This 3 Days Bwindi Gorilla Trekking Safari takes you to Bwindi impenetrable forest for close encounters with the endangered mountain gorillas. With over 21 habituated families in 4 trekking sectors, you get to experience these gentle giants as they eat, groom and interact with each other. This gorilla safari starts and ends in Kampala/Entebbe.
3 Days Bwindi Gorilla Trekking Safari detailed itinerary.
Day 1: Transfer from Kampala capital City to Bwindi Forest National Park.
You will be picked from your hotel / home and start your journey to Bwindi impenetrable national park enjoying a scenic landscape drive through Kigezi Highlands commonly known as the “Switzerland of Africa”. Before you will stopover for pictures at the Equator, a line that divides the world into two, this safari will also allow you to get some good shots of pictures from your window for especially the long Horned cattle that graze along Masaka Mbarara highway, side markets in Lukaya for roated meat or plantain know as “Gonja” and fruit market in Mbarara, Lunch shall be served in Mbarara town, at Agip Motel. Proceed later with the drive direct to Bwindi forest National Park arriving late in the evening to check in to your hotel, then dinner and overnight.
Day 2; Gorilla trekking activity in Bwindi National Park
After an early breakfast at 07:00am, you will head for a briefing by a ranger guide at the park headquarters, you will then enter the forest depending on where your gorilla group is located today for your gorilla trekking adventure. The beauty of this rain forest is spectacular. The area offers dramatic steeply forested landscape and is incredibly dense, but criss-crossed by numerous animal trails allowing access to tourists. The time taken and the terrain vary with the movements of these great primates. The thrill of spending time observing these gentle and endangered giants is an awesome, exciting experience to be long savored. Many find it to be a rare and moving moment to come up close with a mountain gorilla. In the afternoon, based on the weather of the day, there will be village walk to the communities that live around the forest, return back later for dinner and overnight
Day 3; Bwindi – Kampala
Early departure after your breakfast in the morning at 7:00am from Bwindi gorilla National park. Lunch shall be served en-route and just in case you need souvenirs then you will have an opportunity to stop at the Equator to buy some souvenirs before proceeding to Kampala if you are stay here or to Entebbe to catch your flight back home. This will mark the end of your 3 Days Bwindi Gorilla Trekking Safari.
Tour Cost Includes
All accommodations of Choice from the cost, All meals as stated, Transport on a 4X4 WD, Transfers where necessary, Entrance fees to the Park, A gorilla permit per person, Bottled mineral water in the Car, All guides expenses, Nature/Village walk in Bwindi
Excludes:
Drinks, Laundry, Telephone calls, Tips, Travel/Medical Insurance, International and Domestic Air transport, And any other personals extras that is not included in the itinerary.
Other Safari activities in Bwindi gorilla National Park.
There is more in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park than just gorilla trekking activity. The safari activities can be combined with a gorilla trek to get the overall experience while others may require that you spend more time in order to explore the forest however the experience is always worth taking! Check out a short list of other safari activities in Bwindi impenetrable forest below;
Village / Cultural walk; this is a community activity that runs side by side wth the gorilla trekking in Bwindi National Park. The actives with a local guide involves visiting the local communities set up and interacting with them, an activity that will give you an insight that how tourism works hand in hand with the community in the area; You will visit local craftsmen and women as they display their skills of weaving baskets, experience brewing of the local beer, and the highlight of this walk will be visiting a traditional healer who will explain how different herbs are used to treat different ailments. This village walk in Bwindi takes 3 to 4 hours and can easily be done as an ad on if you finish your gorilla trek early or lazing off the day as you prepare for the trek.
Bird Watching Experience; Bwindi forest National park is most certainly one of the best bird watching destination in East Africa; The forest inhabits a rough estimate of 190 bird species most of which are endemic to the Albertine rift. Bird species in Bwindi include; Kivu Ground Trush, Grauers Wabler, Black Billed Turaco, Yellow Eyed Black Flycatcher, Black Bee Eater, Bar Tailed Trogon and the list goes on and on. The Ruhija side of Bwindi is known to be home to the Green Broadbill
Forest walks / trekking into Bwindi; the fact that Bwindi impenetrable forest is a UNESCO world heritage site should be enough to explain the magnificent nature of this forest!Bwindi has 4 major forest walking trails; Munyanga river trail, Waterfall trail, Ivy river trail and Muzabajiro tail but there are other walking trails including Rushura hill trail, Bamboo trail and Mubwindi trail.
Batwa Cultural trail Experience; this involves trekking into the forest to the Batwa village where you will meet and interact with Batwa people. They will welcome you into their homes and enlighten you on their past and present life styles, show you their traditional hunting techniques and craft making skills. This Batwa activity requires however that you spend a day in Bwindi but it is a worthwhile experience if you are one that loves culture and learning about new communities! The Batwa also know as the Pygmies!!!
All these forest walking trails in Bwindi are well developed and guided by a knowledgeable guide to these trails. While trekking any of these forest trails, you will discover lots of wildlife including the giant forest hog, forest elephants, small antelopes, bush pig and lots of mammals and primates such as black and white colobus, vervet monkeys, well as a good number of butterflies and bats.
Trekking on these trails is 1 to 3 hours and the longest is 5 hours.
Mountain Biking; there is a women project in Bwindi called Ride 4 a woman that runs mountain biking tours with well maintained bikes and proceeds go to the group’s activities. You can ride across the village, directly into Bwindi forest. This activity takes up to 3 hours and is done in the Buhoma area.