Gorilla trekking experience is the widest attraction activity for almost every tourist coming to Uganda. I happened to be part of the same adventure with Rwanda Gorilla Safaris and we started our trip from Kigali, Rwanda and via Kabale visited Bwindi for the Gorilla Habituation Experience. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is the best gorilla destination with the population of the mountain gorillas and you can take the gorilla trek and the gorilla habituation which we were not aware of to be in existence but during our safari planning we wanted to trek and later Moses, a very knowledgeable tour consultant briefed us about the different gorilla families which promotes gorilla tourism in the park.
He explained to us all the park sectors from the Buhoma which hosts the Mubare, Habinyanja and Rushegura families. Rushaga which hosts Mishaya, Nshongi, Busingye, Kahungye, Bweza, Bikingi and Bushaho and he emphasized these 2 families (Bikingi & Bushaho) as amazing for gorilla habituation experience in the mist. Ruhija which hosts Oruzogo, Bitukura and Kyaguriro families. And the Nkuringo sector which hosts only the Nkuringo family. With the above we chose to visit the Bushaho family for the habituation experience. You can too reach Bwindi from Kampala through Masaka – Mbarara – Kabale highway and this can take 9 hours to reach the park to your lodge where you can rested to refresh for the next day.
By 6am in the morning were ready prepared to go to Rushaga Sector reception for the general briefing before visiting the family. The track started at 8am through the rain forest which makes it easy to spot the great apes in the mist. This family has got a master who leads all the members in this family. Different activities were spotted taking place in this family; feeding, breast feeding, nesting, resting, patrolling, de-nesting and many more interesting activities. The trekking lasted for the full day with the primates taking photos, videos and learning much more about the mountain gorilla life style in their natural habitat.
More so if you would like to take gorilla trek in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is larger ecosystem, a park which offers cool temperatures and hosting 300 gorillas located in Virunga massif. It is indeed where gold meets silver for gorillas housing with golden monkeys. Here tracking starts from Ntebeko entrance gate at 8am, lasting for four hours. No wonder why gorilla Safari should be done in Mgahinga and not other place, the secret behind it is that this park has a thick rain forest with a wide variety of tree species and gorillas are known to be vegetarians. There is enough food for them in the park hence making them migrate from Congo and Rwanda to this place. Though not in large numbers, gorillas of Mgahinga are easy to see in their natural habitats and this makes tracking more easy compared to other parks.
The two parks have got other activities taking place; in Bwindi there is birding, mountain biking, nature walks through different trails and many more. In Mgahinga there is hiking, nature walks, birding, cultural encounters, volcano climbing to mention but a few. All in all my stay in these parks was credible and unforgettable, looking forward to coming back again.
