3 Day Gorilla habituation experience In Uganda

3 day Gorilla habituation Safari in Uganda

Summary

Day 1 drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Day 2 Gorilla Habituation experience

Day 3 Departure day

Day 1 Drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

From Entebbe or Kampala, you drive to the western part of Uganda a voyage lasting about 8 to 9 hours. You may make a stop at the Equator for a photoshoot moment standing on both sides of the earth at the same time.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a biosphere reserve but the mountain gorillas stand out as the fore most inhabitants of this forest. Bwindi forest is a prehistoric ecofriendly park that is believed to have survived the arid conditions of the last ice age period about 12000 to 18000 years ago.

At the moment Bwindi forest is hosting over 21 gorilla trekking families and four gorilla habituation families. As you head towards Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, you feel a drop in altitude so in case you get altitude sickness do take your medicated pill in advance.

Expect to arrive Bwindi impenetrable National Park late evening to check into your lodge.

Accommodation in Bwindi : Gorilla Safari Lodge, Nshongi Camp, Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge, Bwindi Backapacker’s Camp

Day 2 Gorilla Habituation Experience In Uganda

After breakfast head to the ranger station for briefing carrying your gorilla habituation gears and wearing a clean mask. You can hire a porter at this point to assist you carry your gorilla habituation gears. While on gorilla habituation experience, you escort a team of researchers in the wilderness.

The way to the mountain gorillas is quite soggy and boggy from the regular rains that fall and decomposing matter. The nature of Bwindi forest is dense allowing less sunray penetration to the ground. Also Bwindi forest is the water catchment area for this region with a dense network of rivers crisscrossing and can at times flood making the trek quite slippery.

Gorilla-Tour-Uganda Look out for other interesting forest occupants like the grey cheeked mangabey, blue monkeys, black and white colobus, olive baboons and others. An array of birds spend there day in Bwindi forest and can be spotted wandering through the trees in the forest all day.

Finally when you locate the mountain gorillas, four hours are allowed with them but they still possess there natural traits so expect them to show some odd behaviors. The mountain gorillas are not fully habituated so may go into hiding, hoot and you, and much more. You need to bear some level of patience and show total submission to the reign of the dominant silverback.

Take as many mountain gorilla photos as you can depending on what your interests are. You may be requested to assist the researchers with taking notes, observing the mountain gorillas, naming the mountain gorillas, assist in administering treatment where necessary and much more.

Return to your lodge to relax

Day 3 Departure Day From Gorilla Habituation Experience Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

After completing the gorilla habituation experience safari in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, drive back to Entebbe Airport to catch up with your return flight back home.

Note

Fly-in gorilla habituation experience can be arranged too where you can fly to one of the up country airstrips close to Bwindi Impenetrable National park that is Kisoro airstrip or Kihihi Airstrip. This reduces on the time you spend on the road as the flight time from Entebbe airport or Kajjansi airstrip to Kisoro or Kihihi airstrip is about 2 hours. You need to hire a transfer vehicle too.

What is included in 3 day gorilla habituation experience safari?

Gorilla habituation experience where four hours are allowed with a gorilla family

Accommodation while on gorilla safari
Transport
Lunch enroute
Airport drop off on the last day of the gorilla habitation tour

Exclusions of a gorilla habituation experience safari

Souvenirs

Porter hire

Other personal expenses

When is the best time to do gorilla habituation experience in Uganda?

All year around, gorilla habituation experience is a sure safari however the dry season which is June to September and December to February is most sought after. The mountain gorillas spend most of there time closer to the ground because there is food scarcity in the uplands. Even the trails leading where the mountain gorilla families may be lounging are quicker to navigate.

Gorilla-Safari Although Bwindi forest is a tropical rain forest that receives rain anytime without warning, the dry season rains are more regulated. There is lesser precipitation in the forest and rivers flow within the normal course.

Even other forest dwellers like birds, other primates and others are full of life and may be sighted as you search for the mountain gorillas. More sunlight penetrates through the dense canopy to the ground reducing on the water that logs.

This is too the high tourism season of Uganda so demand for gorilla permits is high yet supply is limited to maximum 4 per day per gorilla habituation experience family. Late bookers may struggle to find gorilla permit availability at the last minute. It is best to book the gorilla habituation permit atleast 6 months to a year in advance to avoid misunderstanding at the last minute.

Gorilla habituation experience is also possible in the wet season that is normally March to May and November. Although it is expected to rain any time of the day during the wet season, be sure to see the mountain gorillas. In case you want to have exclusive time with the mountain gorillas with not much disturbance, the low season which happens during the wet season offers you a better opportunity.

How Much Is The Cost of 3 day Gorilla habituation experience safari in Uganda?

the cost of the 3 day gorilla habituation experience safari includes the gorilla permit cost. At the moment, the gorilla habituation safari permit cost is $1500 for foreign nonresidents, $1000 for foreign residents, $1000 for Other African citizens and $750000shs for East Africans.

Inclusions in the cost of gorilla habituation permit cost are researcher fees, ranger guide fee, four hours with the mountain gorillas, mountain gorilla conservation, certificate and others.

This gorilla permit cost excludes porter hire, souvenirs and other personal expenses.

At Arch Safaris and Tours, we package our gorilla safaris as high-end safaris, mid-range safaris and modest safaris. Each of these gorilla habituation experience packages has varying components like accommodation, transport, additional safaris activities if any.

Other costs of gorilla habituation experience are determined by the number of days on safari, the party in your company and others.

What Guarantees Seeing Mountain Gorillas During Gorilla Habituation Experience?

Seeing the mountain gorillas is a sure deal while on gorilla safari as these are habituated to be in human presence for some time. The Gorilla habituation process helps the mountain gorillas to get used to human presence without altering there nature. This is what keeps the mountain gorillas before the tourists atleast for the time stipulated.

Each day a team of ranger guides follow the gorilla families to establish where they might have nested and there possible destinations for the day. Some of these clues are what rangers in company of tourists use when searching for the mountain gorillas.

At the beginning of the gorilla habituation experience, the ranger guides also follow the trail where these mountain gorillas were last seen the previous day. They normally donot deviate from this location unless there is a standing reason.

As tourists, you need to take part in searching for the mountain gorillas so that it is not a one man show. You can use some of the clues left behind by these mountain gorillas like freshly leftover foliage, fresh dung, footprints and much more. Listen to the sound of the mountain gorillas as they call at each other.

Is Gorilla Habituation Experience Difficult?

Gorilla habituation experience is quite tiresome because of the nature of the terrain where mountain gorillas live which is rugged. There are several highlands formed by after volcanic action in this area. Sometimes the mountain gorillas spend there days at the slopes of these highlands so you need to hike so as to get to where these primates may be spending the day.

During the severe wet season, the vegetation in Bwindi forest decomposes and when mixed with soggy soil, the ground gets boggy and slippery. This makes the trek to find the mountain gorillas quite challenging.

It rains in Bwindi forest any time without warning and so during the gorilla habituation experience time, it may rain but you need to pack your rainproof gears and safari boots.

What time Do You Find The Mountain Gorillas During Gorilla habituation experience?

The search for mountain gorillas takes unknown time but some tourists have located these primates in two hours while others spend more time. Finding the mountain gorillas depends on factors like food location, conditions in the wilderness, weather conditions of the day, pace of fellow tourists.

You need to bear some level of patience before finding the mountain gorillas. look out for other forest inhabitants like the black and white colobus monkeys, grey cheeked mangabey, blue monkeys, olive baboons and others. There are different bird species that roam Bwindi forest and as a keen birder you may get this double opportunity to identify more than 100 bird species.

Upon finding the mountain gorillas, only four hours are allowed with them but during this time, you may assist with collecting data, observing and taking notes, take photos and much more. You immerse into the life of the mountain gorillas during this gorilla habituation experience giving you extra time with these gentle giants.

Are mountain gorillas dangerous during gorilla habituation experience?

No mountain gorillas are not aggressive primates in nature. Although the mountain gorillas allocated to you during the gorilla habituation experience are semi-habituated and still possess there natural traits, they are not aggressive.

At a glance the look in the eyes of the mountain gorillas may send a chill down your spin but as get comfortable with the gorilla family, you realise how vulnerable they are.

In nature, mountain gorillas are gentle, serene and shy but this doesn’t mean you provoke them. mountain gorillas charge when agitated by thumping there chests, hooting, walking on one leg, grab the grass around them and much more.

Donot panic upon noticing such odd behavior about the mountain gorillas. wait for the rager guide to establish the root cause of the matter as sometimes they are having family discontentment, may be teasing you, an attack from another gorilla family and much more.

Follow the guidelines given by the ranger guide at this moment in order not to escalate the situation. Gorilla Habituation experience lasts four hours which you need exhaust with fun and make your dream of being just a few meters away from the mountain gorillas a reality.

What are the Rules of Gorilla habituation experience.

No feeding the mountain gorillas when you locate them because they are wild animals that must search for there own food, the forest must be there sole provider and not depend on humans.

In case you have a communicable infection like flue, covid-19 and others, volunteer to stay behind. Mountain gorillas are highly susceptible to human infections.

Keep a distance of about 7 meters from the mountain gorillas when you locate them to avoid chances of passing an infection to them.

Donot dump garbage in the forest when you are searching for the mountain gorillas because this changes the nature of there environment.

Only four hours are allowed with the mountain gorillas during gorilla habituation experience so that they can be left alone to carry on with there day today activities.

Maximum four tourists are allowed to do gorilla habituation experience per day per family.

Donot provoke the mountain gorillas or mimic them as you may not know what you are communicating.