Travel That Gives Back.
Positive Impact Safari
At Tarec Gorilla Safaris, we believe that travel is one of the most powerful forces for good on the planet when it is done with intention, care, and a genuine commitment to leaving the places we love better than we found them.
Wildlife Conservation
The mountain gorilla is the heart of Tarec Gorilla Safaris. Everything we do begins and ends with our commitment to the survival of this extraordinary animal. We enforce all UWA and RDB trekking regulations without exception — group size limits, health protocols, minimum distance rules, and time restrictions — because animal welfare comes before commercial convenience, always.
Forest & Habitat Protection
The forests of Uganda and Rwanda are among the oldest and most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. We support lodges that operate within strict environmental frameworks, advocate for buffer zone conservation, include reforestation initiatives among the causes we support, and educate our clients about the critical importance of these forests.
Community Empowerment
We employ locally. Our guides and staff are recruited from Ugandan communities.
We support community-owned enterprises. Our itineraries include community lodges and cooperatives.
We include authentic cultural experiences. Always on terms set by the communities themselves.
We support the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary. A model of community-led conservation tourism.
Responsible Travel Practice
We brief every client thoroughly — before every gorilla trek, chimpanzee tracking session, and community visit.
We champion low-impact travel — avoiding single-use plastics, respecting wildlife, supporting local products.
We offset what we cannot eliminate — encouraging carbon offsetting through verified programmes.
We educate and advocate — every client returns home as an ambassador for responsible tourism.
We call this approach Positive Impact Safari. It is not a programme with a logo. It is not a certificate on a wall or a line in a brochure. It is the way we do business, every day, in every decision we make — from the lodges we recommend to the guides we employ, from the community experiences we include in our itineraries to the conservation organisations we support with a portion of every booking we receive.
When you travel with Tarec Gorilla Safaris, your journey does more than give you the experience of a lifetime. It actively contributes to the survival of mountain gorillas and chimpanzees in the wild. It puts money directly into the hands of the families and communities who live alongside these animals and who are their most important long-term protectors. It supports the rangers who walk the forest at night to keep poachers away. It funds the conservation programmes that are slowly, painstakingly, restoring some of the most important ecosystems on Earth.
Your safari, in other words, matters beyond yourself. And that is the kind of travel we are proud to facilitate.
Gorilla Tourism & Conservation — The Connection
One of the most important things Tarec Gorilla Safaris communicates to every client is the direct, demonstrable link between gorilla tourism and gorilla survival.
Mountain gorilla conservation is expensive. The anti-poaching patrols, the ranger salaries, the veterinary interventions, the community compensation programmes, the research — all of it requires sustained funding. Gorilla trekking permits — USD 800 in Uganda and USD 1,500 in Rwanda — are the primary source of that funding. The Uganda Wildlife Authority and Rwanda Development Board direct substantial portions of permit revenues back into conservation and community programmes in the park buffer zones.
This means that every gorilla permit purchased through Tarec Gorilla Safaris is a direct conservation contribution. Every client who treks to visit a mountain gorilla family is, in the most literal sense, helping to pay for that family's protection. The gorilla survives, in significant part, because people want to see it — and are willing to pay responsibly for the privilege.
We tell our clients this story because it matters. The gorilla's recovery from the brink of extinction is not only a conservation triumph — it is proof that responsible tourism, properly channelled, is one of the most powerful conservation tools available to us. At Tarec Gorilla Safaris, we are proud to be part of that story.
The Lodges & Camps We Choose
The accommodation we recommend to our clients is not chosen by commercial arrangement or supplier incentive. It is chosen because it meets our standards — for quality of guest experience, yes, but equally for environmental management, community employment, and conservation contribution.
We look for lodges and camps that employ the majority of their staff from surrounding communities and invest in staff training and development. We look for properties that manage waste responsibly, operate renewable energy systems where feasible, source food locally and seasonally, and minimise their physical footprint on the landscapes they occupy. We look for partners who support anti-poaching programmes, contribute to community development funds, and operate with genuine transparency about their social and environmental impact.
The lodges and camps we recommend across Bwindi, Kibale, Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, Lake Mburo, Volcanoes, Akagera, and Nyungwe have all been assessed against these criteria. Many of them are, in their own right, outstanding models of responsible lodge operation — and staying at them is itself a positive act.
Our Conservation Partners
Tarec Gorilla Safaris works alongside and supports the following organisations and institutions whose work is essential to the conservation of Uganda's and Rwanda's wildlife and wild places:
- Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) — the government body responsible for the management and protection of Uganda's national parks and wildlife reserves, and the issuing authority for gorilla and chimpanzee trekking permits.
- Rwanda Development Board (RDB) — Rwanda's national tourism and investment authority, responsible for the management of Volcanoes, Akagera, and Nyungwe national parks and the issuing authority for Rwanda's gorilla trekking permits.
- African Parks — the conservation organisation managing Akagera National Park in Rwanda and several other African protected areas, whose wildlife restoration programme at Akagera is one of conservation's most celebrated recent achievements.
- The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund — the organisation founded on the legacy of Dian Fossey's pioneering research at Karisoke, continuing daily monitoring, protection, and research of mountain gorilla families in both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) — a coalition working across the three range states of the mountain gorilla — Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC — on transboundary conservation, community programmes, and policy advocacy.
- Bigodi Wetland Community Sanctuary — the community-managed wetland conservation and tourism project adjacent to Kibale Forest that Tarec Gorilla Safaris actively promotes and supports.
The world's wild places are not permanent. They endure because people choose to protect them — with funding, with advocacy, with the way they travel, and with the companies they choose to travel with.
When you choose Tarec Gorilla Safaris, you choose a company that has made a genuine, unconditional commitment to the positive impact of everything it does. You choose a journey that gives back — to the gorillas, to the forests, to the communities, to the rangers, and to the extraordinary landscapes of Uganda and Rwanda that deserve to be here, wild and thriving, for every generation that follows ours.
Come travel with us. Travel with purpose. Travel with Tarec Gorilla Safaris.
Plan Your Positive Impact Safari