Early breakfast, a briefing, and then an entirely unpredictable walk

Before dawn

An early breakfast at the lodge — which is why a lodge that will feed you before you leave matters more here than at a savanna camp — and a drive to park headquarters.

In Rwanda every Volcanoes trek starts from the same headquarters. In Uganda you go to the headquarters of the sector your permit names, which is why the permit had to come before the lodge.

The briefing and allocation

A briefing on the rules, then allocation to a gorilla family — typically in a group of about eight visitors — with a guide, trackers and armed escorts.

Allocation takes some account of fitness if you raise it. Say honestly how you are feeling at that point rather than being stoic about it: some families are consistently closer to the trailhead than others, and the guides would far rather place you well than have you struggling two hours up.

The walk

A drive to the trailhead, and then in. Trackers have generally been with the family since first light and radio their position, so this is a directed walk rather than a search.

Length is genuinely unpredictable — forty minutes to most of the morning. It depends entirely on where the family moved overnight, and nobody knows that when you set out.

The going is steep, often muddy, and through vegetation that has to be cut in places. Nothing is technical. A great deal is slippery.

Arrival

You leave bags with the porters at a distance and go in with the guide, carrying a camera and nothing much else.

The hour is timed from when you reach the family. It goes extraordinarily fast; almost everybody says afterwards that it felt like fifteen minutes.

The walk back

Frequently feels longer than the walk in, partly because the adrenaline has gone and partly because descending a wet slope is harder than climbing it.

Back at the trailhead there is usually a certificate, which sounds trivial and which people keep.

The afternoon

Back at the lodge by early or mid-afternoon, generally soaked and muddy. A hot bath, dry clothes and a fire, and then not very much.

It is a full day, and it is why two treks want to be on consecutive days with somewhere comfortable in between rather than squeezed around a long transfer.

If the weather is bad

Treks go ahead in rain. It is a rainforest at altitude and a wet morning is a normal morning — which is why waterproofs and a lodge with somewhere to dry things matter more than they would elsewhere.

It is also the second argument for booking two treks: weather changes what you see and what you can photograph, and a second morning is a second chance at clear conditions.