Gorilla Trekking adventure in Africa is said to be a once in a lifetime experience for most travelers who have encountered the trek. It’s always best to plan your safari ahead you get the more choices from the place where to track Gorillas, which group to track and the lodging of our choice.
Going to see mountain gorilla in Africa is a very memorable experience and is currently being persuade by so many travelers lately. The gorilla trekking adventure involves going through very dense vegetation, up steep slopes to meet the mountain gorillas and can last several hours. The Africa dense vegetation is filled with burning and stinging nettles, and would definitely be advised to wear gloves and strong trousers. Mountain Gorillas move around which make the gorilla tracking a hard experience.
Mountain Gorilla Trekking
Gorilla trekking is one of the most popular adventures sought from the African continent. This adventure involves trekking through the jungles and penetrating the thick vegetation cover with the help of park guides and rangers who help in creating way through the bushes with pangas and machetes in search of where the gorillas are.
This experience may at times be exhausting, but rewarding when one encounters these beautiful apes and one hour allocated to stay with these creatures seem to be 30minutes because of the exciting experience exhibited with these animals.
How to Plan a Gorilla Trek in Africa
The process of gorilla tracking starts with acquisition of gorilla tracking permits which are obtained through Uganda wildlife authority either directly or through the local tour agent. The permit cost USD600 and allows one to visit the gorillas once for the specified day. Most of Uganda’s tour operators offer gorilla safaris to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga National Park as well as Rwanda.
On the gorilla trekking day, you gather at the park headquarters for briefing about the dos and don’ts while with these amazing apes. Rules and regulations are well explained by the park rangers after which, you are allocated different gorilla families in the groups of 8 people.
Your driver will then drive you up to the starting point where you embark on gorilla tracking either by descending or ascending the forest depending on the location of the gorillas. One requires to be realistically physically fit to take part in this mountain gorilla tracking / trekking adventure because it may involve climbing the steep terrain and sometimes can be exhausting depending on the location of the gorillas.
Getting there
One can get to Bwindi National Park or Mgahinga gorilla national park either by road from Kampala which is an eight hours drive or by road from Kigali-Rwanda which is 3 hours drive or by plane which is 45 minutes flight from Entebbe plus one hour drive to the National park.
Where to Stay
There are several accommodations in Bwindi National Park where one can stay to suitably transfer to the park headquarters in the morning at 7am for pre-tracking briefing. In the Rushaga sector, there is Gorilla Safari Lodge, Gorilla valley Lodge, Nshongi gorilla lodge, Chameleon Hill Lodge among others.
In Nkuringo there is Nkuringo gorilla camp, Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge among others.In Ruhiija there is Gorilla Mist camp, Bakiga Lodge, Trekkers Tavern, Ruhiija Lodge, Broadbill Forest camp among others.
In Buhoma sector, there are several accommodations but most notably there is Silverback Lodge, Mahogany springs, Buhoma Community campsite, Sanctuary gorilla forest camp among others.
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