Gorilla Tracking in Uganda

Gorilla tracking in Uganda's Bwindi National Park is a once in life time adventure experience. Gorilla trekking is a rare experience to encounter the gorillas in their natural habitat in the Virunga ranges of Mgahinga National Park  and Bwindi National Park in South Western Uganda. Tracking gorillas is memorable adventure experience. Meeting the rare mountain gorillas as they go about their daily life, feeding, playing, mingling, sleeping, moving in a group is a life changing encounter for most first time and returning gorilla trackers. The gorilla treks are carefully overseen by professional tracking guides, porters and  dedicated guides that lead a maximum group of 8 gorilla trackers into the thick forested bamboo covered mountains. Once the gorillas are located, you spend an enchanting one hour with the gorillas, only a few feet away from the mountain gorillas of Bwindi and Mgahinga Parks . After the one hour visit one walks away from the gorillas with life changing memories of your gorilla trekking experience.

The once in a life time, perhaps twice lifetime  opportunity depending on funds availability to purchase Uganda gorilla permits to see gorillas in their natural habitat is a memorable unforgettable experience.

Bwindi in Uganda where most gorilla tracking takes place is one of Africa's oldest forests. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park sprawls over  325km2. Bwindi Forest has a very rich biodiversity, with a rich endowment of  350 birds,310 butterflies,200 trees,51 reptiles,88 moths and 120 mammals. So in addition to gorilla trekking one gets to bird watch and see plenty of flora and fauna on their gorilla trek, having the best of both worlds.

Eight gorilla  tracking tickets or gorilla permits are allocated for each gorilla group or gorilla family on each day. The limitation of numbers to 8 is intended to keep the experiences as intimate, private and non-intrisuve as possible for the gorillas.. This means therefore that only 72 gorilla tickets or gorilla permits are available per day for tracking the mountain gorillas in Uganda. We therefore highly suggest that you book your gorilla permits through us well in advance before gorilla permits sell out, especially during the peak travel months of July, August. September, December and January. 

We offer a very reliable, efficient and responsive gorilla permits or Uganda gorilla passes, Uganda gorilla tickets, purchase service to take the stress out of your gorilla safari holiday planning in Uganda.

Visitors gather at each sector of Bwindi National Park headquarters at 7am, and are allocated a family group on the day according to fitness levels, as well as being briefed on protocols and rules for visiting the gorillas.

Gorilla treks or gorilla hikes to locate the gorilla families can last anything from 1 hour to 6 hours for the Nkuringo gorilla family with tends to range very high up in the mountains. However luggage porters are available at a small fee to assist with carrying luggage, trek packs as well as offering a hiking had to trekkers who might need such help on the day. However nobody should be put off gorilla tracking as you will be assigned a gorilla group according to your request or fitness levels.

As part of the conservation and corporate social responsibility mission, a substantial percentage of the monies generated from sale of Uganda gorilla permits or gorilla tickets is allocated to local communities for purposes of building local health centres, local schools, developing local markets, local roads and any other local community priorities. 

Uganda Wildlife Authority is in charge of conserving the country’s natural heritage, which includes animals, plants, natural features and ecosystems in general.

UWA implements diverse strategies to conserve and sustainably manage wildlife. They include community participation in wildlife management; revenue sharing; collaborative management; problem animal management; wildlife use rights; and conservation education and awareness.

UWA addresses conservation challenges such as poaching, encroachment and illegal grazing through strategies such as placing patrols in all protected areas and arresting people who invade park land without permission from the Authority.

UWA has also worked with communities around protected areas to address other challenges between wildlife and humans around these areas such as problem animals and human-wildlife conflicts among others. Wildlife benefit sharing programs are intended to contribute towards achieving the government’s aim of poverty eradication and improved community livelihoods.

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in June 2022 gave UGX 3.4 billion as revenue sharing funds to communities that surround Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Area. In a handover ceremony presided over by the Uganda Minister of Tourism, , revenue cheques were presented to the leaders of Kisoro, Kanungu and Rubanda districts, the districts surrounding the gorilla tracking areas of Bwindi and Mgahinga. 

The minister explained that that local communities that live next to the gorillas do not only keep guard of the wildife but also suffer the cost of conservation. It was therefore for that reason that Government gives back a portion of the revenues from the Park to appreciate the role of the community in protecting wildlife resources.

The funds it is hoped will  be put to good use and in addition demonstrate the economic values of Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks.

The revenue from gorilla permits or gorilla tickets offers employment for many locals, from rangers and trackers to porters, drivers and staff at accommodation facilities near the park.