Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a verdant magnificent swathe of rain forest across the steep ridges of the Albertine Rift Valley.
This morning, a driver/guide from Uzuri Uganda Safaris meets and greets you at your hotel in Kigali. After exchanging pleasantries and ensuring that all of your bags are packed in the car, you will commence the drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Kisoro town in the viscinity of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park/ Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. It is a short drive of about 5 hours. When you factor in the border crossing delays at Gatuna/ Cyanika, you should be in Bwindi or Kisoro town by mid-afternoon. Check-in at the lodge you have chosen or Similar and have the rest of the day to yourself. Later, dinner and overnight stay.
After breakfast, with your packed lunch, lots of water in your rucksack, your guide will take you to the park HQ before 8:00am for registration and briefing by Uganda Wildlife Authority staff. Once the formalities of what to do and not to do while tracking the gentle giants are communicated, you will head to the trail-head of the gorilla family you have been allocated. At the trail-head, you will commence the trek, pushing your way through the undergrowth, to track the gorillas. (the trek can last from half an hour to 8 hours – a reasonable degree of fitness is required as well as a sturdy pair of walking shoes). When you finally locate the family that you are tracking, take in everything as you watch the gorillas go about their day – feeding on the green leaves, bamboo shoots, wild celery, stinging nettle and wild fruit. If there are juvenile gorillas, enjoy them play about and take it all in. Take lots of pictures (and a selfie if you happen to have a gorilla in your selfie frame) and video as the one-hour will be over before you know it. It is an extraordinary feeling being in the presence of these majestic apes, sitting/standing in the dense rainforest with the knowledge that you are in the presence of the few remaining wild mountain gorillas. After the mandatory one hour is up, the rangers will lead you back to the starting point/trail-head where you will find your driver/guide. Once back at the trail-head, your driver/guide will be waiting to take you back to the park HQ where you receive your tracking certificates (evidence of your contribution to the conservation of the majestic gorillas). From here, you to commence your transfer back to Kigali, Rwanda. In Kigali, you are dropped off at your hotel or the airport in case you are flying out.
What to bring for gorilla tracking/trekking: light but sturdy hiking shoes, light rain jacket, daypack, 2 litres of water, gardening gloves, long trousers either jeans/khakis, long-sleeved shirt/blouse, wide-brimmed hat, sun glasses, insect repellent and an energy bar.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a verdant magnificent swathe of rain forest across the steep ridges of the Albertine Rift Valley. This ancient rainforest is one of the few on the African continent to have flourished and a home to half of the world’s endangered population of Uganda Gorillas. Apart from gorilla trekking, the park boasts 90 mammal species, including 11 primates and prominent bird species. This treasure trove of flora and fauna is home to over 370 Mountain Gorillas, accommodating almost a half of the world’s population of Mountain Gorillas. A tour to this park enables you to get up close and personal with these rare Great Apes. American zoologist George Schaller, one of the first people to study gorillas in the wild, once said: “No one who looks into the eyes of a Gorilla, gentle and vulnerable, can remain unchanged.” This Gorilla safari takes you to either Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda via Kigali, the Rwandan capital. The safari starts when you are picked up at your hotel in Kigali, Rwanda and transfer across the border to Uganda. In Uganda, you will track the Mountain Gorillas and cross back to Rwanda to bring your short gorilla excursion to an end.