Gorilla Habituation in Bwindi Spend more time with mountain gorillas Bwindi
Gorilla Habituation spend more time with mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park a mountain gorilla destination located in Uganda. It is located in the southwestern part of the country in Kisoro district covering an area of 321 sq.km. The park was gazetted in 1993 with the aim of protecting mountain gorillas that were about to come to extinction at the time.
Currently, Bwindi impenetrable forest national park hosts the highest number of mountain gorillas in the world. The park has over 23 mountain gorilla families with 1 being open for the habituation process. The habituation process is one that enables tourists to spend about 4 hours with the mountain gorillas making them get used to human presence around them.
Four hour gorilla habituation in Bwindi Forest
Gorilla habituation is the only activity that allows tourists to spend four hours with mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Apparently the activity is carried out in Rushaga sector which is located in the southern sector of the park. One mountain gorilla family is open for the habituation experience every day with in the park.
On the day of gorilla habituation, tourists must wake up very early in the morning and meet their driver guides for a transfer to Rushaga sector headquarters. This is where all trekkers for the day gather for a briefing from the rangers about the rules and regulations of habituation. A maximum of 4 people does gorilla habituation on a day in Bwindi and these are guided by rangers, and doctors.
After the briefing is done, trekkers are driven to the starting points of the trek where they left with the UWA team to go into the jungle and search for where the semi-habituated mountain gorillas could be. Searching goes through a number of trekking trails with trekkers getting opportunities to see different forest attractions like the birds, and mammals.
2 to 3 hours of searching are enough to locate the mountain gorillas with in Rushaga sector. When the apes are located, the trekkers get to have 4 hours with the mountain gorillas taking part in the activities that make these apes get used to human presence around them. Trekkers also get an opportunity of seeing these mountain gorillas carry out different daily activities like nesting hunting, breast feeding, mating and much more.
With gorilla habituation, trekkers get enough time to photograph and record videos for future memories. When the time around mountain gorillas is done, trekkers are asked to move out of the jungle using the sorting trails with the help of armed r anger ides. These trekkers get to see more of the forest attractions including those they could have missed out before.
What is the cost of mountain gorilla habituation in Uganda?
For any traveler to see mountain gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park for four hours they need a gorilla habituation permit. The gorilla habituation permit costs $1500 for foreign nonresidents, $1000 foreign residents, and UGX750,000 citizens of East African Member States. These permits are sold by Uganda Wildlife Authority a government agency managing and controlling park activity.
Tourists interested in Bwindi gorilla habituation should know that the park has only one mountain gorilla habituation family which is trekked by a maximum of 4 people. This calls for early gorilla habituation bookings to avoid disappointments. Tourists are advised to book the habituation permits 6 months or even a year before the habituation day.
Best time to visit Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Are you wondering about what could be the best time to visit Bwindi for Gorilla habituation? Tourists interested in seeing mountain gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park can visit them at any time of the year however the dry season is the best. June to September and December to February are the best times to visit the park for the weather is always good for the activity. The trekking trails are dry and easier to walk through while the vegetation is short with good views of mountain gorillas.
Tourists can still visit Bwindi impenetrable forest national park during the rainy season in March to May and October to November for the park is always open. Tourists should know that there is plenty of rainfall and little sunshine with in the region. The trekking trails are muddy and slippery, vegetation is very tall and roads leading to the park are impassable.
Where to stay in Bwindi Forest on a Safari?
Bwindi gorilla habituation is currently done in the Rushaga sector of the park and the best accommodation would be those in that sector. Lodges include Rushaga Gorilla Lodge, Gorilla Leisure Lodge, Ichumbi Safari Lodge, Four Gorillas Lodge, Kaara Gorilla Mountain Lodge, Bweza Lodge, Mulehe Safari Lodge, and Mutanda Lake Resort to mention but a few.
Getting to Rushaga
Rushaga sector of Bwindi is located in the southern sector of the park and can be accessed by air transport or road transport. By air transport, we have different airline companies in the country that have daily scheduled and chattered flights to Bwindi. Flights from Entebbe International Airport and Kajjansi Airstrip to Kisoro Airstrip that is close to the sector.
By road transport, tourists may access Rushaga from Kigali or Entebbe/Kampala with in a single day. From Kigali it takes about 3 hours to Rushaga by crossing to Uganda via Kyanika borders to Kisoro where the sector is found. From Entebbe/Kampala it’s a 9 to 10 hours’ journey via Mpigi, Masaka, Lyantonde, Mbarara, Ntungamo, Kabale and Kisoro to the sector of the park.
