice of king-size or twin bed configurations, and lead on to en-suite facilities. Outdoors, you will find your own private seating area where the breathtaking views can be enjoyed with a glass of champagne, provided by your own personal butler.

The two Family Cottages are built from locally sourced volcanic rock and consist of a lounge, and two bedrooms, with an additional seating area outside. The lounge is centred around a large fireplace with plush armchairs and a sofa and includes beautiful artworks by local artists. The big picture windows allow guests to admire the amazing Virunga Volcano range.

Both of the bedrooms have a choice of king-size or twin bed configurations, meaning that the family cottages are perfect for either families or friends/couples travelling together. Both of the bedrooms lead to their own private bathrooms. Outdoors, you will find a comfortable seating area where the breathtaking views can be enjoyed with a glass of champagne, provided by your own personal butler.

Guests staying at Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge can look forward to three delicious meals each day, all freshly prepared by the lodge’s chefs. The lodge can cater for dietary requirements if given prior warning. Enjoy mouthwatering dishes that combine homely cooking with local flavour and traditional delicacies. Guests can also enjoy complimentary drinks from the lodge bar (excluding premium brands).

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is home to half of the world’s mountain gorilla population. The biodiverse forest is an ideal habitat for the gorillas, and guests can follow the Nkuringo trail to find the Nkuringo gorilla family, a group of habituated gorillas who are friendly and accustomed to human interaction. Tracking can take anywhere between 2 to 8 hours, and the gorilla family home range is approximately an hour and a half from the lodge.

The hike can be quite demanding, with difficult terrain, but the experience of meeting these incredible creatures is worth it. Guests can sit with the gorillas and observe how similar to us they really are, forming lasting memories of a truly unique wildlife encounter. There are also 5 other habituated gorilla families which can be reached from Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, with a 45-minute drive to the starting point of the hike.

Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge is a Wild Places Africa accommodation. Wild Places Africa has been supporting the rangers at Semliki Valley Game Reserve by providing ranger salaries and distributing equipment and uniforms from Parks Canada. This involved removing the Parks Canada badges from the recycled uniforms and transporting equipment to the rangers in Uganda. This has allowed the rangers to get on with their crucial work to prevent poaching, with the equipment and resources that they need.

Wild Places Africa works closely with the communities that are built on the edge of the Semliki Valley Game Reserve to pass on the benefits of conserving wildlife and responsible tourism. Local people are trained to become guides, improving their employability prospects and helping to increase economic growth as well as allow local communities to provide for themselves and their families. Wild Places Africa has also been helping to educate communities about basic medical knowledge.

‘Today, Semliki is probably one of the best places to see Forest Elephant and Shoebill, two of the worlds more threatened species. Through the establishment of the Semliki Conservation Trust, we have worked in the area of public health in the local communities, focussing on maternal nutritional health.’

Wild Places Africa also works with the Lokorul village by the Kidepo Valley National Park, offering professional training and work opportunities to the local people. This has resulted in guests being able to visit the village and interact with the people who live there, learn about preparing local dishes and building a kraal. As a result, the village has been able to build a health clinic and Wild Places Africa have facilitated regular visits with a doctor in the region. Their next goal is to assist in building a school for the village’s children.

Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge is owned by the Nkuringo community and is run by Wild Places Africa. The lodge was built by Wild Places Africa as part of a conservation project in order to protect the mountain gorillas from which it gets its name. The Nkuringo gorilla family was habituated in order to demonstrate to local communities how their presence could have a positive impact on the local villages in terms of the benefits of tourism.

‘Historically, gorillas were raiding crops of the homesteads lying at the periphery of Bwindi. Through a programme spearheaded by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) and the Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF) a tract of land was purchased from the community as a buffer zone and a private sector partner was sought to build and manage a lodge. The community earns a significant share of the revenue and there are many spin-off benefits from these earnings.’