Fly 540 Africa

Gorilla Trekking is one of the best wildlife experiences that adventure travelers look for from Africa. Though the endangered gorillas are found in ten countries, there are a few places where gorilla tourism has been fully developed. For most travelers, smooth travel is very important, and therefore there are a few destinations where organized transportation has been developed, comfortable accommodation, safety and security measures put in place. The definitive guide to gorilla trekking has been written to guide you prospective travelers looking to taking this amazing wildlife experience in Africa. It highlights the best places to visit, things to see and do, and how to plan a memorable safari in Africa.

Where to Go

There are several locations where gorilla tracking is conducted. There are several safaris are available to see both lowland gorillas and the mountain gorillas. However mountain gorilla tourism is the most developed.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking

The best locations for tracking the mountain gorillas are;

Uganda
Gorilla tourism in Uganda leads all the tourism activities within the country, gorilla tracking in Uganda is done from its two national parks which are considered to be the only national parks with the favorable conditions for mountain gorilla survival. The place in the south western part of the country is mountainous and it is characterized by rolling hills hence being a better place for these primates.

Uganda is the only country with the largest number of gorillas with an estimation of around 1060 within her two national parks, the largest number is considered to be in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the rest being found in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Bwindi impenetrable National Park has got fourteen gorilla families well distributed in its four sectors of Ruhija, Rushaga, Buhoma and Nkuringo sectors. Rushaga has got the highest number of gorilla families and mostly visited plus the Buhoma sector.

In Uganda, gorilla watching permits costs US$700 per person per day and this is regarded as being among the cheapest hence favoring budget, moderate and those visitors on luxury safaris.  Trekkers follow the available trails under the guidance of the park rangers. Seeing these gorillas in their territories depends on where they spend their nights.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a Ugandan park hosting almost half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas. Located in South Western Uganda, Bwindi is a famous place to see mountain gorillas. Bwindi Forest National Park is among the best places to go to and it is a 8 hours drive from Kampala, gorilla trekking tours in Uganda offers one of the best memorable experiences since it starts very early in the morning. Most packaged gorilla trekking tours to Bwindi National Park start from Kampala or Entebbe given that most Uganda tour operators are based in these two towns.

From Bwindi, one can proceed to Mgahinga national park in the extreme corner of Uganda and it offers another great experience of gorilla watching, this park has got the Nyakagezi gorilla group which is the only gorilla group found within the park, gorilla permits remains constant with that of Bwindi and all the necessary rules governing gorilla tracking are constant in all the two national parks.

The Virunga Volcanoes that are shared by Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo host the remnant mountain gorilla population. The mountain gorillas in the Virunga keep on moving and wandering between the forests of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Within the Virunga there are 3 gazetted national parks that protect the mountain gorillas. These are Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Virunga National Park in Congo and the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda.

Gorilla tracking is carried out in selected locations i.e habituated gorilla groups. Most gorilla safaris are offered by the tour operators, and most tours focus on trekking the gorillas in either Uganda or Rwanda. Therefore the best destinations for gorilla trekking are Uganda and Rwanda.

Rwanda
Gorilla watching in Rwanda remains another option for the gorilla trekkers and this is done from volcanoes national park, this park is found in the north western part of the country and it’s a 2hours drive from Kigali international airport. Gorilla permits in Rwanda costs USD 1500 and it is a bit expensive compared to the permits of the rest of other countries that’s, Uganda and Congo. Volcanoes national park offers a nice stunning view of about eight gorilla families that are found in this Virunga ranges.

This is accompanied with the rare endangered golden monkeys that are seen all over the park as one moves through the trails in the process of looking for the gorillas in their natural habitat. One can’t leave the park minus having a visit to Dianne Fossey tombs a lady who was a researcher and she died while in Rwanda and she was buried within the park in remembrance of her work done in the process of conserving the largest primate.

Congo’s Virunga National Park
From here one may rush to DR.Congo through Goma town, Democratic Republic of Congo is the third country with mountain gorillas and tracking and watching is done from Virunga mountain national park. The gorilla tracking permit in DR.Congo costs USD 400 per person per day and this is the cheapest, this park covers an area of 7800km² and it is a home to over 200 mountain gorillas in the southern part of the park. The park can be visited any time throughout the year though some paths during the wet season of may-April and October- November.

Lowland Gorilla Tracking

Less efforts have been taken to habituate lowland gorillas if compared with the mountain gorillas. Today there are several locations where tourism has been developed and these are;

• Kahuzi Biega National Park in Eastern DR Congo, the only place to see the Eastern Lowland Gorillas. Though these great apes are also found in Maiko National Park, gorilla watching is not possible in this park. Within Kahuzi Biega National Park, there are two habituated gorilla groups that permit only 8 visitors in each group.
• Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Northern Congo (Brazaville) offers the ultimate experience to track the western lowland gorillas through pristine rain forest. Odzala National Park is one of the oldest national parks in Africa (gazetted in 1935) and it is an integral part of both the Congo Basin and the TRIDOM Transfrontier Park overlapping Gabon, Congo and Cameroon.