Overview
How to get a permit for gorilla trekking in Uganda?
After realizing how cheap or expensive the cost of trekking gorillas is to reference one’s pocket, then need to know how can one secure the permit to have a chance to trek the gorillas. In Uganda, gorilla trekking permits are only issued by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) a government body concerned with all Uganda National Parks and Wildlife Reserves.
The most convenient way to ensure a permit is using a local tour operator to aid in getting the trekking permit. Uganda has about 144 permits available for trekking daily in her two gorilla parks of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, but still, trekkers’ demand to trek gorillas always supersede the supply which means the daily gorilla permits available are not enough. It’s always advisable for one to ensure for a gorilla permit must book at least three month before trekking dates. same to Rwanda the same process is followed and early booking of gorilla permit in Rwanda is also called for to avoid last minutes booking which is always disappointing
Is the cost of gorilla trekking in Uganda worth the adventure?
How to get a permit for gorilla trekking in Uganda?
Yes, mountain gorillas are special blessings in the wild, you can only see them in the forests of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the great Virunga Conservation Areas. However, Just recently mountain gorillas were on the IUNC red list of species under critical danger. Gorillas were almost tasting the feel of extinction and different stakeholders have put efforts to ensure their survival. These are critically sensitive species only endemic to their few forests of Bwindi and Virunga and they can’t survive under any kind of captivity a reason why you cannot find mountain gorillas in zoos.
The experience
Gorilla trekking an adventure just worthy the cost, imagine rolling into the unpredictable forest and walk you way in search for these critical species, the trek can last from 1 hour to about 5 hours to find just that one trekked gorilla group. On an encounter with the species and have an opportunity to meet on an eye to eye with these giant, you realize it is communicate something to you. An hour in the presence of the gorillas watching their wild activities of feeding, cheering, jumping into tree branches you just note that these are the closest cousins to man.
The Batwa community
Before the conservation of the gorillas the government had to evict people who inhabited in the same forests. These are the Batwa pygmy people who live in communities just close to the park, on the cost of every gorilla permit about 20% is for those communities. Also, it is a tribe that is under threat in Uganda.
Conclusion
The last statements of this article, narrates considerations of why the cost of the gorilla permit in Uganda. Considering your trekking experience, conservation efforts, and limitation needed to ensure sustainability of the gorillas in the wild makes gorilla trekking just worth the cost.
Related itineraries
3 days Uganda safari and tours
4 days double gorilla trekking