Gorilla Tracking Day in Bwindi Forest, Mgahinga N.P and Volcanoes N.P : Your Memorable Gorilla tracking day starts with the briefing of all visitors about the Dos and Don’ts of Gorilla trekking by the head ranger guide, this is about how visitors should behave along the way and while viewing gorillas. This is done in order to prepare visitors for the best experience with the mountain Gorillas as well as preventing disease transmission between visitors and gorillas themselves.
Bwindi impenetrable national park is Uganda’s main gorilla trekking destination. Here, habituated families can be accessed from four trailheads: Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo. In Uganda’s Bwindi impenetrable national park and Mgahinga national park, each trailhead has its own characteristics, families and levels of difficulty. Departing from one of the four trailheads on the perimeters of the forest, you join a group of other trekkers (maximum group size of 8 people) for a guided hike into the forest in search of one of the 11 habituated gorilla families.
Gorilla trekking is led by experienced Uganda Wildlife Authority guides, you will be introduced to the ecology of the forest and the changing landscape as you trek to the gorillas. Your guides are in communication with the team of trackers who will have been shadowing the gorillas since daybreak. The trackers direct your guides to bring you to the gorillas.
Gorilla viewing experience
In the morning after breakfast, Visitors will assemble at the park offices, well prepared with packed lunch and enough drinking water that will take them for the whole day. We prepare all clients for the best dressing code suitable for jungle walking, insect repellent, sun cream, hand gloves hat and Rain gear for their protection purposes. We do this to avoid challenges, sometimes gorillas can be seen close or the tracking might take many hours. Visitors are to be prepared for long walking than short walk to avoid feeling of disappointment in case a short walk turns to be a long walk.
After the pre-tracking briefing, the tour guide who might at the same time be the driver will help his clients to go through Gorilla tracking formalities including allocation of the gorilla families of which his or her visitors will track. This is done in favor of Age, strength, interest and next program of visitors after the entire trekking. Visitors then stand at a special point to meet their lead guides who will discuss more about trekking pace, and its a lead guide who will find a porter to escort a visitor by supporting while on trek and at the same time carrying backpack for a visitor to make sure he or she is flexible to walk. Visitors who cannot walk, may be of age or disabilities to make a walk will not miss the tracking as porters have a provision of stretcher where they carry up a visitor to and from Gorilla trekking point. Each gorilla family is visited once in a day by a maximum of 8 visitors.
From there, the Gorilla trekking experience begins. Once the whole team approaches the gorillas, the lead guide will alert visitors to prepare themselves with Cameras, lenses and pacing. The adventure begins. Visitors will be allowed a maximum of one hour once the viewing begins. Later visitors will be brought back to the park station where they will end the whole experience of their entire trekking of gorillas. With this brief, we inspire you about expectation on your gorilla trekking day.
Gorilla permits are currently fixed at $700 USD per person.
The permits are no longer discounted during the rainy season, but they are easier to secure at short notice if you are travelling during Uganda’s long rainy season (March to May) or in the short rainy season (October to November).
For peak travel months (January – February and June – August), permits can sell out as early as a year in advance. The permit numbers are strictly limited, so we strongly recommend planning early.
One advantage of visiting the gorillas in Uganda is the relatively cheap permit costs compared to neighboring Rwanda where permit prices sit at an eye-watering $1500 USD per person at time of writing.
If one hour of contact is just not enough, if you are a wildlife photographer, or if you are simply fascinated by the behavior of these incredible animals, then it is also possible to join the habituation team in the Rushaga sector of southern Bwindi impenetrable national park. This experience includes up to four hours with the family, observing the individuals and their interactions, and costs $1,500 per person.
Gorilla permits are non-refundable, but if you trek and do not see a gorilla, the Uganda Wildlife Authority will refund 50% of the permit cost. This happens very rarely.
