Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Gorilla Trekking | Gorilla Habituation | Birding
Bwindi is the spectacular hideout of half of the remaining world’s endangered mountain gorillas, and the park is located in the Southwestern Uganda. . The park is found in the district of Kanunga and also neighboring the districts of kabala district and Kisoro district. The park was gazzeted as national park in 1991 and was named the impenetrable since it was hard for anyone to penetrate through the thick rain forest. Bwindi Impenetrable occupy an area of about 331 square kilometers, the impenetrable is a nearly high and low elevated on landscape. The park is bordering Congo in the west and bordering Rwanda, it is always green throughout the year.
Bwindi Impenetrable is a home to over 400 plant species, 120 mammal species, and 346 species of birds, 202 species of butterflies and 163 species of trees which are all benefiting from the impenetrable rainforest for food and shelter.
Bwindi Impenetrable was declared UNESCO World Heritage site after it was gazette as national park in 1991. The park is famous for mountain gorillas and Batwe experience.
How to get there
Bwindi impenetrable national park can be accessed by air and road transport. By road transport you will access Bwindi through Kampala-Masaka-Kabale to Bwindi and the drive takes 10-12 hours to reach the final destination of Bwindi a home to the endangered mountain gorillas.
One can go through Queen Elizabeth national park’s southerly Ishasha sector with a view of the favorite climbing lions. Bwindi is 160km from Mweya (QENP) and 64km from Ishasha.
The park can also be accessed through; Kampala-Kabale-Kanungu-Buhoma (6-8 hours journey)
Through Kampala-Ntungamo-Rukungiri-Kihihi-Buhoma (7 hours journey)
Through Kampala-Kabale-Nkuringo (7-9hours drive)
The park can as well be accessed by air from Entebbe or kajansi airstrip to the modern tarmac airstrip at Kisoro town. Nearly are also the Kayonza (near Butogota) and Savannah (Kihihi) airstrips.
The park can be accessed through Rwanda by road drive from Kigali to Katuna border and crossing over to Uganda in Kabale district then proceed to Bwindi. It is about 4-5 hours’ drive to reach the final destination of the mountain gorillas.
Activities
You can engage in quite a number of activities during your visit to Bwindi impenetrable national park. The Most famous activity engaged in at this destination is Mountain gorilla trekking.
Bwindi has quite a number of habituated gorilla groups or you can call them families. These families tend to have ranks like a human family where you find the head being the father in this case the head is a silverback gorilla; there are male and female gorilla sand babies too. Gorilla families are given names so as to be able to identify them .These gorilla families are distributed among the different sectors of the park. Among which are these families: Mubare, katwe, Nshongi, Chrismas, Nyarugongo, Rushegura, Bweza, Kahungye, among others.
You can also engage in activities like bird watching where Bwindi holds about 357 bird species among which you find African green broadbill, bee-eaters, Red –faced woodland, white –tailed crested flycatcher. Another activity includes mountain biking, and a number of different kinds of nature walks like research in along the trails of Munyanga River Trail, Waterfall Trail, Rushura Hill Trail, Muzabajiro Loop Trail, and River Ivi Trail.
Accommodation
Bwindi impenetrable national park is a very magnificent and cool atmospheric place to rest at, the park has got number of accommodation which ranges from luxury, midrange and budget accommodation facilities. Below are some of the accommodations in Bwindi impenetrable national park that we can recommend you as our tourist.
Gorilla Mist Camp, Gorilla valley lodge, Gorilla safari lodge, Silver back lodge, Clouds gorilla lodge, Nkuringo Bwindi lodge, Buhoma lodge, The gorilla resort, Volcanoes Bwindi Lodge, Trackers safari lodge, Ichumbi gorilla lodge, Bwindi backpackers lodge, Buhoma community haven, Sanctuary gorilla forest camp, Gorilla closup lodge, Engagi lodge, Ruhijah gorilla safari lodge, Mahogany springs lodge, Bakiga lodge, Gift of nature lodge and Trekkers tavern cottages to mention the few.
Bwindi gorilla trekking sectors
Bwindi impenetrable national park has got four habituated gorilla sectors and 17 gorilla families.
Ruhijah sector – is located in the Eastern part of Bwindi impenetrable national park and the sector has Uganda’s highest hiking trail with Rwamunyonyi peak. Ruhijah sector stands at an elevation of 2350m above sea level and it is higher than Buhoma. Ruhijah sector has got three gorilla families that includes;
– Bitukura gorilla group
– Oruzogo gorilla group
– Kyaguriro gorilla group
Nkuringo sector – is located in the southern part of Bwindi impenetrable national park and it lies closely to the Buhoma sector. The sector is just near the Uganda wildlife authority headquarters. Nkuringo sector has only three gorilla families and where by Nkuringo family is considered to be the toughest track in the gorilla families in Bwindi.
– Nkuringo gorilla group
– Bishaho gorilla group
– Christmas gorilla group
Buhoma sector – is located in the Northern-western part of Bwindi impenetrable national park. Buhoma sector was the first sector to be developed for gorilla tourism in 1993 making it the most popular sector in Bwindi till to date. Buhoma sector has got four gorilla families to trek being headed by the silver back gorilla.
– Katwe gorilla group
– Mubare gorilla group
– Habinyanja gorilla group
– Rushegura gorilla group
Rushage sector – is located in the southern part of Bwindi impenetrable national park. The sector is known as the world’s capital of mountain gorilla because of the six gorilla families found in the sector which makes it rich with mountain gorillas.
– Bweza gorilla group
– Mishaya gorilla group
– Nshongi gorilla group
– Kahungye gorilla group
– Busingye gorilla group
– Bikingi gorilla group
How to purchase Gorilla permits for Bwindi
Gorilla permit is a document that allows tourists to accesses the impenetrable forest in search of the endangered mountain gorillas. The gorilla permits in Bwindi impenetrable national park cost $700 per permit for foreign none resident, $600 for foreign resident and shs.250000 for East African resident. Uganda’s low season discounted gorilla permits were scrapped off by Uganda wildlife authority after Rwanda increasing they gorilla permit to $1500 per permit. You can purchase gorilla permits through tour companies or from Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters which is located in Kampala.