Uganda the pearl of Africa is blessed with half of the total mountain gorillas living in the whole world and the mountain gorillas in Uganda can be watched or viewed in the two national parks of Bwindi and Mgahinga national park. Despite the various tourism activities in Mgahinga gorilla national park, gorilla tracking is the most popular adventure taken in the park. Most visitors who visit the park enjoy mountain gorilla trekking in the bamboo forest lands of the park within the habituated gorilla group.
Mgahinga national park has only one gorilla group which can be trekked by visitors who take safaris in Uganda. The name of the gorilla group habituated in the park is the Nyakagezi gorilla family. This gorilla family is identified as “roaming” and “adventurous” because this group keeps on rotating between Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo. However, for the past two years, the gorilla family is currently said to have settled in the Uganda side of Mgahinga national park and hence tourists can easily visit the park to have an encounter with this gorilla family.
Gorilla trekking activities in Mgahinga Gorilla Park begin from Ntebeko Entrance early in the morning (8:00 am). Like other habituated gorilla groups, only a total of 8 tourists are accepted and authorized to visit the Nyakagezi family. Gorilla trekking roughly takes two to four hours of walking and hiking the hills while looking for interesting gorillas. When visitors meet the gorillas, they are allowed to spend only one hour with the gorillas. The interaction between the tourists and the gorillas is minimal given that there is a need to protect the gorillas from human interference. but at distance and the experience one gets from the encounter is unexplainable.
For tourists planning to undertake gorilla trekking safaris in Uganda especially to Mgahinga should be in consideration that the recommendable time for gorilla trekking is mainly during the two dry seasons because during this time the routes are passable and even trekking trails are not slippery and hence visitors can easily move in the forest while searching for the primates. The dry month are Mid-December to the month of February as well as June to October. The only advantage of trekking gorillas in Uganda is that one can do it any time throughout the year.
Participating in gorilla treks in Uganda offers one the chance of understanding the characters of the mountain gorilla. Interesting to know is that each and every day of gorilla starts at 6 am and usually ends in the evening especially 6:00 pm and then they rest waiting for the next day. Gorillas move in social groups and their diet is mainly made up of leaves, shrubs of bamboo forests, roots, flowers among others. Trekking gorillas is more impressive and exciting and hence each visit should plan to visit any gorilla families in Uganda.
