How and Where To Buy Gorilla Permits in Uganda.
Are you intending to go gorilla trekking in Uganda? Then the first item you out to get or book before anything else is the gorilla permit. The permit, a government document that enables you access the Bwindi Impenetrable or Mgahinga National Parks, will define the location of your lodging and the route to the gorilla park.
Uganda gives fewer than 170 gorilla licenses per day. Yet, the gorilla trekking experience demand is larger than the available permits. Last-minute reservations are immensely frustrating for many vacationers. At Katland, we strongly encourage tourists start planning for the trip months before the scheduled date to avoid the battle for acquiring gorilla permits.
Other than the paucity of gorilla permits, in this essay, we cover so much more facts you have to know before you start organizing the gorilla trekking expedition.
What is a gorilla permit?
A gorilla permit is a pass or ticket travelers obtain from Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) for a guided gorilla trekking activity in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga National Park. A gorilla permit would allow travelers to follow gorillas and spend an hour discreetly viewing them, a pastime generally known as gorilla trekking.
At the briefing point, right before a pair of rangers and a tracker accompany you into the gorilla forest, the park warden validates your permission to make sure you received it via the legal ways. They normally ask for your passport, check for the hiking date and trailhead allocation. Then they’ll enable you to join the hiking group.
After walking for an undetermined period seeking for the whereabouts of a habituated gorilla family, the gorilla permit enables you precisely one hour sitting or standing quietly and viewing the gorillas 10 meters away.
The money that buys the gorilla permit pays for everything from rangers’ services to gorilla conservation activities. It pays for the habituation procedure each gorilla family experiences to become adjusted to human presence. And control the negative influence your visit might bring to the gorillas and their environment.
What is included with a gorilla permit in Uganda?
The gorilla permit in Uganda offers only guided access to gorillas and one hour with the gorillas. With your gorilla permit, you may hike with a regulated group of not more than seven other visitors escorted by two armed rangers and under the supervision of a local professional tracker. The tracker/guide keeps you informed on everything gorilla tracking throughout the journey and while with the gorillas.
The permit will only enable gorilla trekking once at a date mentioned on the ticket. After the walk or if you skip the hike, the permit becomes worthless and cannot be utilized or claimed.
The permit does not cover any additional fees on your visits such lodging, food, transportation, and logistical charges. It solely covers the gorilla trekking activity, and everything before or after the activity has nothing to do with the permit.
How much does a gorilla permit cost in Uganda?
A gorilla permit in Uganda costs $800 per person per hike for international non-residents over 15 years old. Foreign residents with work permits pay $700 and UGX 300,000 for East African Nationals.
A habituation permit costs $1,500 per person. The habituation permits let guests to remain with a semi-habituated gorilla family for four hours—three hours longer than the usual permit allows.
Why is gorilla trekking so expensive?
Mountain gorillas are endangered, with only over 1000 gorillas left in the wild. Gorilla tourism is a critical aspect in their protection and continuous increase in numbers. However, keeping wild gigantic species in inhabitable mountain forests is a costly undertaking that demands major finance efforts from all participants.
The gorilla trekking permit is so costly because it pays for the most rigorous conservation initiatives of preserving the survival and expansion of the gorilla population in their natural habitats. These environments are hard to people, but they have to oversee, safeguard, and govern the gorilla’s existence.
Gorilla hiking alone needs a team of rangers to remain with the gorillas from dark to down. That allows the trackers hiking with tourists swiftly find the gorillas and ensure everyone of seeing the gorillas. The gorilla trekking system is pricey, making the permit rather dear.
How many gorilla permits are available in Uganda?
With 20 habituated gorilla families and just eight persons permitted to visit a single family per day, there are 160 gorilla permits available in Uganda every day.
Bwindi Impenetrable forest issues 152 gorilla permits each day, whereas Mgahinga National Park offers just 8 gorilla permits per day. Bwindi licenses are provided in four separate sectors that offer easy access to habituated gorillas and can not be transferred from one sector to another. That implies that when you book a permit for a sector in Bwindi, you cannot follow gorillas of another sector in Bwindi.
With 5 habituated gorilla families, the Buhoma area, in the north of Bwindi, grants 40 gorilla licenses. Ruhija in the west issues 24 permits, Rushaga, in the south, issues 48, and Nkuringo, in the south, issues 24 gorilla permits every day.
When you purchase your permit, make sure that you understand precisely the park sectors where you’ll book your lodging and acquire the gorilla trekking permit for that sector.
Where to acquire gorilla permits in Uganda?
The Uganda Wildlife Authority, generally referred to as UWA, is the only approved gorilla permit issuer in Uganda. UWA is a government entity in charge of handling wildlife conservation and tourism.
Tourists may acquire the permits directly from UWA headquarters in Kampala or contact a licensed local tour operator to obtain them on their behalf.
Usually, the tour operator will charge you a logistical cost for booking your permit. Nonetheless, the gorilla permits in Uganda are offered at face value; that means the price of the permit is the same no matter where you acquire it.
Contact our tour coordinators to assist you acquire your gorilla trekking permit for your selected tracking days.
How to acquire gorilla permits
Walk into UWA main office in Kampala at Plot 7 Kira Road and get your gorilla permits. If you can endure the logistical bureaucracy, contact the office at an email. The only thing you should bring is money (cash or card) and your valid passport.
However, an easier approach is to obtain your permit via a certified tour operator, who will take care of all the ground details, including rescheduling the permit when you modify your trip dates. They’ll ask for your passport and complete payment for the permission.
The tour operator will then give you a scanned copy of your booked permit displaying your name, date, and tracking via email to guarantee you have the permit on your arrival.
To prevent fraudulent purchases, read our extensive essay on picking a reliable tour operator.
Can you acquire last-minute gorilla permits?
Yes, you may acquire last-minute gorilla permits from tour companies that receive the permits from UWA in bulk, expecting to sell to last-minute passengers.
During the busy season, gorilla permits in Uganda are in great demand and frequently sell out months in advance. If you’re planning a last-minute gorilla trekking safari to Uganda, email our tour advisers; we typically have a few on standby.
Can you cancel a gorilla permit?
Yes, you may cancel your gorilla permit and request a refund only if you’ve completely paid for the permit. You don’t receive a return on cancellation when you book with a deposit.
If you have completely paid for your gorilla permit, UWA’s following cancellation rules apply.
91 days + before trekking – 75% refund
46 to 90 days before – 50% refund
9 up to 45 days prior – 25% return
0 to to eight days before – No refund
However, if the park warden determines (on-site) that you can not trek due to sickness, you’ll obtain a 50% refund on your gorilla ticket. Human infections may be dangerous to gorillas, thus the warden on-site performs due diligence to assess everyone’s health before authorizing gorilla trekking.
If you accidentally let the permit expire beyond the trekking date, that’s it; the gorilla permit will be useless.
On the other hand, you or your tour operator may reschedule your permit to another day a week before the tracking date. UWA may enable the postponement of your gorilla permit twice, for up to two years forward. A third rescheduling incurs a 25% penalty charge.
Also, you may postpone your gorilla permit to another date if it’s half paid with a deposit. That can only be done once; you’ll have completely purchased the permission for a second rescheduling.
You may book a gorilla permit for up to two years ahead with a 30% payment. UWA demands you to pay 70% of the permit payment 90 days before your trekking date; else, the permit is revoked.
Suppose you don’t spot the gorillas after easily hiking for hours. In such situation, UWA may approve to postpone the permission to the following day, subject to availability. If there’s no availability, UWA will grant a refund of 50% of the permit payment on confirmation from the warden.
Book With Katland
Cut your preparation time and schedule your gorilla trekking safari with Katland Safaris. We organize custom-made gorilla safaris that include gorilla permit processing, lodging, and transport.
Last-minute booking, don’t even worry about it since we’ve stored away many permits expecting you would ask. No waiting, no promises. Email us to chat to our tour consultants right now.
