Gorilla Forest Lodge, an A&K Sanctuary
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The lodge’s design seamlessly integrates with Bwindi’s landscape through banana leaf-woven walls and wooden structures that honor the park’s heritage.
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All ten guest rooms feature identical layouts in earthy shades that prioritize comfort after long trekking days, complemented by mountain views.
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The Explorers Lounge offers nightly presentations on culture, conservation, and local wildlife, transforming a stay at the lodge into an educational immersion.
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The lodge’s location within Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park positions guests for small-group gorilla trekking while providing safe, walkable grounds where monkeys and baboons roam freely.
There’s a particular kind of quiet in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park—not silence but reverent hush. Birds call through the canopy, leaves rustle, and insects hum songs underneath sacred stillness. At Gorilla Forest Lodge, an A&K Sanctuary, mist rolls through the canopy, and the air holds a rich, earthy scent of moss and rain.
Taking in the views of the mountains each morning felt otherworldly as I strolled through the grounds, L’Hoest’s monkeys swinging by with curiosity and red-tailed monkeys announcing their presence with chattering calls.
This luxurious lodge—the only one in the national park— feels as though it has emerged from the vibrant green landscape, nestled amongst trees and ferns. Banana leaves and papyrus weave through the architecture like living walls, while East African yellow wood structures honor the park’s legacy.
Azei Lago, the lodge’s general manager, pointed out details I might have missed. “The bark cloth, which you’d find on the cushions, is a piece of art,” he tells me. “The bark cloth was a very important cloth for the Buganda Kingdom [a powerful kingdom of East Africa during the 19th century]. That was the king’s cloth.”
Abercrombie & Kent
Interior of the main lounge.
These heritage-rich touches and materials, elevated to their rightful place, run throughout the entire lodge. The 2025 renovation was a true community project: locals used traditional techniques to plait banana leaves, raised sustainably sourced wooden beams, and rolled paper beads to frost the lobby’s beautiful chandelier.
What struck me the most, though, wasn’t the sense of luxury, though the lodge delivers effortlessly, but how everything here serves a larger purpose. The global A&K Philanthropy programming, the non-profit arm of Abercrombie & Kent, is felt throughout the property and the surrounding community. Half of the boutique’s products were crafted by the local villagers, while guest donations go directly to local education, health, and enterprise services.
Keep reading for a full review of Gorilla Forest Lodge, an A&K Sanctuary in Uganda.
The Rooms
All ten rooms have identical layouts and design, awash in an earthy palette mirroring the forest: rich browns, warm terracotta, and natural wood tones. Plush bedding for post-trek collapse, organic surfaces, and low lighting shifting with forest rhythms create a luxury that whispers.
The interiors by Luxury Frontiers honor rather than compete with the mountain mist and dense jungle. What I appreciated most was the practical comforts of this base camp: space for muddy boots, rain gear, and surfaces that could handle the realities of jungle trekking. Bathrooms deliver hot rain showers desperately needed after hours on steep, slippery terrain.
I spent an unexpectedly long time in a cushioned wicker swing chair on my private veranda, simply perusing the landscape.
Food and Drink
Like its architecture, the dining offerings also reflect Gorilla Forest Lodge’s surroundings. The kitchen delivers reliably good food, respecting energy needs and local context. Communal meals of fresh regional ingredients and flavors encourage conversation and stories about silverbacks who sat close and curious baby gorillas who tumbled.
The kitchen understands trekker needs. Breakfast comes early and is substantial with eggs, fresh fruit, and strong Ugandan coffee cutting through the morning chill. Packed lunches appear in daypacks, wrapped for mountainside eating. Evening meals deliver comfort: warming soups, roasted meats, and hearty vegetables. The bar offers solid selections with local Tusker beers, premium spirits, and delicious wines for toasting successful sightings.
Activities and Experiences
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Chairs sit around the fire pit.
Gorilla trekking isn’t just an activity here; it’s the gravitational center, the singular experience justifying the journey. The lodge’s genius lies in transforming these wildlife encounters into a pilgrimage. You’re entering gorilla home on their terms, navigating terrain earning its ‘impenetrable’ descriptor with every slippery step. Thankfully, the lodge prepares you—ponchos, gaiters, walking sticks, and porters who know every root accompany guests.
The Explorers Lounge programming elevates the experience from tourism to education. Evening presentations cover culture, conservation challenges, and biodiversity. Books line the shelves for deeper exploration. You can walk the grounds safely alone, which is unusual for safari camps. Don’t expect a gym, but the mountains provide all the challenge your body can handle. Thankfully, the spa’s two treatment rooms offer exactly what tired legs need.
The Spa
Two intimate, open-air treatment rooms are decorated in calming neutral tones of earthy browns and soft creams.
I had a lower-body massage after my first full trek, and to call it glorious would be an understatement. The therapist understood where trekking takes its toll: tight calves from uphill climbing, sore feet from navigating roots, and lower back tension from uneven terrain.
The spa menu stays practical, offering massages focused on muscle recovery, body scrubs made with natural South African ingredients, and mani-pedis. This is therapeutic rather than indulgent, restoration rather than pampering. The spa exists to help your body recover so you can do it all again tomorrow.
Family-Friendly Offerings
This is not a family-friendly property as the minimum age for gorilla trekking is 15 years old.
Accessibility and Sustainability
Gorilla Forest Lodge is not wheelchair accessible. The physically demanding nature of gorilla trekking and the remote forest terrain make this unsuitable for those with limited mobility.
Where this lodge excels is sustainability. Construction was deliberately delayed for an entire year when the rains came heavily. Rather than forcing the timeline, the team waited, adapted, and created structures respecting landscape rhythms.
Local partnerships demonstrate Abercrombie & Kent’s commitment to the community. The gorilla trekking porter system employs local residents while enhancing guest safety. Every guest supports local employment, participates in integrated philanthropy, and contributes to gorilla conservation through permit fees. This approach acknowledges a hard truth: if communities surrounding Bwindi don’t benefit from conservation, conservation may not survive.
Location
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Exterior view of the main lodge.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park isn’t close to anything, but that’s the point. This UNESCO World Heritage Site sits in southwestern Uganda, about 530 kilometers from the capital Kampala. The journey to the lodge—a gradual shedding of the modern world’s noise—becomes part of the experience. Whether one flies into the nearby airstrip (easier but pricier) or braves the long drive (eight to ten hours of increasingly rough roads), arrival feels earned.
Guests need organized transportation, and given the remote location and challenging roads, most arrange transfers through the lodge, especially during the rainy seasons from March to May and September to November.
Gorilla Forest Lodge sits within the park itself, meaning morning trek commutes are measured in minutes. That proximity matters for early starts and unpredictable timing, as some treks last twenty minutes, others eight hours. Beyond gorilla trekking, Bwindi offers primate encounters and exceptional bird watching of over 350 species.
Book Now
Gorilla Forest Lodge doesn’t currently participate in any points-based loyalty program.
Nightly rates at Gorilla Forest Lodge, an A&K Sanctuary, start at approximately $700 per person. The rate typically includes meals, some beverages, and daily activities, but does not include gorilla trekking permits (about $700 per person) or porter fees. You can book a stay through Abercrombie & Kent or its authorized travel partners.
Every T+L hotel review is written by an editor or reporter who has stayed at the property, and each hotel selected aligns with our core values.
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