Guide to Gorilla Habituation Experience in Uganda

Read through a comprehensive Guide to Gorilla Habituation Experience in Uganda offered in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This guide helps you understand the activity very well before booking a permit or embarking on a habituation safari in Uganda. Any person planning to book and take any of the Bwindi Gorilla Habituation Tours, needs to understand the safari activity thoroughly. In this detailed, we explain items like the meaning of gorilla habituation experience, the activity cost including a permit and where it is carried out in Uganda. We also look at the the rules and regulations governing it, what to park or carry on a safari, the pre-activity briefing, where to stay on a trip, access to the park and the best time to travel. As well, there are some frequently asked questions on Gorilla habituation experience being answered in this wider guide.

An outlined complete guide about Gorilla Habituation Experience and gorilla trekking in Uganda:-

What is Gorilla Habituation Experience n Uganda?
Where to find mountain gorillas in Uganda
Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
What is the difference between gorilla trekking and gorilla habituation?
Photography of the mountain gorillas
Permits for Gorilla habituation experience and trekking in Uganda
Best time to visit Uganda to see gorillas in the wild
Where to stay in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park during a tour
What to pack for a gorilla trekking safari in Uganda
What are some of the rules and regulations for gorilla habituation experience and gorilla trekking?
Bwindi gorilla habituation tours

What is Gorilla Habituation Experience?

Gorilla habituation experience is a tourism activity where visitors able to join researchers and consultants in the process of introducing and acquainting wild Mountain Gorillas to the sight and presence of human beings. In short, gorilla habituation experience is the participation of tourists in the gorilla habituation process.

Where to find mountain gorillas in Uganda?

The only two places where mountain gorillas in Uganda are Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in the south west of the country near Rwanda and Congo border. Bwindi forest offers both gorilla habituation experience and gorilla trekking whereas Mgahinga offers gorilla tracking only. Anyone interested in seeing these giant primates in the wild, book a tour with a competent operators and go on a trekking safari where a professional guide will lead you to the gorillas in their natural jungles. Unlike gorilla trekking that is doable in even a single day, gorilla habituation experience has to be given a minimum of 3 days out of which a full day is dedicated uninterrupted to the activity in the jungle.

Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Uganda

Bwindi Impenetrable forest can be reached by road or by air. By road, visitors access the park from Kigali City in Rwanda. And this may take like 4 hours’ drive to be at the gorilla destination. Again by road, trips can begin from Entebbe or Kampala to the park and this take a minimum of about 10 hours. The other transport option is by flying from Entebbe Airport or Kajjansi airstrip to Kisoro airport from where visitors will access the park by road transfer lasting about 45 minutes to Rushaga sector. Connecting to Bwindi by air may be either by taking scheduled flights or chartering a chopper or a fix wing small plane depending of the number of passengers.

What is the difference between gorilla trekking and gorilla habituation?

The two tourism concepts differ in terms of permit costs, gorilla stay duration, locations, visitor group size, specialized gorilla groups as well as availability in terms of offer. Below are some differences between the two terms:-

Gorilla habituation experience is offered only in Bwindi forest and yet gorilla trekking is done in Bwindi and else where in Rwanda and DR Congo.
The permit for gorilla habituation experience costs $1500 yet that of gorilla trekking is at $800 in Uganda. However, the cost of Rwanda gorilla trekking ($1500 per permit) is equivalent to gorilla habituation experience in Uganda.
With gorilla habituation experience, visitors for a gorilla group are limited to four in number whereas gorilla trekking travelers are restricted to eight guest for a gorilla family per day.
Gorilla habituation experience is limited to only two groups in Bwindi forest in Rushaga area yet gorilla trekking is done widely with several gorilla families in Bwindi, Mgahinga, Volcanoes Park and Virunga National Park.
Gorilla habituation experience necessitates a minimum of three days or more for proper execution while gorilla trekking can be done in 1 day in Uganda or Rwanda from Kigali City.
Gorilla habituation experience visitors are granted four hours to spend with the gorillas in the wild yet for gorilla trekking, guests are permit one hour to be with the primates.

However, having differed in some ways, Gorilla habituation experience and gorilla trekking are similar in the following forms. Both gorilla activities are done in Bwindi forest in Uganda, visitors have a specified time to be with gorillas and both require a gorilla permit for participation, Also, gorilla habituation experience and gorilla trekking are also guided by similar trekking rules and regulations and participants have same age limit of 15 years among others.

Photographing of Mountain Gorillas

Gorilla Habituation Experience offers one of the finest wildlife photography encounters in the world as it presents adequate time capture the perfect shot. On the other hand, photographing gorillas is also challenging because of the flashlight restrictions and the recommended reasonable distance between the gorillas and yourself.

But you should make sure that you are well prepared with a strong camera to acquire the best photos. Ensure that your batteries are fully charged and you have sufficient space on your phone/camera memory cards. Carry waterproof bags or covers for your cameras and other electric gadgets like phones since the rain forest conditions are much unpredictable.

Choosing a camera to use is within your decision. All in all, using any a shooting gadget at a high ISO is recommended.

With a required minimum of at least seven meters from the gorillas, using a 70-200 mm lens is the best and recommended. Note that a 2.8 lens is even superior given the poor light in the forest at times.

Taking with flash is prohibited, therefore, try to disable the camera or mobile phone flash prior to bumping into your targeted gorilla family.

The time you are with the gorillas is very precious in that you must plan well your shots instead of shooting madly. We advise you to make a balance between engrossing this unbelievable experience and photo taking of the captivating creatures.

It is not good to spend a lot of your time viewing through your camera lens, endeavor to pay attention to the experience in the midst of taking photographs.

Gorilla permits in Uganda

There are about 20 habituated gorilla families in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and most of them are for gorilla trekking. The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) permits eight permits per day per day per each gorilla trekking permit. This implies that one should book gorilla permit some few months in advance to be able to track gorillas.
Since Gorilla Habituation Experience in Bwindi being done with only two gorilla families (the Bushaho and Bukingyi families), each group is assigned 4 permits only per day.

It is advisable that the permit booking be done at least six months before the dates of Gorilla Habituation Experience. This is much fine especially those travelers planning visit in peak season months running from June to September/October and then December to February.

A Bwindi tour for Gorilla Habituation Experience can easily be incorporated into any Uganda tailor-made package but of course to subject to permit availability with the wildlife authority.
Prices of Gorilla Permits in Uganda

The permit for Gorilla Habituation Experience in Uganda costs $1,500 per person. This permit gives a visitor full access to the gorillas and spend four hours with them. A gorilla trekking permit is at $800 per person per day.

The price of gorilla permits entails park entrance, fees for guides and trackers, 24-hour armed security in the park, plus time spent with gorillas either under the habituation experience or gorillas trekking.
Permit revenues also partly facilitates gorilla conservation comprising of research, veterinary care, park operations plus community development among others.