Nothing technical, a great deal that is slippery

How hard, honestly

Harder than most people expect and entirely within reach of most reasonably mobile people.

In Rwanda the challenge is altitude. Volcanoes sits high enough that ordinary fitness feels less ordinary, and a steep hour at that height is a different proposition from the same hour at sea level.

In Uganda the challenge is terrain. Bwindi is steep, dense and genuinely muddy — it is called impenetrable for a reason — and the walking involves scrambling, sliding and grabbing at vegetation.

Neither is technical walking. Both involve slipping, and both are slow.

What to wear

• Proper waterproofs — a jacket and trousers you would actually walk in at home in rain, not a poncho. It rains in a rainforest.
• Boots with ankle support, worn in beforehand. New boots on a wet slope is a bad plan.
• Gaiters, which keep mud and ants out of your boots and are worth the small trouble of putting on.
• Gardening gloves, genuinely. You will grab vegetation to steady yourself and a lot of it stings or has thorns.
• Long sleeves and long trousers, tucked into socks, against nettles and safari ants.
• A dry bag or liner for a camera and a spare layer.
• Layers, because it is cold at the start, hot on the climb and cold again when you stop.

What to carry

Water, a snack, a camera, waterproofs, a spare layer, and not much else. Give the rest to a porter.

A walking pole helps a great deal on the descent; most lodges and parks have them available and it is worth asking.

Porters

Take one. This is close to the only unqualified recommendation on this website.

They cost very little, they carry your bag, they haul you up the steep sections with a hand you will be glad of, and the work is a meaningful income in communities that live alongside the park and carry the costs of living next to wildlife.

People who consider themselves fit frequently decline and then regret it on a wet descent with tired legs. It is the easiest good decision on the whole trip, and it is a better use of the money than almost anything else you could spend it on that day.

If somebody has mobility limits

Say so at the enquiry stage and again at the briefing. Allocation takes some account of fitness where it can: some families sit consistently closer to the trailhead than others.

A sedan chair carried by a team of porters is available in places at additional cost. It is a genuine option rather than a token one, and it has taken people up who would otherwise not have gone. Ask about it early — it needs arranging in advance.

Altitude

Worth a night or two at height before trekking if you are coming from sea level, which most itineraries provide for naturally.

Drink more water than you think you need, and do not treat a headache on the first evening as nothing.

Minimum age

Both countries set one and neither negotiates it — commonly fifteen. Confirm it for your dates if somebody in the party is close to the line, because discovering it at the briefing is a genuinely unhappy way to find out.