Gorilla trekking in Uganda is a genuine once-in-a-lifetime experience, a thrilling wildlife encounter of trekking up-close the bulky mountain gorillas within their pristine rainforests homes. Although gentle and peaceful, a face-to-face encounter with a bulky Silverback leader with his family on a morning forage sends down spine-chills, while a stare from his brown sunken eyes is heart-piercing. The unexplainable feeling of authority, connection and recognition during that “golden one hour” interaction with a habituated gorilla family is a life-time memorial experience.
The Eastern Mountain gorillas (G.b.beringei) are endangered occurring only in the montane ranges of Viunga that is shared across international boundaries of DRC, Rwanda and Uganda. The global population of mountain gorillas is on a rise recently surpassing over 1000 individuals with half of this population protected in Uganda’s pristine rainforests and montane forests of Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Out of this small population in Uganda only 22 habituated gorilla families are available for daily trekking experiences.
Mountain gorillas are massive and bulky, yet gentle, densely furred, terrestrial and restricted to high-altitudes where they live on a typical vegetarian diet. They live in tight families over 15 individuals consisting of several female, youngsters and blackbucks led by a Silverback at the helm who is also a leader and protector of the whole family.
The difference between Ordinary Gorilla and Habituation Tracking Experience
In Uganda’s mountain gorilla forests, two tracking or trekking experiences are offered giving one an ultimate time around several habituated families in their natural rainforest home, learning and observing the human-like traits of these wonderful giants.
These two experiences differ majorly in permit fees, duration with gorillas and tracking location.
- Ordinary Mountain Gorilla Tracking Experience
This is a normal tracking experience where visitors get to spend the standard “one hour” with a designated gorilla family. Visitors are led to a more habituated gorilla family whose home range is established and well accessed along fairly established forest trails.
- Habituation Experience
On a habituation tracking experience, visitors trek along with researchers and rangers to follow a semi-habituated family, gathering data, monitoring the family’s health and mapping its home range. The trek is more physical demanding than ordinary experience and often gets tougher for these gorilla families are shy and tend to forage off trail across difficult terrain and forest structures.
That said, the rich insights gained from researchers and rangers on this full-day experience outweigh the physical challenges and provide a rich adventure across these ancient rainforests with their vast and rich flora and fauna.
Cost and Booking a Gorilla Tracking Permit
Uganda’s affordable ordinary tracking fees costs 800-USD while habituation experience costs 1500-USD per person. On planning a gorilla tracking experience in Uganda, it’s important to note that these permits are high-demand where by tracking dates and location relies on availability. An early purchase of permits ensures proper booking of accommodation facilities that are close to a given tracking trailhead and helps in itinerary routing.
Its worthy noting that permits are issued to persons of minimum age of 15-yrs.