Protecting over 54% of the total global population of mountain gorillas, Uganda offers the most affordable trek expereince up-close these gentle giants in their pristine rainforest homes of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP and the montane forests on Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. The rest of the global population is protected in Rwanda’s Volcanoes NP and Virunga NP of the DRC. Across these Uganda’s rainforests, only 22 mountain gorilla families are available daily.
On a trek expereince, the “golden long-one hour” spent with these gentle apes is a privilege indeed, watching the nursing mothers, playful and curious youngsters and the unexplainable feeling of authority commanded by the silverback is a lifetime memorial experience!
A face-to-face encounter experience with the mountain gorilla on a trek
A face-to-face encounter with the massive mountain gorilla family within their pristine rainforest homes, is humbling enough sending down spine-chills, while a stare from their brown sunken eyes is heart-piercing. Mountain gorillas are massive and bulky, yet gentle, densely furred, sedentary and restricted to high-altitudes where they live on a typical vegetarian diet. They live in tight family units ranging over 15 individuals consisting of female, youngsters and blackbucks led by a Silverback at the helm. The mountain gorilla trek expereince involves a group of visitors( only 8 per day ) to trek to a family of mountain gorillas in its feeding range.
In Uganda two options of treks are offered to visitors and below is the difference.
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 Trekking 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.