It was an amazing experience as one of our staff trekked Mubare gorilla family in Buhoma northern sector of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. Mary Mugisha our internal auditor together with other seven trekkers took part in gorilla trekking of Mubare family the first gorilla group habituated in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. Just like in every trekking, Mary and her group spent a magical hour with the gorilla family observing and taking photographs of the unique human like characters of gorilla members within their family.
Gorilla trekking permit is a pass to trekking for every trekker accessed at a cost of 600usd and 450usd in the peak and low seasons respectively. For the case of Mary, she paid 150,000ush for the permit since she is a Ugandan citizen and it was a low season.
There are over 480 mountain gorillas in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park roughly half of the world’s remaining gorillas. These families are Mubare family, Habiyanja family, Rushegura family, Bitukura family, Nshongi family, Mishaya family, Kahungye family, Busingye family, Bweza family, and Nkuringo families shared in the four sectors of Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo all open to trekkers.
Trekking begins after simple briefing by the park rangers concerning the guidelines while trekking. From there, trekkers hike into the forest and the time to spend there depends on the location of the allocated gorilla family and the speed of their movements.
Besides Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, gorillas can also be trekked in the virunga conservation area comprised of Mgahinga gorilla national park in Uganda, volcanoes national park in Rwanda and the Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Conclusively therefore, gorilla trekking is a once in lifetime experience that all travelers should not miss out.
