Gorilla Habituation Safari in Bwindi From Kigali: The Gorilla Habituation Safari allows you to spend four hours with Mountain Gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. You’ll walk into the bush with park rangers, forging a trail through the forest’s harsher parts in search of gorilla families.
Get up up and personal with Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest’s enigmatic mountain gorillas. This is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime nature excursion. Travel to Africa for a once-in-a-lifetime experience with one of the planet’s rarest creatures.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is home to half of the world’s mountain gorillas. This deep rainforest in the southwest of Uganda is a World Heritage site with incredible biodiversity. Approximately 350 mountain gorillas live and play among the mossy foliage of the forest floor, surrounded by forests and lakes and overshadowed by the spectacular Virunga mountain range.
Uganda allows the adventurous tourist to experience a more adventurous level of safari. It is the original Eden, with over 1000 species of birds and creatures found nowhere else. Get up and personal with mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. Every day, just eight guests are permitted to observe each gorilla family, and our trained guides will explain the etiquette required in visiting a massive silverback.
What is Gorilla Habituation?
Standard gorilla treks allow you to spend up to an hour with the gorillas in their natural environment. This has been made feasible by gradually exposing the gorillas to human presence, a procedure that can take anywhere from 2 to 5 years. This is critical for the gorillas’ on-going research, care, and protection.
You may join rangers and conservationists in the habituation process of two additional gorilla families in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest if you want to play a more active part in the protection and understanding of these gentle giants.
You may spend up to four amazing hours with these incredibly clever and sensitive creatures on a habituation trip. It is a really humbling event, and the habituation process is critical to the gorillas’ continuing care.
Uganda Gorilla Habituation Safari in Bwindi From Kigali.
The best safari is the Uganda gorilla habituation safari in Bwindi from Kigali, where visitors will fly to Kigali international airport and then connect to Uganda via the Cyanika border in Kisoro. This cuts on the long driving distance to 5 hours’ drive from Kigali to Bwindi impenetrable national park compared to the 9-10 hours if you are driving from Kampala or Entebbe to Bwindi.
Using the route from Kigali city in Rwanda also makes it possible for visitors to do gorilla trekking in Bwindi from Kigali, accessing the park through the Cyanika border in Kisoro or Katuna border in Kabale. Visitors entering into Uganda through the border at Cyanika can also opt to do gorilla trekking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park from Kigali.
Difference between Gorilla Trekking and Gorilla Habituation in Bwindi from Kigali.
A typical gorilla expedition in Uganda include traveling through deep forests in search of habituated gorilla families, followed by up to an hour of observation of the group.
The gorilla habituation experience, on the other hand, entails spending four hours with a group of gorillas and is only offered in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park’s southern half.
At the time of writing, a basic gorilla trekking permit costs $700, while the gorilla habituation experience in Uganda’s Bwindi Forest National Park costs $1,500. The gorillas seen during the habituation experience are less used to humans than those seen on regular gorilla treks (they are still being ‘habituated’).
The experience is still quite safe, and the advantage of spending more time with gorillas is that you can better understand their behaviors and social dynamics, as well as take beautiful images, without feeling rushed.
Uganda Gorilla Habituation Experience in Bwindi From Kigali.
The first leg of every gorilla trip in Uganda is a (often lengthy) journey into the bush with a skilled team of guides and scouts looking for gorilla footprints.
Finding the gorilla’s ‘nest’ from the previous night is the most telling sign that you’re close to a troop. Finding a gorilla family might take up to 6 hours or more.
You may spend up to 4 hours with the gorillas after you make contact. A habituation experience allows you to gain insight into the life of these wonderful animals that few people get to see.
It’s crucial to remember that 4 hours might be a long time for us humans with limited attention spans, so make sure the habituation experience is good for you. As you study the creatures up close, interacting with one another in their tiny familial groupings, you’ll begin to notice similarities between the gorillas and ourselves – the comparisons are frequently remarkable and sobering. It’s been a long day, and returning to the lodge for dinner and a hot shower/bath would be highly appreciated!
When is the best time to go for Gorilla Habituation Safari in Bwindi From Kigali?
The Uganda gorilla habituation experience in Bwindi from Kigali is available all year. Throughout the year, temperatures in Bwindi range between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius. The two dry seasons, from June to August and again from December to February, are the best times to visit, but rains can occur at any time of year.
The months of March to May are often the wettest in Bwindi, so avoid them if at all possible. Although photographing gorillas during the wet season has certain advantages. The rain clears the air of dust, allowing for cleaner shots, and the rain and mist combine to produce a melancholy, wilderness atmosphere to the national park, which is especially appealing from your lodge porch!
What to Pack for your Uganda Gorilla Habituation Safari in Bwindi From Kigali?
Waterproof hiking boots with excellent ankle support and traction (to avoid any nasty blisters, ensure you have good walking socks and have worn them in before you depart).
Jackets and pants that are light, breathable, and waterproof, as well as long-sleeved shirts. Wearing long sleeves and pants will keep you safe from pest bites and warm if the weather turns cold.
Sunglasses and a hat.
A light backpack with enough space for a lunch, reusable water bottle, additional layers, snacks, and some basics such as sun cream, bug repellent, after-sun, bite relief cream, and lip balm.
Binoculars, for spotting other species like birds and monkeys from a distance.
Camera has extra batteries and a waterproof case.
