Gorilla trekking is a spectacular activity that is still on the rise of being the best undertaken acidity in these three countries and it involves flocking the national parks in which the gorillas secretly take refuse. The activity starts off with booking the gorillas permits in advance before the D-day of trekking and for tourists who miss out on this entirely miss out on trekking the gorillas.
First forward, on the trekking day, tourists should be up and ready to hit the forests for the search from the parks headquarters to attend a 30-minute briefing. While in the briefing, trekkers are availed with the rules and regulations that should be followed by hikers while following the gigantic huge living primates.
Tourists are then grouped under members of eight after the verification of their documents and briefing into manageable groups that can visit each gorilla family. tourists have a chance to be specific on the hike they want to embark on. Short hikes are prioritized to visitors with different health conditions.
During the trek, visitors are accompanied by ranger guides and armed game rangers that have a task of ensuring the tourists are safe while in the forest. Concerning safety, tourists should dress appropriately to guard themselves against thorn pricks and other challenges.
Different time durations are met by tourist depending on the family being trekked but the time ranges from 30 minutes to 7 hours depending on where the creatures traveled to acquire food. Tourists who are overwhelmed by their luggage shouldn’t miss offering work to porters to help them make life for them while on the verge of looking for the gorillas.
Upon meeting the gorillas, tourists are offered just one hour to entirely criticize, analyze, understand and examine the king kongs as they are having a great time with their family members during the day. Travelers shouldn’t let their guard down concerning on the rules and regulations that they were fed with concerning this activity. Therefore, tourists shouldn’t take pictures with flash lights and should ensure a seven-meter distance while with the creatures.
While the one hour of admiring the black furred gorillas is exhausted, tourists should maintain the same discipline of being quite on their way back for at least 200m as they are heading back for resting in their lodges or prepare to undertake other itineraries in the park.
These rules and regulations cut across in all the parks that are beautified by the mountain gorillas in all the three countries in which the gorillas can be glimpsed.
Budget gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park
The impassable forest in this park is entirely what the mountain gorillas need to survive in the world as almost half of them are surviving here. The park has four sectors that protect the lives of 21 gorilla families in the park.
The following are gorilla families found in the four sectors of the park.
Buhoma sector has five gorilla families that include Mubare, Habinyanja, Rushegura, Katwe and Muyambi gorilla families. The Rushaga sector also flourishes with eight gorilla families that include Nshongi, Busingye, Bweza, Mishaya, Mucunguzi, Bikingi, Rwigi and Kahungye gorilla families.
Nkuringo is always stormed by tourists to appreciate four gorilla families that include Nkuringo, Bushaho, Christmas and posho gorilla family. The last gorilla sector is Ruhija with only four families that include Bitukura, Oruzogo, Mukiza and Kyaguriro gorilla groups.
Bwindi is the only national park that offers gorilla habituation and its entirely a wondrous activity that is done only in Rushaga sector of Bwindi national park. This life changing activity was introduced in the park to help those visitors who are interested in spending more time with mountain gorillas.
Budget gorilla trekking in Mgahinga national park
Official gorilla trekking in this park was started in 1994 after a first gorilla family Nyakagezi went through three years of habituation. The park has about 100 gorillas that are either habituated or wild. The park is home to only one habituated gorilla family – the Nyakagezi group.
Nyakagezi definitely knows the atmosphere in all the three Virunga national parks in Uganda, Rwanda and D.R. Congo before it made a paramount decision of settling in Uganda. This group has 10 members that are headed by Mark with his brother mafia. This one gorilla group just proves that only 8 gorilla trekking permits are issued out each day.
Budget gorilla trekking in Volcanoes national park
Volcanoes are the only incredible national park in the country of thousand hills where these eloquent gorillas can be trekked. The park doesn’t only harbor the gorillas alone but also supported by the five famous mountains of the volcanoes found in the park. The lives of mountain gorillas in this country were highly promoted by an American researcher called Dian Fossey whose works are still appreciated up to date and remembered. The following are the gorilla families found in this park.
Agashya has 27 members, Sabyinyo is made up of 12 comrades, Titus’s gorilla family groups is complete with 8 members, Amahoro family enjoys its life with 18 members, Susa A group cannot be traced without its 42 members, Umubano group is just fine with its 13 individuals, Karisimbi (aka Susa B) is proud of the 15 members in the park, Kwitonda group survives with 23 family members, Bwenge gorilla family is complete due to the 11 members in the family and Ugenda group has 27 members in the family.
Budget gorilla trekking in Virunga national park
This park is the oldest wildlife protected area no wonder it appears in the list of the UNESCO heritage sites and it was declared so in 1979. The park attracts tourists because of the 8 gorilla families that it owns and they include the following
Kabirizi group that was initially called Ndugutse, Humba that prides with 10 members, Rugendo gorilla family group that has 9 members, Mapuwa boasting with 22 members, Lulengo making life with 9 members, Munyaga surviving with 7 members, Nyakamwe gorilla group with 11 members and Bageni gorilla group with 26 members.
The country with cheapest gorilla trekking permits.
The fact that gorilla trekking is exceptionally done in three countries only, this makes the cost of getting access to them a little bit higher than some common itineraries due to their demand. Uganda offers the highest number of permits among the three countries and its gorilla trekking permits cost $700.
Rwanda offers each of its gorilla permits to $ 1500 and DR. Congo is okay with selling the gorilla trekking permit at $450. This makes DR. Congo the country with the cheapest gorilla trekking permits because if a tourist chooses Congo over Rwanda, they save $ 1050 and another tourist who chooses DR. Congo over Uganda saves $250.
When to travel for budget gorilla trekking.
In Uganda and Rwanda, the gorilla trekking permits do not cut costs either during the dry or wet season but for tourists who need to reduce on the amount of money used for this itinerary, they should travel during the wet season. The wet season is a low season due to the rains that make trailing routes impassable.
Months of April, May and November come with rains that scare away most visitors but budget tourists shouldn’t miss this opportunity of having a budget gorilla trekking where lodges reduce their prices, can join with other tourists reduce on the fuel costs, vehicle, guide costs among others.
In D.R. Congo, permits are slashed during the low seasons of mid- May to mid- October and mid- December where the gorilla permits are offered at $200 during the rainy season. Tourists also enjoy the low prices on lodges due to the rainy season.
Tourists should choose their destinations wisely to have a gorilla trek on budget and should also think about minimizing on the number of days they are planning to stay on the safaris since it reduces the expenditure.
In Uganda and Rwanda, the prices of gorilla permits cannot be reduced unless a tourist buys it directly from an individual who has changed their mind about undertaking the adventure.
