We just did the gorillatrek by ourselves, and since I thought not joining a tour would make thigs quite hard, I'd like to share our experience to let people know how incredibly easy it is! We e-mailed the Ugandan Wildlfe Authority on the 22nd of August, and asked if there were any permits left for the 3rd of September. 5 days later we got a message back saying there were indeed permits for Nkuringo left, and that they would make a reservation for us, and I told them we would come by to pay on the 31st of August. This was the last possible pay date, as you have to pay at least 3 days before you visit gorillas. We went there, paid 1,3 million Shillings in cash (that took a few hours, as their system was down), and following their advice we then booked Postbus from Kampala to Kisoro. This bus left on Monday morning at 7am, cost 30,000 shillings, and got to Kisoro at 6pm Monday night, like they promised us.
We then went to a guesthouse called Golden Monkey, where we rocked up without reservation, got a bed in an empty dorm for 25,000 shillings, and arranged a four wheel drive to drive us up to Nkuringo the next morning at 6am, for 100 USD. You can also hire a car plus driver for 70 USD, but that's not a 4wd, and not advisable as the road is pretty bad when wet. The guesthouse had good, inexpensive food (5,000-10,000) and they had breakfast ready for us at 5.30am before we left. We had already brought lunch with us from Kampala, but they offered packed lunches as well, for 8,000 shillings. We arrived well on time to start the trek, and it was (of course) amazing. We only had to walk for a bit over an hour, which was by far a new record, and saw the gorillas in an open spot in the jungle. I think the hiking would've been quite tiring if the gorillas were further away, but in saying that, they will alwys adjust the pace to the slowest person. Some people in our group (Nkuringo allows 8 people in one group) paid for a porter, who carried their bags and helped them walk. An older, retired couple walked quite fast this way, so I think it's a good thing if you don't feel confident about your level of fitness. They cost 15 USD. I can recommend waterproof hiking shoes, as the start of the trip involves crossing a creek and you will definitely get wet feet if you don't have those shoes. The colour of clothes doesn't really matter, but they did say that gorillas feel like touching you when you wear orange.
The guides were really good, as an easily scared person I felt very safe the whole time. We got back to the starting point where our driver was waiting for us, and we returned to the guesthouse around 4.30pm. We tipped the staff (besides the guide, there was a guy with a gun with us, and 2 trackers who leave early in the morning to find the gorillas, and then have radio contact with the guide), which you do by putting money in a box there. We also tipped our driver, as he didn't speed and was a nice guy. All in all, we hardly arranged anything, and found that it was easy to do. I was with 2 other people, which made the car to the starting point payable. We did this on a shoestring as much as we could, and I think it's an easy way of doing it. I can recommend it to everyone!
