Nshongi Camp: Budget Bandas and Camping Beside the Rushaga Gate

Nshongi Camp is a locally owned budget camp at the forest edge in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a few minutes’ walk from the Uganda Wildlife Authority post where Rushaga gorilla treks begin. Travellers book it directly or through a safari company for low cost gorilla trekking, with rooms, bandas and space to pitch a tent. The camp sits in Kisoro District, southwestern Uganda.

Nshongi Camp Location for Rushaga Gorilla Trekking

Nshongi Camp’s pitch is simple: few beds in Bwindi are closer to a gorilla trek. The camp stands right on the park boundary above the Rushaga gate, and the walk to the morning briefing for Rushaga gorilla trekking takes a matter of minutes. Guest reviews put it at around five. Operator pages say three or four.

The camp takes its name from the Nshongi gorilla family, the first group opened to visitors in Rushaga, and describes itself as the closest camp to that family’s usual trailhead. Rushaga now has more habituated families than any other sector, including Mishaya, Bweza, Kahungye and Busingye, and rangers share visitors among them each morning, eight to a group.

Being this close has a side effect. Gorilla families sometimes feed in the trees and gardens around the boundary, and the camp says they occasionally pass through its grounds. That is luck, not a scheduled event, and if it happens you still keep your distance.

Rooms, Bandas and Camping at Nshongi Camp

Accommodation at Nshongi Camp comes at three levels. The traditional bandas are huts built from mud brick with thatched roofs, the style the camp started with. Standard rooms are simple and clean, with double or twin beds, and deluxe rooms add space. Every room and banda has a private bathroom with a hot shower, a mosquito net and a small veranda facing the forest.

Then there is the camping area. Overlanders and backpackers can pitch their own tent and still use the showers, the restaurant and the campfire, which makes this one of the very few places in Rushaga where a self sufficient traveller can sleep beside the gate for little money.

How many rooms? Listings say five or six bandas, and the camp’s own site does not give a total. It is small either way, so book early for the dry months.

Meals, Electricity and Wi Fi at the Camp

The restaurant and bar cook home style Ugandan food alongside international dishes, and a three course dinner is available. Guest reviews regularly mention the cooking as a high point. Trekkers get a packed lunch box, and evenings end around the campfire, which you will want at this altitude.

Electricity is where older information misleads. Listings written some years ago describe no mains electricity and lanterns in every banda, and one French guide still calls Nshongi the most rustic stay in Rushaga, with electricity only in the evening. The camp now advertises round the clock electricity, hot showers at any hour and satellite Wi Fi. Things have clearly improved, but if you need to charge camera batteries overnight, ask when booking whether every room has a socket.

The camp also passes a share of its income to community and conservation projects, and evening performances by the Rushaga Young Stars, a local youth dance group, are a regular feature.

Who Nshongi Camp Suits

This is a camp for budget travellers, backpackers, overlanders and anyone who would rather spend money on a second permit than on a smart room. Solo trekkers do well here, since single rates are low. Independent travellers coming by public transport through Kisoro will find it the easiest place in Rushaga to arrive without a booking, though calling ahead is still wise.

Expect simple comfort. Reviews praise the staff, the food and the view over the forest and swamp, where monkeys and birds are easy to spot from the deck. The occasional complaint is that rooms are basic, which is fair for the price.

Travellers wanting fireplaces, a spa or polished service should look at the mid range lodges nearby. Children are welcome as guests, but no one under fifteen may trek gorillas in Uganda.

Gorilla Trekking and Habituation From Nshongi Camp

A gorilla trekking morning from Nshongi Camp is about as easy as Bwindi gets at the start: breakfast, then a short walk to the 7:30 briefing. Permits are issued by sector and date, so yours must be for Rushaga. The camp can help arrange permits, and licensed operators book them too; our gorilla permit booking guide explains the process.

After the briefing, groups of up to eight head out with rangers. The trek can last under an hour or most of the day, depending on where the family moved overnight. Visitors then have one hour with the gorillas and must stay at least 10 metres away under UWA rules. Porters wait at the gate; hiring one puts money straight into Rushaga households and saves your knees on the climb back.

Rushaga is also Uganda’s only base for the gorilla habituation experience, where up to four visitors spend up to four hours with a family still being habituated. Coming back from that long day to a hot shower a few minutes away is a real advantage. Check the gorilla trekking packing list before you go: gloves for nettles and gaiters for mud are what trekkers most often say they wish they had brought.

Batwa Visits, Birding and Other Tours From the Camp

The camp runs several outings for spare days. A Batwa cultural experience introduces the forest people’s former way of life: hunting methods, shelter building and medicinal plants. Read our page on the Batwa people for the background.

Birding walks around the camp and the forest edge can turn up many of Bwindi’s roughly 350 species, Albertine Rift endemics among them. Guided nature walks lead to waterfalls and viewpoints, with black and white colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys often seen. There is also a coffee tour that follows the bean from the bush to the cup, and a general community walk through Rushaga village.

Further away lie Lake Mutanda for canoeing and Mgahinga for golden monkey trekking.

Getting to Nshongi Camp

The camp is roughly 340 km from Kampala and Entebbe, which works out at eight to ten hours on the road through Mbarara and Kabale. Most people break the trip at Lake Bunyonyi. From Kigali the drive is four to five hours via the Cyanika or Katuna border, covered in our guide to gorilla trekking in Uganda from Kigali.

Scheduled flights from Entebbe or Kajjansi reach Kisoro airstrip in around an hour and a half, followed by a road transfer of up to two hours. The getting there guide compares road and air, and the best time for gorilla trekking page explains how the rains in March to May and October to November affect the final, unpaved stretch.

Nshongi Camp Compared With Nearby Lodges

Within a short distance of each other in Rushaga, you have several quite different stays. Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge offers bird named stone cottages, family rooms and more polish. Bweza Gorilla Lodge is tiny, with five cabins, fireplaces and a massage room. Gorilla Leisure Lodge sits a step above both. Nshongi Camp is the plain, friendly, low cost option of the group, and the only one with camping.

Trekkers holding Nkuringo permits should look at the Nkuringo Gorilla Campsite instead. All sectors and price levels are on our Bwindi safari lodges page.

Nshongi Camp FAQ