Kisoro

The township of Kisoro only has about 18,000 inhabitants living in the town proper, but there are more than a quarter of a million in its district, mostly eking out a living as subsistence farmers on low incomes. It's the last sizeable settlement in Western Uganda, hard up against the borders of both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

Many foreign visitors to Uganda find that this is one of the nicest areas to spend time in with beautiful montagne scenery, smooth roads, and hard-working people eager to please and offer hospitality. However, the main attraction for many is the opportunity to get close with a troupe of habituated gorillas.

Understand
At an elevation of 1,900 m (6230 ft), visitors from cooler climes will probably get a good night's sleep in the cool, clean and invigorating air of Kisoro.

The volcanic Mufumbiro Mountains dominate local views with Mount Karisimbi at 4,507 m (14,787 ft) being the highest volcano in this range. Immediately to the south of the township of Kisoro, Mount Muhabura, whose extinct volcanic peak delineates the border between Uganda and Rwanda at this point, is 4,127 m (13,540 ft) high.

Many foreign visitors come to view the mountain gorillas, critically endangered due to habitat loss, poaching, disease, and war. The Karisoke Research Center, founded by Dian Fossey to observe gorillas in their native habitat, is between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke.

In November 2013, about 1,500 fighters of the M23 Congolese rebellious faction, together with their leader, Sultani Makenga, surrendered in Mgahinga National Park a few kilometres to the south and were held on the local football pitch in Kisoro until being moved much further east to Chakwanze.

By car
From Kampala the road via Masaka to Mbarara is well surfaced (apart from verge damage) and reasonably wide so 100 km/h can be maintained. Light traffic once you leave the traffic mayhem and fumes of the capital, means you're likely to take just less than 5 hours for this part of the journey. However, just after leaving Mbarara the road surface disintegrates and is badly potholed reducing speeds to 10-25 km/h for about 20 km until just before Ntungamo where road works were completed in Feb 2014. Once you leave Kabale the road narrows considerably but the tarmac surface is brand new and billiard table smooth but very winding and scenic.
 * The Postbus, operated reliably and punctually by Uganda Post, departs M-Sa at 07:00 from the central Kampala post office in Kampala Road and arrives 10 hours later in Kisoro for USh30,000 one way. It seats 67 and you are guaranteed a seat if you book in advance (enter the post office as if you were buying stamps, take the first exit to the outside courtyard on your left, go round the corner of the building you just left, take the first door on your right, go down the corridor and enter Room 2 on your right. You can also get a ticket on the day of departure or from the conductor anywhere en route if you flag the bus down - it's huge and bright red).

From Bunagana, DRC, climb the rutted apology for a "road" that is alternately gloopy with mud or whipped into a duststorm until you see the barriers of the Ugandan border post. Here bodo-bodos will be waiting. There are also sometimes large buses, but their schedules are sporadic and whimsical. Tarmac is then smooth and peaceful until you arrive in Kisoro 14 km later. Fuel is available on the left, 6 km after the border.

From Busengo, DRC the road is lightly trafficked to the Ugandan border barrier and consequently is not as rutted as some more heavily used roads in the DRC. Gradients are as steep as 1 in 5 and typically the road does not allow two trucks to pass. Travellers need to be aware that the border crossing Busengo/Busanza is only legal if you cross using a passport from either the DRC or one of the countries of the East African Community (ie Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania or Uganda). Travellers bearing passports from other countries may physically be able to cross into Uganda here, but the officials at should turn you back to the DRC. If you have a really good story, the immigration officer may allow you to continue to the crossing point at Bunagana 38 km further and obtain the necessary entry stamps and visa there, but that would be an act of exceptional kindness. In the hamlet of Busanza, they were not connected to the electric grid in June 2014 but the high tension cables have already been installed and they are expecting connection in the next 3 months. Once you've crossed the (completely non-marked) border the road widens so two trucks can pass, the dirt surface is less rutted and gradients diminish to about 1 in 7. In May-June 2014 this was assessed as an all weather road. Watch out for stray mud bricks/blocks in the road, though, because many mud quarries and brick works are on this road. From the border it's about 27 km until you hit tarmac, but the road is good enough to cruise at 25-35 km/h on a motorcycle.

From Ruhengeri, Rwanda, the road has been good for a while now and once you're through the quick and relaxed Ugandan immigration the tarmac gets even smoother and the carriageway is about 10m wide with gradual bends. As of June 2014, there were no painted lines or reflectors on this new tarmac so you might want to drive this stretch during daylight - especially as the scenery is so attractive.

By plane

 * To Kigali, the capital of Rwanda with daily direct flights on Brussels Airline from Brussels or Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. KLM also flies to Kigali directly from Amsterdam. RwandAir also has flights from Dubai (often via Mombasa) using its new Boeing 737-800 and separately from Johannesburg using the same aircraft. From Kigali it is only about 3 hours on good roads to Kisoro - much shorter than from Entebbe.
 * To Kigali, the capital of Rwanda with daily direct flights on Brussels Airline from Brussels or Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. KLM also flies to Kigali directly from Amsterdam. RwandAir also has flights from Dubai (often via Mombasa) using its new Boeing 737-800 and separately from Johannesburg using the same aircraft. From Kigali it is only about 3 hours on good roads to Kisoro - much shorter than from Entebbe.

Get around
Motorcycle Bodo-bodos are available.

If you're staying a while you might like to hire a vehicle to get around and see the lush countryside. The black-brown, volcanic soil is especially fertile and with nary a drought you could plant a broom-handle in the ground and it would sprout. There are lots of smaller, rounded hills and the rectilinear patchwork of varied hues of green made by the different vegetables growing in the gardens on their slopes makes for a very verdant and relaxing vista.

There are few dogs to run between your wheels, so you might want to consider hiring a local's 125-200 cc motorcycle for USh20,000-30,000 per day.

A 4x4 will cost you about four times as much, but they'll usually want you to take a driver.

See

 * Gorillas up close and personal in either Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

Do






Buy
Market days are Monday and Thursday with people coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to buy goods that they can not obtain without difficulty in their own country.

Budget


In addition to the stand-out entries already listed here, there are probably about three dozen other low cost hotels scattered all over town of varying cleanliness and decrepitude. Many of them feature metal doors for that authentic late-night cell block clang.



Mobile phone
The Airtel, MTN, Orange, Uganda Telecom and Warid networks all have their own transmission towers in and around Kisoro, so you'll have no problems locating a strong GSM signal.

Radio

 * Kisoro FM is a local, community-based radio station broadcasting mainly in the local languages on 91.1 MHz but also with occasional news summaries or other programs in English.
 * Voice of Muhubura is a local, commercial radio station broadcasting mainly in the local languages on 88.9 MHz but with an English language news summary at 12:00 and 17:00 together with occasional other programming in English.

Daytrips

 * Circle Lake Mutanda and clock up another country (the DRC, unofficially). If you've hired a vehicle, head west out of Kisoro on the smooth main road to the DRC and then turn right at the un-signposted road just after you pass Saint Joseph's Church, Nateete on your right. You'll now be on the Kisoro-Busanza Road to the DRC. This is an all-weather dirt road that winds through tropical rain forest and villagers' gardens and is mostly wide enough for two trucks to pass. Look out for fish eagle and Uganda's national symbol, the crested crane (Balearica regulorum) performing their courtship dances by the river meadows that the road follows or in yam patches. After about 27 km and the steepest ascent on the road (still only about 1 in 7), you'll enter the Ugandan village of Busanza. There's a sharp turn left here to the border barrier but, if you continue straight ahead instead, the road deteriorates suddenly, plunges downhill and you've crossed into the Democratic Republic of the Congo without any formality or marker. After you hit the valley bottom there's another rutted and steep climb up the other side and, after about 2 km spent in the DRC, the track re-enters Uganda (again without formality or signs) and improves. After about 25 km of wiggles, Lake Mutanda hoves into view on your right and, if you've made a reservation, you can stop for a lakeside lunch at Lake Mutanda Resort before completing the loop back to Kisoro.
 * Walk in the Echuya national forest and bamboo zone. If you're on your own, hire a bodo-bodo for about USh25,000 return including 2 hour wait. If there are more than two of you, it may be cheaper to hire something on four wheels to take you to the new  for Kabale district. Directly opposite, on the south side of the road, is a single file track that gradually climbs up through the bamboo (Yushania alpina) zone and into the rainforest. There were no forks or branches in this track in June 2014 and after about 15-min walking you're afforded great views of the linear swamp on your left that runs all the way into Rwanda. If you're quiet you'll probably hear or see monkeys to your left as you near some of the larger trees. After climbing about 150 m (500 ft) the track reaches the top of the ridge and there is a  where you can picnic with fine views over the Virunga range and several lakes including Kayumbu and Chayafi. If you turn east and follow the boundary fence line running parallel to the fir trees, you'll reach the top of a hillock (2,461 m) which gives fine views of Lake Bunyonyi. Return the way you came.