The last 700 or so mountain gorillas live in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and each country has habituated groups for tourism; you will not see these huge, surprisingly dignified animals elsewhere because the world's largest great ape does not thrive in captivity. Trekking, often uphill and arduous, follows the same principal as chimpanzee safaris: only eight visitors are allowed to visit a gorilla group each day for a maximum of one hour. Trekking permits in Rwanda and Uganda cost $500 per person, per day. Rwanda's Sabyinyo Gorilla Lodge on the edge of the Parc National des Volcans (www.goverscamp.com; from $426 per person, per night) and Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (www.wildplacesafrica.com; from $450 per person) offer luxury service on a par with Greystoke Mahale.
Bonobos are the chimpanzee's smaller, sweeter tempered relatives; they live only in the DRC, as do eastern lowland gorillas. Both species have begun to be habituated for research in national parks, but DRC's lack of basic infrastructure and internal security makes tourism difficult. Check with specialist operator World Primate Safaris for future DRC tours (www.worldprimatesafaris.com), as well as for trips to Gabon and excursions to Madagascar to see lemurs.
Gabon, whose government proclaimed 13 new wildlife sanctuaries in 2002, is emerging as a paradise for primate lovers; this is the place to see western lowland gorillas (the gorilla sub species you see in zoos), mandrels, chimpanzees, as well as smaller primates. It's hit or miss, as the animals have not been habituated to the extent of Lake Tanganyika chimps or the mountain gorilla, but lowland gorillas have been reliably sighted from the World Conservation Society Research Center within Ivindo National Park, and in Lope and Loango National Parks.
An obscure, but beautiful and easy to view African primate is the gelada, a blonde, long-haired grass-eating relative of the baboon. Huge harems range Ethiopia's mountainous and staggeringly beautiful Simien National Park and often hang around Simien Lodge (www.simiens.com; doubles from $136; dormitory bed $31), a luxury - for Ethiopia - ecotourism operation that opened in 2006 and offers guided nature treks, mountain biking and horse trekking.
Orang-utans, the only Asian great apes, survive in the wild in Sumatra and Borneo. Many "orang-utan safari" companies only take guests for brief visits to so-called rehabilitation centres, where orphans and former pets wander small forest patches relying on human caretakers for food. However it's possible to hire guides to search for wild, unhabituated orang-utans, as well as gibbons and other monkeys, in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary and Danam Valley Conservation Area, both surrounded by heavily logged forest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Check with www.responsibletravel.com.
