After touching down at Entebbe International Airport, you will be met by a representative of the Boma Guesthouse and accompanied to your accommodation for the evening. With just 16 extremely comfortable rooms, The Boma has a delightful boutique hotel feel that combines a sense of history with modern amenities like a sparking swimming pool and Wi-Fi. Use the night to tuck into a delicious dinner and shake off the jet-lag in preparation for your journey into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park tomorrow.

It is back to Entebbe International Airport for your flight to the Kiroso Airstrip. It is always exciting to land in new territory and your arrival here is no different. From the airstrip you will be accompanied for one of the most enthralling parts of your vacation: a 3-hour canoe trip to the northern shore of Lake Mutanda – look out for the crested cranes, black-headed herons and hadeha ibises that nest here. You will enjoy lunch at Mutanda Lake Resort before making your way via 4x4 to Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, which will be your welcome abode for the next three nights.

Your third day is the one you have been waiting for: today you make the acquaintance of rare mountain gorillas, one of the most memorable wildlife encounters in the world. Led by experienced trackers who are intimately familiar with each individual gorilla and who understand their overnight movements, you will hike through the forest until you find these gentle creatures. For mutual safety, you will have to observe them from a distance and no children under 15 are allowed on a trek. It can be tough going in the rain and mud but it is worth the effort to look into their emotional brown eyes.

Once you are back at Clouds, surrender yourself to the therapist’s healing hands for a post-trek full-body massage that will ensure you do not awaken stiff and sore the following day. On Day Four, members of the Nkuringo Community Development Foundation will accompany you on a half-day walk that will include Nkuringo Hill (from which you have a 360-degree view of Bwindi forest, the Virunga mountains and the Democratic Republic of Congo). You will be offered a taste of village life that includes local foods, seeing the blacksmith at work, visiting the primary schoolchildren and perhaps learning some new dance steps from the Youth Group!

You bid farewell to the friendly staff at Clouds and set off, with walking guide, on a hike to Buhoma. There are two routes that can be followed: one takes about five hours and is known as the Ivy River trail and the other takes in the Kashasha River and can take up to seven hours. Once you reach Buhoma, having enjoyed a day of being out in the open in a lush wilderness, you will be driven to the north of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to check into Gorilla Forest Camp.

After a refreshing night’s sleep, you once again lace up your hiking boots and set out to meet members of the Twa tribe, who are thought to be the longest-standing inhabitants of the Great Lakes region. Their history can be traced back at least 4 000 years and they are renowned as dancers and storytellers. You will learn more about the Batwa’s hunting and gathering techniques, their goddess and their musical performances.

After two days of hiking, you will no doubt enjoy relaxing after dinner, sharing stories as the moon rises over Bwindi.

With the staff of Gorilla Forest Camp wishing you well, you are collected for your trip to Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge in Volcanoes National Park. The journey wends its way through beautiful rolling hills and terraces fields, as well as the bamboo and montane forest of Echuya Forest Reserve. After crossing the border into Rwanda, you will pull up the lodge and look out the view. It is an exciting first look at your home for the next two nights.

As the sun rises on Day Eight, so will your anticipation for another day of gorilla trekking. Once again, you will be captivated when you find these endangered primates and heartened by knowing that much of their survival depends on eco-tourism conservation efforts

Having enjoying breakfast at Virunga Volcanoes Lodge, your guide takes you into the park in search of another of Africa’s intriguing primates; these time, rare golden monkeys. With their blue faces and bronze coats, they are among the continent’s prettiest animals and live in troops of up to 30 energetic individuals. Finding them is not always easy but well worth the effort!

After a morning in Volcanoes National Park, you depart for the thriving city of Kigali, where you check into the Serena Hotel. Your final dinner is hosted at the Milles Collines Hotel, which played a central role in the Rwandan genocide of the early 1990s and is steeped in history. It is both humbling and inspiring to consider how far the country has progressed after such devastation.

After a comfortable night at the Kigali Serena Hotel, savour a leisurely breakfast before taking an illuminating tour of the Rwandan Genocide Memorial and Museum, a deeply moving experience.

This, combined with the miraculous memories you have of seeing gorillas in the wild, meeting Batwa people and catching sight on playful golden monkeys, will be part of your memories forever as you take off from Kigali International Airport for your flight home.