Can I plan a gorilla habituation experience holiday in Uganda from Canada?

Can I plan a gorilla habituation experience holiday in Uganda from Canada? Mountain gorillas are the top reason why thousands of tourists visit Uganda, Rwanda, and DR Congo. Mountain gorillas in Africa are found in volcanoes national park Rwanda, Virunga national park DR Congo and Uganda is lucky to have 2 national parks where mountain gorillas happily found their home and that is Bwindi impenetrable forest national park and Mgahinga gorilla national park. This article is going to help you live in any part of Canada on how to successfully do a gorilla habituation experience holiday in Uganda. Mountain gorilla habituation experience is only done in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park allowing tourists to be around mountain gorillas for a maximum of 4 hours, unlike gorilla trekking.

All that you need to know about gorilla habituation Experience in Uganda?

Mountain gorilla habituation is an activity that involves researchers, trekkers, rangers, trackers, and conservationists who spend 4 hours with a single gorilla family every day for over 2 years and gradually win over their trust. Mountain gorilla habituation helps to make mountain gorillas get used to human presence. Gorilla habituated is restricted to a maximum of 4 hours and is only done in Rushaga and Nkuringo sectors of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park located in the southern sector of the park.

Gorilla habituation experience allows you to be around mountain gorillas as they observe their habits and do some of the activities to make mountain gorillas get used to human beings. The activities done in gorilla habituation include collecting specimens and stool, making calls, naming and observing, and seeing day-to-day activities.

Selecting a tour operator to help you in planning a gorilla habituation experience

To do a gorilla habituation safari in Uganda from Canada needs you to use a tour operator who will assist you in organizing the safari. There are so many ways of organizing a gorilla habituation safari in Uganda from Canada and these include using a local tour operator from Uganda, using a tour operator from Canada, and also doing it yourself.

Using a local tour operator

A lot of local tour operators are online using different websites but before using any of them you need to first be sure if they are professional with your work or if they will do your work properly. Using a local tour operator helps in saving time and money. To get the best tour operator, you can ask your friends that have traveled to Uganda once and they tell you the best tour operators to use, check if the company is registered under the Association of Uganda tour operators or if they are licensed by Uganda tourism board.

You can also check on safari bookings or trip advisors which are the biggest platforms where tourists leave reviews after traveling with a tour operator. Checking the reviews helps to give you a clear image of the tour operator after checking all the positive and negative reviews that the company has.

Using a Canadian tour operator

There are so many tour operators in Canada that work hand in hand with local tour operators back here in Uganda. Once these tour operators contact the local tour operators, they do book everything starting from permits, accommodation, and transport on behalf of you. the local tour operator checks for the availability of permits on the day you want to travel and once they find the permits available, they will send a payment slip for you to the money so that they book for you a habituation permit. Afterward you will be sent a scanned copy for your records.

Where to do gorilla habituation experience in Africa?

Mountain gorilla habituation in Africa can be done in Uganda’s Bwindi impenetrable forest national park which is located in the southwestern part of the country. Gorilla habituation is not done in the whole of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park but in Rushaga and Nkuringo sectors both located in the southern part of the park. Only 2 gorilla families are of today going under habituation and these are Bikingi and Bushaho gorilla families.

What is the price of a gorilla habituation experience?

After getting information if you can plan a gorilla habituation experience holiday in Uganda from Canada, you need to know the price of a permit for the activity. A gorilla habituation permit in Uganda costs $1500 and this is bought directly from the Uganda wildlife authority or through a trusted tour operator. The gorilla habituation permit allows tourists to be around mountain gorillas for 4 hours as you learn about their behaviors, watch them do daily activities like breastfeeding, eating, playing and so many others. The gorilla habituation permit fee includes guide fees, park entrance fees, and community development contributions. We advise you to book your gorilla habituation permit in advance of 3-4 months to avoid inconvenience most especially in the dry season when most of the people are coming into the country. Gorilla habituation is done by 4 people together with rangers, trekkers, conservationists, and trackers and all these must be ages 15 years and above.

Where to stay during gorilla habituation experience in Uganda?

Since the gorilla habituation permits exclude accommodation and transport, your tour operator will help you in booking a good accommodation facility. Rushaga and Nkuringo sectors of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park have several accommodation facilities where one can sleep and these range from budget, mid-range to luxury.  Accommodation facilities include gorilla safari lodge, gorilla valley lodge, Rushaga gorilla camp, Bwindi backpackers lodge, Nshongi camp, Nkuringo Bwindi gorilla lodge, clouds mountain gorilla lodge, and gorilla heights lodge among others.

How to access Nkuringo and Rushaga sectors of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park

By road transport one can easily access Rushaga and Nkuringo sector by using Kampala/ Entebbe via Masaka – Mbarara – Kabale or Kisoro to the park or by air transport from Kajjansi airstrip or Entebbe airstrip to Kihihi airstrip in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park or Kisoro airstrip.

What is the maximum number of people allowed to do mountain gorilla habituation?

Accompanied by a team of trackers, rangers, and conservationists only 4 people are allowed to habituated gorilla families according to Uganda wildlife authority a government body in charge of tourism in Uganda. The number is limited to 4 because the mountain gorillas are not fully used to human presence.

How many gorilla habituation permits are in Uganda?

There are only 2 gorilla families Bikingi and Bushaho that are available for gorilla habituation experience and the fact that only 4 people are allowed to habituate a single gorilla family means that Uganda has only 8 gorilla habituation permits that are available for $1500 each per person per day. You are advised to book your gorilla habituation permits in advance of 3-4 months to avoid disappointments because the Uganda Wildlife Authority gives out permits on a first come first serve basis.

Where to buy gorilla habituation permits in Uganda

Gorilla habituation permits for Nkuringo and Rushaga sector of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park from Uganda wildlife authority a government body in charge of tourism in Uganda or from a trusted tour operator. Looking for more information if you can plan a gorilla habituation experience holiday in Uganda from Canada? Just contact Africa Adventure Vacations for details.