Rwanda Uganda gorilla trekking safari experience is one of the most thrilling, lifetime adventures you should include in your lifetime activities while visiting Africa. No one can fully describe the joy and wonderful moment attached to the first setting eyes on a wild mountain gorilla until you visit yourself either in Rwanda or Uganda.
Every time you meet these apes, comes with a new experience. You will never regret any of the trekking and this makes the cost of the permit worth the value. You must, however, prepare for some hustle up and down the steep rocky hills in the forest, sometimes on a rainy and muddy day. But when you meet this huge yet humble primate in their territory, it will be worth your effort. You will spend approximately one hour with this endangered great ape and get any details you have been wishing to know about them. But to do this, you have to reserve a gorilla tracking permit well in advance.
The safari will start and end in Rwanda. Meanwhile, 480 Mountain gorillas are in Virunga Mastiff, shared between 3 countries of Uganda, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of Congo, there are additional 400 mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
If combined, there are 880 mountain gorillas remaining in the world in the three countries of Uganda, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Mountain gorillas live in age-graded group’s families similar to those of humans, but only habituated groups are available for tourism (10 of the habituated families live in Rwanda and 18 in Uganda).
The current gorilla habituation permit in Uganda and Rwanda is 1500USD per permit. Gorilla habituation permit in Uganda gives 4 hours of time and Rwanda 1 hour to Track the Gorillas Group. The normal tracking of one hour in Uganda costs $700. The maximum of a group of 8 tourists can track the Mountain Gorillas. The money paid is a conservation fund to support the gorilla conservation and the communities around the gorilla habitat.
Mountain gorilla trekking experience in Uganda and Rwanda can be as short as 1 hour or as long as 4 hours depending on where the gorillas spent the night and which group you are tracking. But on average, it takes you about 2 hours hiking to see the gorillas in both Uganda and Rwanda.
To avoid the long hours’ drives in Uganda, start with volcanoes national park and after enjoying these apes, cross to Uganda via Kisoro to start another journey with these apes hence giving you those everlasting memories. Then drive back to Rwanda after the safari for your flight.