2 Day Mount Sabyinyo Triple-Border Crater Trek
Overview
From the rolling hills of southwestern Uganda, Mount Sabyinyo soars directly, and is a prominent feature of the dramatic Virunga volcanic chain. Instead of the broad dome shape taken by other volcanoes, Sabinyo has been etched by erosion into three dramatic peaks that are connected by knife-edge ridgelines. The trail is windy and untamed, with wooden ladders slotted into near-vertical slopes, muddy slopes sculpted by mist and rainfall, and long bamboo tunnels that ring with the sounds of forest birds. Stand on the top of the 3,669-meter peak, and you are literally in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The panoramic view of Lake Bunyonyi, the Virunga chain, and the seemingly limitless hillside of terraces has to be heard and experienced. For a trekker, it is one of East Africa’s most distinctive mountain environments, evoking a completely physical and raw volcanism experience.
Tour Plan
Leave the airport and make your way to Kisoro, a charming and upcoming highland town nestled beside terraced hills and rural homesteads. After checking in at your lodge, enjoy a gentle acclimatization walk in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. The cool forest houses forest giants draping from ropes of moss, clusters of bamboo, and clearings where forest birds hover and prey. Sweeping gaps in the undergrowth may expose clear signs of mountain gorillas. Later, visit the Batwa cultural trail, guided by members of the Batwa community ,Uganda’s first forest dwellers. You will learn how they hunted with bows and arrows, created fire without the aid of matches, gathered herbs to treat common ailments and live within the precincts of the thick mountain jungle. You will be close and your feet will connect with Mother Earth. Dinner is served at lodge. Spend the night lying its an early wake-up the following morning.
Wake up early and enter the park through Ntebeko Gate, where the trail starts. It climbs gently through montane forest, where the air is cool, and fresh, and bird calls reverberate through the mist. You walk gently uphill, passing Lolimpa Swamp and climbing to where the bamboo zone starts, a surreal and muddy wilderness where your boots will sink into the bog and you’ll stumble over tangles of roots. If the bamboo zone isn’t enough to test you, the terrain becomes steeper and covered in enormous heather trees cloaked in wafting lichens. Thrilling wooden ladders last ascent and descent between completely exposed sections on volcanic rock with your boot soles no more than 30 cm from your lips. The trail quickly pauses to present panoramic views of ridges and the surrounding volcanoes, rewarding your trail threshold efforts, including the striking Muhavuna volcano, towards to Peaks 1 and 2 before cresting Peak 3 3,669 meters for a record selfie with the wooden pole marking the only point in Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC. Photograph the sweeping vista to Lake Bunyonyi and the Virunga landscape and then pick down the same fun route, and you’ll be smiling and tired at the trailhead, ready to be transferred to your accommodation for relaxation and a tasty meal.
Includes & Excludes
- Private 4x4 transport & fuel
- Lunch/snacks
- Professional birding guide
- Binoculars (on request)
- International flights & visa
- COVID-19 tests
- Travel insurance (required)
- Tips ($10/day guide, $25 porter)
- Personal expenses not specified in the itinerary
