contact 

links

The Bwindi National Park is regarded to be one of the most biologically diverse parks in Africa. It’s true rainforest with an altitude range of between 1160m and 2600m above sea level. The area spreads over a series of steep ridges and valleys that form the eastern edge of the Albertine Rift Valley. The impenetrable forest has an annual rainfall of almost 2400mm (!), which makes it the source of five major rivers. Heavy downpours occur every day and can’t be compared with similar incidences in Europe. Be prepared to get very wet J ! Although Bwindi harbours at least 120 different mammal species, the undoubted stars of the forest are the rare mountain gorillas. More than half of the world’s mountain gorilla population (350 individuals) is resident in the area and numbers are rising due to good protection and conversation profits. For that reason Bwindi is together with Rwanda’s Parc National des Volcans the most popular place to track the gorillas nowadays.
 

Tourism to Bwindi focuses on gorilla tracking in Buhoma and Nkuringo. During my visit in June / July 2007 there were three habituated groups (Habinyanja, Mubare and Rushegura), that could be tracked from Buhoma and one recently habituated family, that could be reached from Nkuringo in the south of the park. During my visit I tracked the Mubare group (10 individuals) and the Habinyanja group (22 individuals). It was very sensitive tourism with only five other tourists joining the trip, who had to observe behaviour rules for the visit. Anyone with an illness couldn’t track the gorillas and the maximum time you were allowed to spend with them was one hour.
 

The tracking might take anything from three to ten hours (in my case: 5 hours for Mubare and 7 hours for Habinyanja), depending on where the gorillas linger that day and how easily they are located. The tracking is a tough challenge, as Bwindi is a very dense forest with steep slopes.  It’s incredible how close you get to the animals. Especially the little ones were very curious and came so close that our guide requested us to move back. I was quite yellow when a silverback passed his way right through the middle of us and jostled a Russian girl, who blocked his way. Unforgettable J ! Although it costs a pretty penny to buy a permit (which you definitely should do in advance), I haven’t met anybody, who thought, it wasn’t worth it! Apart from Gorilla Tracking the forest harbours numerous other trails along Munyaga River to several waterfalls or viewpoints. All of them offer breathtaking landscapes and pristine rainforest!