With over 480 mountain gorillas in both Mgahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda is the haven to more than half of the World’s population of mountain gorillas that is estimated at more than 880 individuals and the majority of these exceptional primates call the different sectors of Bwindi Impenetrable National park home. The Park is located in south-western Uganda on the edge of the western arm of the Great East African Rift Valley. Gorillas are interesting apes to watch in the wild and they are grouped in two classes which include: Eastern and Western gorillas. Mountain gorillas comprise of Eastern gorilla species whereas lowland species comprise of Eastern lowland gorillas and western lowland gorillas.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is best known for its outstanding gorilla trekking tours, but it also provides refuge to elephant, chimpanzee, monkeys and various small antelope and bird species. If you intend to book a Uganda safari without gorilla trekking, then you will have missed an opportunity to see these rare and threatened gorillas. The variant biodiversity is supported by the fact that Bwindi is extremely old and also its slopes extend over a broad altitudinal range of 1447m above sea level, enabling habitats ranging from lowland forest to Afro-montane vegetation
The park also offers some of the finest montane forest birding in Africa and is a key destination for any birder doing a Safari to Uganda. Amongst the numerous possibilities are no fewer than 23 of Uganda’s 24 Albertine Rift endemics, including spectacular, globally threatened species such as Shelley’s Crimson wing and the African Green Broad bill. Bwindi is one of the few in Africa to have flourished throughout the last Ice Age and it is home to roughly half of the world’s mountain gorillas.
As mentioned previously, there are currently 14 habituated gorilla groups in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, whereby the 13 are open for tracking by tourists while one is reserved for research purposes. These gorilla groups include Mubare, Habinyanja, and Rushegura, Oruzogo, Bitukura, Kyaguriro (research group), Nshongi, Bweza, Mishaya, Busingye, Kahungye and Nkuringo groups. There is only one habituated gorilla family in Mgahinga National Park-called the Nyakagezi group. The most interesting and exceptional thing about this Park is that the gorillas groups are distributed within the four sectors of the Park.
Trekking mountain gorillas can be done anytime of the year, but visitors prefer visiting the park in the dry season starting from the month of June to October and from December to February. The gorillas are completely wild animals. On the day of gorilla trekking, you are driven at the park headquarters for registration and join other trackers in a briefing about the do’s and don’ts during your gorilla trek. Experienced guides accompany you on the tracking day, many of who have been involved in the habituation process themselves. A maximum of 8 people track a particular gorilla family per day. The guides use their knowledge of the gorillas’ habits and information from the previous day to locate the group’s whereabouts.
The time taken to track the gorillas depends enormously, from as little as half an hour to as much as 8 hours before you return back to the starting point. Once the gorillas are located, the group is allowed a maximum of one full hour observing them. The gorillas are calm and gentle creatures and rarely to the visitors. Visitors are always advised to follow strict rules from the park rangers and guides in order to minimize the risk of human disease transmission to gorillas and also avoid causing stress to the animals.
Strictly visitors are authorized to observe a distance a distance of 7 metres from mountain gorillas despite the fact that gorillas continually move closer to the visitors. You are advised to switch off the flash light when taking photos and videos. To face a mountain gorilla in the wild is probably one of the world’s truly once-in-a-lifetime experiences. The hour is often over all too quickly and you slowly make your way back to camp to recount the day’s adventure. Other tourist activities include: Guided forest walk, bird watching, and Batwa cultural experience among others.
A Uganda gorilla permit costs $600 per person all year round. Gorilla permits are a requirement for one to be able to trek mountain gorillas and acquiring these permits is best done through Gorilla Safaris Tours or through Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
