Difference between Gorilla trekking and Gorilla Tracking : When it comes to visiting Africa to meet the Mountain gorillas; gorilla trekking and gorilla tracking are the two important terms that always come in the minds of many travelers. For long, gorilla trekking and gorilla tracking have left many confused but what exactly do they mean? There is a minimal difference between gorilla trekking & gorilla tracking.
Gorilla trekking
Gorilla trekking mainly involves travelers setting foot into the dense tropical forests to see mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Virunga Region (Virunga National Park, Volcanoes National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park). This is always conducted under the leadership of an experienced park guide. Some level of physical fitness is required if a visitor is to have a successful gorilla trekking experience. It is not the ordinary on-foot walk experience because you immerse yourself into the forest, bamboo and hikes take you on a high altitude.
Gorilla trekking often starts at 7:00 am with briefing and allocation of a gorilla family, conducted by park guides at respective park head offices / visitor centers. The actual trekking commences at 8:00am when visitors set foot into the forest to begin looking for assigned gorilla groups in the respective National Parks.
A single gorilla family is allocated to maximum of 8 visitors and participants should be 15 years and above. The length of the trek varies depending on many factors including the gorilla family allocated to your group, nature of the habitat, terrain, fitness levels of tourists. The trek to see gorillas can last for 2-6 hours’ and this is determined by the above listed factors among others and a maximum of one hour is set for you to observe, learn more about gorilla behaviors and taking photos.
Gorilla tracking
Gorilla tracking differs from gorilla trekking in that it is conducted by trained park guides/trackers/researchers. Researchers or trackers leave early to look for a particular gorilla family and different methods or signs are used to trace where gorillas previously lived/stayed.
There are different reasons why gorilla tracking is conducted – trackers conduct it for research reasons, gorilla population census and easily locating the families during gorilla trekking sessions. The trackers always keep in touch with the guides and once a group of visitors leave the park station after briefing, the guide keeps communicating with trackers and they are easily directed to where a gorilla family is located.
Literarily gorilla tracking begins first and trekking follows. Visitor chances to see gorillas have increased due to gorilla tracking since an advance team of trackers always link up with the park guides on lead.
Where to go for gorilla tracking and trekking?
There are 2 gorilla species with 4 sub-species with majority of tourists traveling to Africa to see mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas in the wild. The eastern lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas are sub-species of Eastern gorillas.
There are only 4 parks to visit in Africa to see mountain gorillas – Volcanoes National Park in Northwestern Rwanda, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Southwestern Uganda, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Southwestern Uganda and Virunga National Park in eastern D. R. Congo.
Volcanoes National Park – Rwanda
Volcanoes National Park is located in the northern Ruhengeri region, one of Africa’s oldest parks founded in 1925 spanning on 160 sq. km of land area. Volcanoes NP has a total of 11 habituated gorilla groups; all open for tourists to explore while on Rwanda gorilla trekking safari.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Lying in the Southwestern Uganda is one of Africa’s top visited parks for gorilla trekking. In 1991, Bwindi designated as a national park and later became a UNESCO Heritage Site in 1994. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – Uganda has a total of 18 gorilla groups / families that are trekked in the 4 of its sectors – Ruhija, Buhoma, Rushaga and Nkuringo.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
This is located in Kisoro district, south west of Uganda and is a second spot in the Pearl of Africa where a section of the remaining 1063 mountain gorillas thrives. This is the smallest of 10 Uganda National Parks, sitting on only 33.7sq.kms of land area. Like Bwindi, Mgahinga National Park was primarily founded to serve as habitat for mountain gorillas and amazingly, tourists have both mountain gorillas and golden monkeys to encounter here.
Virunga National Park
Virunga is D.R. Congo’s main gorilla park and the only spot to see mountain gorillas in D.R. Congo. This park also ranks as one of the oldest wildlife parks in Africa, gazetted in 1925 and today, it has a total of 8 habituated gorilla families to be trekked.
