Why Gorilla Trekking Permits In Africa Are Limited

Gorilla trekking Tours are some of the highly demanded safaris in Africa but limited in the number of those allowed to access there habitat. In the entire world, mountain gorillas live in Bwindi Impenetrable National park, Mgahinga National Park, Volcanoes National Park and Virunga National park only.

 At the moment Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National park in Uganda host 19 gorilla families open for tourists viewing. Rwanda’s Volcanoes National park has about 13 gorilla trekking families while Virunga National park has 6 gorilla families.

The only ticket that allows tourists entry into the park to participate in gorilla trekking is the gorilla permit. In Uganda, you can book the gorilla permit from Uganda wildlife Authority. In Rwanda, gorilla trekking permits are purchased from Rwanda Development Board.

Despite the high demand for people to do gorilla trekking, the number of permits released per day is limited to maximum 8 gorilla permits per day per family. This high competition for that limited number makes numerous trekkers miss securing a gorilla permit.

Highlight Of Why The Number of Gorilla Trekking Permits Are Limited

Mountain Gorillas Are Habituated To Be In The Presence Of Maximum 8 Tourists

To preserve the mountain gorilla Food

To Avoid Surrounding the Mountain gorillas

Prevent Spread of Infections to the mountain Gorillas

To Avoid Losing Trekkers in the Mountain Gorilla Habitat

To reduce On Noise Making During Gorilla trekking

Allow better Visibility Of Mountain gorillas

Allow Ranger Guides To Have Control Of Gorilla Trekkers

Mountain Gorillas Are Habituated To Be In The Presence Of Maximum 8 Tourists

During gorilla habituation, the mountain gorillas are trained to be in the presence of only maximum 8 trekkers. Gorilla habituation is the process of getting wild gorilla family familiar with the presence of humans without altering there nature.

When American naturalist Dian Fossey was doing research about the mountain gorillas since 1967, she realized that the animosity that existed between human and the mountain gorillas was one of the reasons why the suffered. As per the census carried out in 1980s, the number of mountain gorillas was 250 gorillas in the entire world. This brought the gorillas to the list of the world’s highly endangered species.

One of the ways to reduce human to mountain gorilla conflict was to get mountain gorillas familiar with human presence.

Gorilla habituation for a wild gorilla family may take between 3 years to about 5 years. Chances of being part of the gorilla habituation team in Bwindi impenetrable National Park are available in the southern part. Only 4 tourists are allowed to book gorilla habituation permits for Uganda per day the others are habituators and researchers.

To preserve the mountain gorilla Food

Mountain gorillas feed on foliage throughout the day with bamboos as there delicacy. To preserve the mountain gorilla food, a limited number of tourists must be admitted into the forest.

The rate at which tourists trample on the vegetation is reduced. They can move through the small trails constructed by regular visitors.

During the day, mountain gorillas walk through the forest to gather and munch on a huge amount of vegetation that takes them through day and night.

When the mount of foliage is reduced in the area they conquer, the dominant silver back has the responsibility to seek new feeding ground for the family. This is one of the reasons why during gorilla trekking the time of locating the mountain gorillas is unpredicted It depends on factors like proximity of the gorilla food.

Mountain gorillas are used to leaving amongst forest so loss of habitat may occur in case many tourists keep flooding the forest. The trees may be stepped on and with time there roots are exposed leading them to fall later.

Avoid Surrounding the Mountain gorillas During Gorilla trekking

When a huge population of visitors gets into the forest, each may want to see the mountain gorillas. This may cause some to stand around the gorilla family. The mountain gorillas tend to feel ambushed by search presence.

In case they get insecure, the dominant silverback may command the rest of its family members to take leave into the deeper ends of the park.

Everybody pays a hefty price to secure a gorilla trekking safari so no one would like to exhaust one hour viewing the mountain gorillas and capture there photos for memories.

Prevent Spread of Infections to the mountain Gorillas

Having many tourists visiting the mountain gorillas may come with some passing a communicable infection to the mountain gorillas. It is hard to check the health status for everybody if it’s a huge crowd.

To control chances of spreading any communicable infection to the mountain gorillas, its best to limit the number to maximum 8 clients. It is a manageable number that can be checked thoroughly according to the world Health organization precautions for preventing the spread of Corona Virus.

As you pack for gorilla trekking do not forget at least two masks to wear during gorilla trekking because no one is allowed to be in the presence of mountain gorillas without it.

 Volunteer to stay behind before gorilla trekking in case you catch any combinable infection like cholera, ebola, cough, flu and others. This is because mountain gorillas are highly susceptible to human infections. They have a DNA of about 96% to that of humans.

To Avoid Losing Trekkers in the Mountain Gorilla habitat

The wilderness where mountain gorillas is vast with entangled vegetation that crisscrosses different huge tree trunks. This vegetation is expected to have survived over 25000 years.

In case someone is lost in this mixture of thick vegetation, tracing them may be quite a challenge even to the rangers who often walk through the forest.

 Remember even the google map for this location is not yet well set. Besides the inner part of the Virunga area have no internet connection or signal. With such huddles, no one should get lost in this vast biosphere reserve.

 This area has other animals like giant forest hogs, duikers, forest elephants, vipers, rarely seen leopards and lions and others. These may hurt you in case you encounter them with no help.

To reduce On Noise Making During Gorilla trekking

Possibility of noise making during gorilla trekking may happen with a huge population of tourists visiting the mountain  gorillas. One of the emphasized rules of gorilla trekking is keeping quiet or murmur during gorilla trekking.

Mountain gorillas and other forest dwellers are scared of unfamiliar noise in there environment. It makes them feel suspicious of the intruders in there environ.

As you walk along, in case you cannot keep quiet try to communicate at a low tone. The mountain gorillas are used to calls from birds, mumbling monkeys and others forest dwellers.

In nature, mountain gorillas are serene primates and shy so when they listen to new noise they may get scared and run for safety.

During gorilla photographing, you are requested to use a sound proof camera to capture all great moments of your gorilla trekking adventure.

Allow better Visibility Of Mountain gorillas

With a limited number of people doing gorilla trekking everybody has equal chance of clearly seeing the mountain gorillas.

Obstruction from other trekkers is reduced since mountain gorillas family members also stand a feed from different location of there current feeding ground. They do not cluster in one position.

For those wishing to do gorilla trekking photographing or filming safaris to capture the life of mountain gorillas without obstruction, its best to use the low season. Meeting mountain gorillas is guaranteed all year round. Gorilla trekking safari is not a probability adventure because mountain gorillas stay in particular location for some time before locating to others areas.

Allow Ranger Guides To Have Control Of Gorilla Trekkers

The flow of the gorilla trekking walk is controlled by the ranger guide’s direction. Before gorilla trekking, the ranger guides take you through the dos and don’ts of gorilla trekking. These are the guiding principles for the entire trek however, as an individual, the ranger guide escorting the entire group has the commands of how the trek flows.

Giving direction to a large crowd of tourists may not be easy because some may not hear what is being communicated. No loud speaker is allowed to be used in the forest while doing gorillas trekking.

In case there is miscommunication, the large crowd of trekkers may be hard to deal with especially in the wilderness.

The ranger guide also follows the pace of the slowest trekker during gorilla trekking so that no one is lost in the wilderness. In case many trekkers are slow, they may delay the time of locating the mountain gorillas.

When to Book Gorilla trekking Permits In Africa

Booking gorilla trekking permits in Africa is best done at least 6 months to the date of trekking but opting for 90 days to the date of trekking is an advantage. Late booking of your gorilla trekking permit may cause some panic because they get sold out fast.

 No one is allowed to reserve a gorilla permit without payment. First come first served basis is used to secure permits so that everyone is given equal opportunity

All year round gorilla trekking safaris are carried out in Africa because guarantee of meeting the mountain gorillas is 99%.

What Is The Cost Of gorilla Trekking Safaris In Africa

Whether gorilla trekking in Uganda, Rwanda or D.R. Congo, the gorilla trekking permit cost is the constant price you that everybody must incur.

Other factors also contribute to the gross quotation of the gorilla trekking safari.

The number of days to take on your gorilla trekking tours adds a lot to the gross Quotation.

The more the days, the more the amount of money to spend on your Africa safari. A 3 day gorilla trekking tour doesn’t cost the same as the 5 day gorilla trekking and chimpanzee trekking tour or 6 day gorilla and wildlife safari CHECK MORE SAFARIS

The gorilla trekking Package you choose to take during your Africa tour matters.  The gorilla trekking safaris are packaged according to luxury, mid-range or budget packages.  The more services included in the entire gross package for gorilla trekking the higher the cost. You need to look out for the inclusive and exclusives of gorilla trekking in Uganda, Rwanda or D.R.Congo.

Combo Of Gorilla Trekking and Other Safari activities adds a lot to the cost of the entire gorilla trekking trip. The more the other inclusive safari activities the more the amount of money you expect to spend.

You may decide to do gorilla trekking with game drives, launch trips, chimpanzee trekking, white water rafting, golden monkeys trekking, visit source of the Nile, Rwanda city tour and others.

Timing of your gorilla trekking safari matters because the low seasons normally call for discounted prices on safari cost components like accommodation, driver guide fee and others. During the peak seasons, prices of everything are increased by service providers because of the high demand.

The number of people booked for gorilla trekking tours also matters because the more the people the less the cost per paying person. This is because you get to share some of the safari expenses like accommodation cost, vehicle, in case its person sharing a twin room and so much more.

 You can join a scheduled gorilla trekking safari in case you do not have company and wish to save after this African safari.

Note that scheduled gorilla trekking safaris have particular dates of safari commencement, have age limit, have minimum number of people allowed for the safari to start, have rules and so much more.

When Is the Best Time To book a Gorilla Trekking Safari

Any time of the year is open for gorilla trekking but the drier months are more interesting. The months of June to September or December to January are known to be peak season in the tourism fraternity.

The trails are drier because water level in the dense network of rivers is controlled and rains are not severe. Even the mountain gorillas feed closer to the bottom of highlands where they concur.

When you visit in the low seasons, that is March to May, rains may be in high gears but chances of trekking alone are high. Prices of safari services like accommodation, guide hire, vehicle hire may be discounted.

Having a solo gorilla trekking experience is high. This is because a few people may be visiting. chances of having no one obstruction you from capturing the best shots of the mountain gorilla family are high.

No matter when you visit to see the mountain gorillas, that moment standing face to face with them is memorable.

BOOK GORILLA TREKKING SAFARI NOW