Gorilla Highlands Road
🌍 Uganda
The Gorilla Highlands Road refers to the network of scenic routes connecting Kabale in southwestern Uganda to Volcanoes National Park in northwestern Rwanda, passing through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the Virunga volcanic chain. The approximately 200-kilometer route crosses between the two countries through some of the most biodiverse and visually stunning terrain in East Africa, climbing through the Albertine Rift highlands at elevations between 1,800 and 2,500 meters.
The roads wind through a landscape of impossibly steep, intensively terraced hillsides (giving Rwanda its nickname 'the Land of a Thousand Hills'), dense montane rainforest, bamboo zones, and the dramatic cone-shaped Virunga volcanoes rising to over 4,500 meters. This is the last refuge of the endangered mountain gorilla, with roughly 1,000 individuals surviving in these forests. The driving experience is both humbling and exhilarating, with every bend revealing another breathtaking valley view, and the contrast between the ancient, tangled forest and the meticulously cultivated hillsides is unforgettable.