Top destinations for Gorilla trekking in Uganda. Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Gama parks
Top destinations for Gorilla Trekking. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Top destinations for Gorilla trekking. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda and offers one of the best sceneries in the country. The National Park was declared a UNESCO heritage site and lies along the edge of the Rift valley with immense and dense forests that act as habitats for both the animals and bird species found in the park. The word Bwindi means darkness and this was used by the Batwa people because of the dense forests that covered the area and can still be witnessed within the national park. It is home to about 320 Mountain gorillas, 324 different tree species, over 150 butterflies, and over 345 bird species.
There are two ways you can use to get to Bwindi and this is by either driving or flying to an airstrip near the National Park. The drive from Kampala to Bwindi will take you about 8 hours using the different routes that are from Kampala through the Queen Elizabeth National Park and then to Bwindi. If you prefer flying, you will set off from the kajjansi airfield or Entebbe airport to Kihihi, kayonza, or Kisoro airstrip depending on the gorilla family that you have been assigned to.
The activities that you can carry out while in Bwindi include nature walks and community encounters where you get to meet the Batwa people and their unique culture, gorilla trekking and tracking which is the most participated in an activity in the park, hiking through the forest, primate viewing and many more others.
Bwindi National Park can be toured all through the year but the best time is during the dry season when the trek and hike routes are not muddy and slippery. It is easier to also trek the gorillas during this period as compared to when the rains come in but it is better if you carry a raincoat with you since the weather can change drastically.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Top destinations for Gorilla trekking. Gorilla National Park is the smallest of all of Uganda’s national parks. The Park was created to protect the mountain gorillas that roam freely within the Virunga region. The Park is bordered by the Virunga National Park of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda. It was declared a game sanctuary by the British administration in 1930 and was gazetted as a national park in 1991. The Park has only got one habituated transboundary gorilla group. The visitors can also enjoy the Batwa visit which is a fascinating tour with the Batwa guide to learn the secrets of the forest.
About the Park
Top destinations for Gorilla Trekking. Gorilla National Park is one of the luckiest and smallest parks in Uganda where the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas are found and it happens to be part of the Virunga massif where more than 480 mountain gorillas park is known to be living. The national park has cultural significance, in particular for the indigenous Batwa pygmies. The tribe of hunter-gatherers was the forest’s first people. Mgahinga has got the most striking features and its conical, extinct volcanoes that are part of the spectacular Virunga Range which lies along the border region of Uganda, Congo, and Rwanda. The national park also forms part of the much larger Virunga Conservation Area that includes adjacent parks in these countries. The volcanic slopes have got many ecosystems and are biologically diverse and their peaks give a striking backdrop to this gorgeous scenery. Out of the mountain gorilla population that are found in the Virunga Massif, there are about 3 gorilla families that are known to be living in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
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