How Gorilla Trekking is Done at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
How Gorilla Trekking is Done at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National park? Gorilla trekking at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a unique and exciting adventure that allows visitors to get up close and personal with endangered mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in southwestern Uganda and is renowned for its rich biodiversity, including approximately half of the world’s remaining Mountain Gorilla population.
How is Gorilla Trekking done in Bwindi Forest National Park? Gorilla trekking in Bwindi is done every day in a group of 8 persons per group, an advance team of trekkers sets off into the forest to find where the Gorillas were left previous day. Then they start following the footsteps until they find them. The reason to make it easier for the tourists to find the Habituated Gorillas. Gorillas can move long distances in search for food or water. Sometimes, if they is fight between habituated Gorillas and Non- habituated Gorillas, they will decide to move far away from hostile gorillas. The work of this advanced team is to establish the state in which these Gorillas will be and then, they will communicate to the park offices to tell where exactly Gorillas are.
Early in the morning, you will wake up, most lodges in Bwindi provides packed lunches and enough drinking water to take you through the day, you will find walking stick at the park headquarters when you go for Briefing or come with one provided at the lodge. you will then walk or be driven to the park headquarters for briefing about the do’s and don’ts while you are with the Gorillas.
After briefing you will be assigned groups of 8 persons per group, chosen by your driver guides depending on your physical fitness, it means you will tell your driver/guide how fit you can and he will be able to select group that fits in your physical fitness. The groups can easier- meaning shorter walk or medium trekking or tough or long trekking. You will then follow into dense jungle following various trails in search of allocated gorilla family. There is no actual time to spend in the jungle but varies from 1 hour to 6 hours depending on how far you find the gorillas. However, despite of unpredictable time, you are assured of seeing the gorillas 99% chances at the end of the trekking.
Gorilla trekking is not an easy experience or walkaway venture but its requires physical fitness, because no one know the exact time you will spend in the jungle searching for the Gorillas but you assured of meeting the gorillas.
Once the gorilla family is located, trekkers spend a limited time (usually one hour) observing and photographing the gorillas in their natural environment.
Visitors are required to maintain a safe distance and follow specific guidelines to ensure the well-being of the gorillas and minimize the risk of disease transmission.
Summary of How Gorilla trekking is typically done at Bwindi impenetrable forest national park;
Gorilla trekking requires a permit, its required and obtained in advance and its issued Uganda wildlife Authority(UWA) through authorized tour operators. It’s advisable to book your permit well in advance due to the limited number of permits available each day.
Briefing; On the day of your trek, you’ll attend a pre-trek briefing at the park headquarters. During this briefing, you’ll receive information about the gorilla family you’ll be visiting, the trekking guidelines, and other relevant details.
Group Allocation; Gorilla families are habituated to human presence in order to make the trekking experience safe and enjoyable. Visitors are typically divided into small groups, each assigned to one of the habituated gorilla families.
Trekking Experience; Experienced guides and trackers lead the trekking groups into the dense forest. The terrain can be challenging, and trek durations vary depending on the location of the gorilla family on that particular day.
The trek provides an opportunity to observe the park’s diverse flora and fauna.
Gorilla Encounter; Once the gorilla family is located, trekkers spend a limited time (usually one hour) observing and photographing the gorillas in their natural environment. Visitors are required to maintain a safe distance and follow specific guidelines to ensure the well-being of the gorillas and minimize the risk of disease transmission.
Return Trek; After the gorilla encounter, trekkers make their way back to the park headquarters. The return trek may take a similar route or a different one, providing a different perspective of the forest.
Post-Trek Debriefing; At the end of the trek, there is often a debriefing session where visitors can share their experiences and ask questions.
At end of the Gorilla trekking Experience all the tourist will be awarded Gorilla trekking Certificate for successful completion of Gorilla trekking experience.
How Gorilla Trekking is Done at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
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