In order
Only two of these have hard deadlines
The rest simply get harder, and then more expensive, the longer they are left.
The sequence
Twelve months to the week before
| When | Do this | Hard deadline? |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | Decide the month. Book gorilla permits if they are in the plan. | Yes — permits are capped daily |
| 9 months | Confirm the itinerary and hold the camps | Effectively, for peak dates |
| 6 months | Book international flights, in the passport name you will travel on | No, but prices move |
| 4 months | Passport validity and blank pages. Begin a name change if doing one. | No, but this is the one that ends trips |
| 3 months | Buy insurance; confirm it covers your activities | No |
| 2 months | Travel clinic, with the route in hand | Nearly — some courses need spacing |
| 1 month | Re-check visa and entry requirements at source | No |
| 1 week | Bank, cash, transfers confirmed, camps told it is a honeymoon | No |
The two that are genuinely fixed
Gorilla permits. A hard daily cap set for the animals, sold out months ahead in peak season, and booked against passport details. If gorillas are in the plan, this is the first thing to secure — before lodges and before flights, because a permit cannot move to suit a flight and a flight can usually move to suit a permit.
Peak-season camps. Not a legal deadline but a practical one. The eight-tent, owner-run camps that make a honeymoon have eight tents, and for July to October or Christmas they are gone six to twelve months out.
The one that ends trips
The passport name. Everything else on this list has a recovery path — a later appointment, a more expensive policy, a visa applied for in a hurry.
A ticket that does not match the document on the morning you fly has no recovery path at all.
If you are inside three months
Still entirely possible, and we plan trips at this notice regularly. What changes is that availability starts doing the deciding rather than you — and if permits are involved, the dates may have to move to where permits exist.
Send the enquiry anyway. The first reply will tell you honestly what is still open.
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