Responsible gorilla trekking in Uganda

For gorilla trekkers, Gorilla trekking pro poor and responsible tourism is a life changing experience and the activities towards this include; canoeing on lake Bunyonyi and lake Mutanda and visiting the Batwa.Usually tourists want to get the best paid of their gorilla tour and in most cases they ask questions like when is the best time to trek gorillas? Well, mountain gorillas can be tracked throughout the whole year most especially during the drier months of June, July and during early September though there is no guarantee that it will not rain since Bwindi Impenetrable National is a tropical rainforest. In Uganda, the gorilla permit is obtained from Uganda Wildlife Authority and in Rwanda; it is obtained from Rwanda Development Board. The cost of a gorilla permit in Uganda is USD 600 and in Rwanda is USD 750

The park is located in south western Uganda and is divided into four regions of Buhoma region in the North, Ruhija region in the east, Rushaga and Nkuringo in the South. All these regions have gotten habituated gorilla families thus you need to mind about a specific region where you are going to trek the gorilla family you are going to trek  so that  this does not affect your booked accommodation/lodge and your transport and the gorilla permit.As visitor/tourists, you are advised to book your gorilla permit at least three months in advance before your trekking date. On a gorilla permit card, the cost of the park entry fees is include for the respective park services including the guides/ranger who will escort you to the forest. Either you trek in Rwanda or Uganda, you need to get the permits in advance.

Mountain gorilla tracking experience exercise  can take  twenty (20) minutes to 3 (three) quarters of the day thus one needs to prepare for  this both and this  in most cases depends on many factors which include; the movement of mountain gorillas that day, where the mountain gorillas might have stayed the previous night and the mood of the mountain gorillas. In some cases, it depends on the number of people in the trekking group because the guides /rangers do move following the movements of the slowest person in the group.

In both countries (Uganda and Rwanda), the recommendable age for trekking/tracking gorillas is  15( fifteen ) years  and the authorities are very strict on this thus you are kindly advised to make sure  that all in your group, the children must be  in the age bracket 15 and above in order to avoid any miserable  incidents such clients/guest being refused to track the mountain gorillas. However as opposed to trekking Chimpanzees, the age limit for this is 12 years and children 10 years and older are allowed to trek the golden monkeys in the Republic of Rwanda as long as they are accompanied by an adult. However children less than 15 years are not allowed to the tomb of Dian Fossey though the latter hike is a stiff one thus children under 12-13 years of age are not recommended to the burial place. Your gorilla trekking experience needs to be prepared for very we thus you are advised to bring along with you trousers, long sleeved shirt or blouses, long socks. You may also carry sun glasses, hiking boots and insect repellents.