Ape expectations
Welcome to the jungle – and get set to meet its star residents.
You never know who’ll drop in at one of Africa’s most remote safari camps. More than half the world’s population of just 800 mountain gorillas live in Uganda, and most of them in the aptly named Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Deep inside the national park’s rainforest is Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp, with just eight tents and a lounge-dining pavilion. It has recently reopened after extensive refurbishment, adding freestanding baths, polished floors, indigenous prints and even a forest spa. But it’s still the impromptu visits by gorilla families that attract the most attention.
The thrill of working within gorilla habitat in a national park hasn’t diminished for camp manager Nick Kirya, who has headed Sanctuary Retreats’ Uganda property for three
years. “The privilege of working in a location that brings you into regular and close contact with one of the world’s most impressive and endangered creatures is hard to articulate,” he says. “Typically, gorillas visit the camp about once a month and they head straight to their favourite feeding area – a fruit tree in the communal area. For those guests lucky enough to be in camp at the time, it is a truly magical experience.”
Forest ecology and the complicated etiquette of encountering gorillas is explained by camp guides, who lead hikes with just eight guests a day.
Direct flights between Uganda and Tanzania now allow travellers to combine stays at Sanctuary’s four camps in Tanzania and those in Botswana and Kenya. sanctuaryretreats.com
Chef Guillaume Brahimi is the host with the most at the first Gourmet Institute event of the year on 11 April in Sydney. It’s a lesson in classic French dinner parties, complete with twice-baked Roquefort soufflé. Tickets cost $65. harveynorman.com.au/gourmet-institute