Chances of Seeing Gorillas in Uganda Today – Gorilla Trekking Tours
Wondering if there are chances of seeing gorillas in Uganda. Enjoy 99% chances of seeing gorillas in Uganda. Gorilla trekking safari tours guarantee high chance of seeing mountain gorillas in the wild. Plan and book a gorilla tour to Uganda with Maranatha Tours and Travel for thrilling mountain gorilla encounters in the wild.
Unlike game drives, gorilla trekking is done once a day. Each single gorilla trek guarantees you a close interaction with the family of habituated gorillas in their natural habitat. You can trek gorillas with company of an experienced park ranger guide.
99% chances of seeing gorillas in Uganda means you have higher opportunity to find a family of massive mountain gorillas and silverback –the leader of the group. The 1% only covers the unavoidable factors such as general nature of the habitat, location of the gorillas and physical fitness of trekkers.
It is possible to increase your chances of seeing gorillas in Uganda. This is if you put into consideration some of the factors.
Why are chances of seeing gorillas in Uganda so high?
Discover multiple factors that increase visitor chances of seeing gorillas in Uganda;
- Allocation of gorilla families: Gorilla families are always allocated to guests by the park officials. When assigning gorilla families, visitors’ fitness levels are put into consideration. The elderly or those not fit enough can be allowed to visit slightly easier to find gorilla groups. Even gorilla trekkers who desire exploring the most challenging gorilla families, there are options available. In Uganda, the high altitudinal regions for gorilla trekking include Rushaga, Nkuringo and Ruhija. While in Rwanda, the renowned hard-to-find gorilla group is the Susa A.
- Consult the expert in advance; You can have a chance to be assigned a habituated group of mountain gorillas that are easier to find if you have communicated early. When booking your gorilla tour, ensure that you talk to the expert about your general fitness level and if there is an option of the park official to allocate to you the easier-to-trek gorilla groups.
- Habituation: All the gorilla groups that are available for gorilla trekking in Uganda have undergone through habituation exercise or process. Habituation is a step-to-step process of making gorilla family groups get used to human presence in the wild.
- Pre-trackers: While you undergo briefing about gorilla trekking regulations, trackers are dispersed to the jungles. They keep monitoring the families of gorillas and later, they get in touch with ranger guides. This makes it easier to locate families of mountain gorillas.
Where to go to see gorillas in Uganda
In Uganda, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park are the two prominent parks to visit to see gorillas in the wild.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is located in southwest of Uganda in Kabale. It was officially gazetted as a national park in 1991, and today, it covers an area of about 331 square kilometers with its boundaries extending up to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the western side.
To the South, Bwindi is bordered by Rwanda. Access to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park from Kampala the capital of Uganda is about 8-9 hours drive. The Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is located in the southwestern corner of Uganda in Kisoro District and sites on area 33.7 sq. km.
Mgahinga National Park consists of the partly forested slopes of three extinct volcanoes Mt. Muhavura, Mt. Gahinga and Mt. Sabinyo, and about 510km away from Kampala the capital of Uganda with approximately a 9-10hours drive. There is an optional of using domestic flight to reach into this National Parks
Chances of seeing mountain gorillas in Uganda gorilla National Parks are 99% this explains that Bwindi and Mgahinga National Park has over 25 habituated gorilla families and each family is visited by 8 people per day per trek, making it a home to over half the world’s mountain gorilla population in the world.
With over 25 habituated gorilla families all open for gorilla tourism, chances of seeing gorillas in Uganda are with no doubt high. The higher number of gorilla families translate to large number of gorilla permits, which is about 200 gorilla permits.
With over 200 gorilla permits available, the highest number of trekkers can engage in a trek to see gorillas in Uganda compared to any mountain gorilla trekking destination.
Gorilla trekking in Mgahinga and Bwindi National Park is more organized in order to increase on chances of seeing gorillas in their natural environment, this explains that there is an advanced team of trackers who wake up every morning to find where these gorillas are.
Once they find them, they will then communicate to the park headquarters and your ranger guide of the day of the where about of these gorillas. You will then start your trek from where the gorillas would have slept the previous night up to when you find them.
The advanced team will keep communicating with you guide use radio calls to inform park officials on the location of the gorillas hence saving travelers time since they follow specific routes hence great chances to see the gorillas.
Trekking this gorilla family takes about 30 minutes to 5 hours. It is so amazing to see these massive, gentle animals at such close range with great surprise of how many the guides will work hard to remove foliage between you and the gorillas so you could see them better. It is truly a once in a lifetime experience in Uganda.
Is it safe to visit gorillas in Uganda?- Chances of seeing Gorillas in Uganda
Gorilla trekking in Uganda very safe. Visitors can engage in the trek to see gorillas and safely return from the jungles. During the gorilla treks, there are trained park ranger guides to lead you through the jungles. They ensure that you are safe without compromising the safety of the gorillas.
Uganda and Rwanda which is the best place to see gorillas?
Uganda and Rwanda are all incredible destinations if you plan to see gorillas in Africa. Visiting both destination is far better as each has something unique for you to experience.