Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park

 

Gorilla trekking is one of the most ranking activity that travelers give priority while planning their African safaris.   In the whole of Africa this exception gorilla activity can only be experienced in only three countries. These countries include Uganda the pearl of Africa, Rwanda and the democratic republic of Congo where you will expect to sight both famous mountain gorillas and lowland gorilla species which are interesting with their gigantic size.

Uganda is famously known as one of those countries that conserve and protect the rare endangered mountain gorilla species in the wild. It therefore operates the popular mountain gorilla tours for the whole year since Uganda’s permit for gorilla trekking is quite affordable at $ 600 US dollars compared to that of Rwanda which is $ 1500 US dollars.

In addition, besides the Uganda Gorilla Trekking permit being cheap and affordable according to the gorilla statics for the three countries, Uganda has the biggest numbers of these endangered mountain gorilla species compared to remaining two countries. Living other factors constant Uganda is the best destination world over for gorilla trekking tours.

In addition to other factors, these are some of reasons that Uganda’s economy has an advantage to receive a large number of visitors annually travelling to come see the precious mountain gorillas species.

Gorilla trekking in Uganda is mainly done in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahanga National Park.

In this article we take a look at Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

The park is situated in the border area of Uganda and democratic republic of Congo in Kanungu district   and it was gazzetted in 1991 as a national park purposely to protect the famous, rare endangered mountain gorilla species.

Bwindi impenetrable national park has been ranked as one of the world’s number one primary gorilla trekking destinations. The park has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1994 due to its great ecological biodiversity.

Bwindi impenetrable forest national Park can be reached by road or air, the journey from Kampala takes about 6 hours while a flight takes at most 2 hours.  You will be required to show your passport and gorilla permit once you reach Bwindi forest park. More than 70 people visit Bwindi on a given day to see the gorillas.

 

Bwindi will give a traveler an exception and unique experience of the mountain gorillas since the park has 35 known gorilla group although only 17 groups have been habituated for research and open for tourism.

Bwindi covers an area of 321 square kilometers and it has four sectors for gorilla trekking and gorilla habituation. These include Nkuringo sector, Buhoma, Rushaga and Ruhija, two groups are found in Nkuringo sector and gorilla habituation experience which is done in Rushaga sector as travelers are permitted to spend 4 hours with the gorilla family if found.

The Rushaga and Buhoma sectors have the most number of gorilla groups and are the most popular area for gorilla tracking.  Visitors who are interested in a gorilla habituation experience can do it from Rushaga.   3 Days gorilla habituation experience allows visitors to study a particular gorilla group more closely for four hours under the guidance of researchers and experienced trackers.

Gorilla trekking in Bwindi forest starts with a briefing at the Buhoma park headquarters at around 7am. Visitors should sleep early before the day of tracking and wake up by 5am to take breakfast before starting the journey from your lodge to the park office.

After the briefing at the park office, trekkers are separated into smaller groups of 8 with each group following a different gorilla family. Some of the groups might start tracking the gorilla family near the park offices while others will need to be driven to starting points in one of the four sectors of the park. The park guides from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, two armed rangers and porters move with each group. The guides are very experienced, knowledgeable and well trained. They are willing to share information about each of the gorilla group members and Bwindi forest in general.