Why Few Tourists Trek In Mgahinga National Park.
Among the four homes of gorilla trekking, Mgahinga National Park is the least well-known but nonetheless one of them. Although its scale is also the smallest, it provides some of the most amazing activities in unspoiled surroundings.
Mgahinga National Park covers over 33. 7 square kilometers of territory. Three unique volcanoes, Mountain Muhavura, Mountain Sabyinyo, and mountain Gahinga, which define the southern end of the Albertine rift basin, protect the park.
Walking to the top of one of the mountains will allow you to really enjoy some of the rarest untouched vistas in this park. One interested in a day’s climb may tackle any of these mountains in around eight hours of return travel. You may simultaneously be standing in Uganda, Rwanda, and D.R. Congo when at the top of Gahinga Mountain.
Apart from gorilla trekking, Mgahinga national Park has over 115 bird species; this list is continually growing. Among the Birds of Mgahinga National Park are crowned crane, black kite, black turaco, crowned hornbill, and many more.
Mgahinga National Park is the site to visit in order to understand and appreciate the real life of the Batwa pygmies, who were forest managers before to 1991. The Batwa Pygmies are homeless at the present as conservation has taken their ancestral territory. The Batwa get to show guests their forest existence via displays including traditional dances, folk music, skits. The Batwa employ this among other means of self-support.
Though Mgahinga National Park is a primate paradise, Golden monkeys and mountain gorillas are the most well-known of its inhabitants. Mountain gorillas are only inhabitants of three African nations: Uganda, the gem of Africa; Rwanda-Country with a thousand hills; and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Rich country but politically unstable).
Four national parks in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga in Uganda, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and Virunga National Park in Volcanoes National Park house habituated mountain gorillas.
Though Uganda has habituated mountain gorillas in Mgahinga National Park, relatively few visitors are eager to hike this giant primate in this national park. Mgahinga contains one monitored habituated gorilla family called Nyakagezi with around 7–14 individuals.
As will be discussed below, there are various reasons why visitors to Mgahinga do not like trekking gorillas.
Fast access to Uganda’s Other National Parks From Mgahinga National Park Mobile Gorilla walking family
Nyakagezi gorilla families have been quite nomadic for quite some time up to now. Spending most of their time in either Rwanda’s Volcanoes National park or Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo, this gorilla family used to move from Uganda.
This has consequently frightened away visitors who are unsure if these gorillas would be in Mgahinga the day they hike. Unlike those in cages, mountain gorillas have unfettered lives free from human influence. The mountain gorillas have no knowledge about political limits or why they shouldn’t go beyond certain zones. The good news is that the family has remained steady for several years now without moving as it once did.
Few Gorilla Families Open for Travel
Being the only habituated gorilla family in Mgahinga National Park, visitors are never sure the mountain gorillas will be there. Some people are uneasy because they believe there is no other family they could turn to should they fail to see or locate it.
Mgahinga National Park has long been known to have just one gorilla family, Nyakagezi, but it is also somewhat erratic. Previously, the gorilla permits for this park were sold outside of the Uganda Wildlife Authority offices, where its equivalent Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Permits are sold.
When one fails to locate one gorilla family in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where so far 19 habituated gorilla families can be located, they might try out another gorilla family so that visitors or customers may see these magnificent animals. As a result, gorilla trekking in Mgahinga National Park suffers.
Permit Booking Time for Gorillas
Gorilla permits for Nyakagezi family are not reserved ahead of time. Those who desire to hike gorillas in Mgahinga have to pay for their gorilla permit on ground. This is difficult as you never know if you will be going gorilla trekking. Most of the time, visitors reserve gorilla permits ahead of time just because they know they will see them. To just travel on land without guarantee, a gorilla permit comes with somewhat expensive costs.
You need assurance that your gorilla permit has been booked as you have to reserve lodging and make all your trip plans before purchasing your ticket. The Nyakagezi gorilla family might choose to go to Rwanda or Congo hence they do not want to commit themselves on this, so Uganda Wildlife Authority is not taking advance payment to them. Still uncertain is the gorilla family.
Rivals from nearby gorilla trekking parks
The southern section of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park poses fierce competition for Mgahinga National Park. That’s the Rushaga gorilla trekking area and the Nkuringo gorilla trail. This side is situated in the Mgahinga National Park in Kisoro district.
Given the above described factors, there is a great likelihood of encountering gorillas in the southern portion of Bwindi Impenetrable National park as opposed to Mgahinga National park.
One of the toughest rivals of Mgahinga National Park is perhaps Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. Right now, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda has around 13 habituated mountain gorillas. With a range of gorilla families to pick from, visitors find this more dependable place for gorilla trekking.
For these reasons one cannot discover any justification for him or her risking to hike gorillas in that area.
The terrain of Mgahinga National Park
Its terrain is steeper than that of Mgahinga National Park relative to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Three unique dormant volcanoes comprising Mgahinga National Park are Gahinga Mountain, Muhavura Mountain, and Sabyinyo Mountain. Although they provide a regional background, gorilla trekking is somewhat tiresome.
Mountain gorillas go freely, hence when gorilla trekking you really have no idea where they are eating that day. Finding them depends on the closeness of the food or circumstances that rule the forest. One never knows where and when to discover them.
The Political Unbalance Mgahinga National Park in D.R. Congo is nearer to Virunga National Park in D.R.Congo, where recorded to be ongoing civil conflicts. Despite the fact that Ugandan troops are on duty to guard Uganda borders, this uncertain political climate puts gorilla trekking in this area at risk. This does not entail, however, that instability in D.R. Congo spreads to Uganda.
The accessibility of Mgahinga National Park
Mgahinga National Park has the greatest driving length even although both parks have extensive road journeys ranging from eight to ten hours. About 540 kilometers separate the park, in the extreme southwest of Uganda, from Kampala, the capital of the country.
Usually steep and curled out of highland slopes, the roads leading Mgahinga National park are. Also restricted are the paths inside Mgahinga National Park. Still, visiting Mgahinga National Park is like seeing a pure place unspoiled by human activity.
Should you decide to fly, the flights to Kisoro airfield are scheduled per demand and have designated times due to the severe foggy circumstances of this region.
Few places to stay in Mgahinga National Park
Mgahinga National Park has some of the few lodging options around it. This might be explained by the low demand for lodging resulting from the few visitors this park calls for.
Among the lodges inside Mgahinga National Park are those at Gahinga Volcanoes. About 14 miles from Ntebeko, gate the primary headquarters of Mgahinga national Park, Kisoro town provides access to several services.
Fast access to Uganda’s Other National Parks from Mgahinga National Park
One may desire to engage in additional activities like wildlife drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National park, Visit Amabere ga Nyinamwiru stagmites and stalactites and others either before or after gorilla trekking in Mgahinga National park. Compared to past or present gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable national park, Mgahinga National Park is rather remote from all these activities.
To sum up, Mgahinga National Park boasts one habituated gorilla family that visitors can access and hike; the family has been stable for the past two years and you are sure to have the same experience there as in Volcanoes or Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Mgahinga National park gorillas often receive reservations most notably in June, July, August, September when families in Bwindi and Rwanda are totally booked.
What else should one do at Mgahinga National Park?
Birding in the National Park Mgahinga.
On the red list of IUCN, this park supports around 115 bird species including Albertine endemics. Mgahinga has to be among the options you include on your Uganda birding trip. You pass through montane environments while riding the buffalo wall train or gorge route looping half way up Sabyinyo.
You delight in a range of birds. Among the birds you may find to identify are Dusky title Dove, Alpine chat, Lagden’s Bush Shrike, Malachite Sunbird, White-tailed Blue fly catcher, Rwenzori Turraco and others.
Among the ecosystems that appeal to birders in Mgahinga National Park include montane forest with a bamboo expansion belt. On the top slopes is regenerating meadows on the lower slopes heath and Afro-alpine moorland.
Expedition Mountaineering in Mgahinga National Park
Comprising three unique dormant volcanoes among the five Virunga mountains, the park is Among them are mountains Muhavura, Gahinga, Sabyinyo. One of these mountains allows a return climb in eight hours; however, you have to schedule right away to ensure a ranger guide is assigned ahead of time.
Sabyinyo, locally, meaning old man’s teeth, and this was built from a worn summit with a rim of stubby peaks. Muhabura is the land mark as it stands out among the two others and signifies the guide locally. Gahinga is the term for little stone piles strewn throughout the field.
The top of Sabyinyo Mountain offers a 360 panorama of Uganda Rwanda and D.R. Congo border when you decide to trek there. You also find yourself in D.R. Congo and Uganda Rwanda simultaneously. One of the amazing elements of this climb is the rich surrounding greener ground you see as you go.
Walk in Batwa culture and see Garama Cave.
One of the most fascinating cultural journeys available to you into history is the Batwa trip. The Batwa used the forest exclusively in the past; unfortunately, they were displaced from their original habitat in 1991 when mountain gorilla conservation gained the stage.
They are prepared to show visitors what they used to do in the forest and still know their prior way of life. They were hunters and much more; they were gatherers. Through plays, songs, dances, and demonstrations, they lead visitors into this existence. This guided cultural trip is carried out by a Mutwa guide with background in their former life.
After attacking the Bafumbira gardens, their getaway place was the Garama cave, which stretches around 324 meters under a plateau, 3km from Ntebeko headquarters. Right now, Batwa music is being performed at cultural events along the Batwa route.
