Gorilla trekking in Bwindi is done on an everyday basis, after an advanced team of trekkers that sets off into the forest to find where the gorillas are. They normally start from where they slept last night following their footsteps until they find them. The reason for doing this is to make it easier for tourists to find them.
During gorilla habituation you will learn that gorillas can sometimes move for a long distance, most especially if they are searching for food and water. Even when there is a fight between habituated and non-habituated gorillas, they will tend to move far and sometimes become hostile. So, the work of this advanced team is to establish the state in which these mountain gorillas are in and then communicate to the park headquarters to inform them where the gorillas are.
Experience Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi
You will usually get your early morning breakfast, before setting off to your amazing gorilla trekking safari. Most lodges in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park provides packed lunch, enough drinking water and walking sticks to facilitate your gorilla trekking in Bwindi.
You will then walk or be driven to the park headquarters for briefing from the staff of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), about the do’s and don’ts while tracking mountain gorillas.
After briefing, your group of eight (8) trekkers will proceed into the dense jungle following various trails in search of the allocated gorilla family group. There is no actual time to spend in the jungle but it varies from as early as 30 minutes to 1 hour, or extending to a couple of hours. This is dependent on how far or near the gorilla group is. However, despite the unpredictable time, trekkers are 99% assured of meeting the gorillas at the end of the trek.
Important considerations
Gorilla trekking in Bwindi is not a walkway venture but rather a tiresome adventure that require some physical fitness. No one knows the actual time to spend in the forest but you are greatly assured of meeting the gorillas. So, expect to spend several hours trekking to and from, searching for the gorillas, depending on the location and movements of gorillas.
Just like their name, mountain gorillas live in mountainous regions with steep slopes, which make it quite tiresome to trek. As a result, you should expect muddy, slippery and wet grounds especially during rainy seasons and early mornings.
You’re always encouraged to do fitness test like gym work, or some jogging before coming for gorilla trekking. Once you find these mountain gorillas, you will be allowed to spend up to one hour with them and then return to your lodge for relaxation and other activities of the day.
Gorilla trekking in Bwindi is done in mainly four tracking sections. That is, Buhoma in the north, Ruhija in the east, and Nkuringo and Rushaga in the southwestern and southeastern sides, respectively.
Apart from Bwindi Impenetrable, gorilla trekking in Uganda can also be done in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. In gorilla tracking in Rwanda is done in the Volcanoes National Park.