It’s considered Uganda’s most biologically diverse forest with over 400 species of plants and protects half the world’s population of gorillas. A renown UNESCO World Heritage site gazetted in 1994, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park covers an area of 321km2. It’s known to have 120 mammals and a number of primate species such as the L’Hoest’s Monkey, olive baboons, white colobus monkeys, red tailed monkeys, Blue monkeys and chimpanzees, as well as elephants. There are also 6 types antelope species including bushbucks and duikes. 350 species of birds call this forest home, including 23 Albertine Rift endemics. Birds such as the blue bellied Robin, and the African green broadbill, the brown necked parrot and the brown bellied robin chat can be only be found in this region in Uganda. Bwindi is also home to 200 butterfly species with 8 Albertine rift endemics, has 51 reptiles and 200 tree species. It has an altitude range of 1160m – 2600m above sea level, an altitude that makes it a source of 5 rivers that flow into Lake Edward.
Access to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
By Road
You can get to the park from Kampala, using the Kampala – Mbarara – Rukungiri Tarmacked Road with the Buhoma trailhead in the north only 460Km from Kampala. A murram road from Rukungiri via Kihiihi/Butogota will get you to Buhoma. The Buhoma sector can also be accessed via the Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth Np that is only 62km away.
The Ruhiija trail head in the east is best accessed from Kampala – Kisoro Road while the southerly Rushaga and Nkuringo trailheads can be reached using Murram roads leading from Muko, midway on the Kabale -Kisoro Road. To note is that a 4×4 vehicle is the most ideal for a visit Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
By Air
Visitors to the park could chose to travel by air. Daily flights to the park are available from Kajjansi air strip to Kihihi airfield from where the clients are transferred by road to the sector from which their tracking will be done.
Local People around Bwindi
Two indigenous cultural tribes can be found within national park, that is the the Batwa Pygmies, hunter gatherers who used to live in the forest but now live at the edge of the forest and the Bakiga farmers that cultivate on the terraced hillsides up to the edge of the forest.
Activities and Attractions in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Gorilla Tracking
Gorilla tracking is the most popular attraction at the park. The intrigue with the mountain gorillas being that they are endangered species of nearly 1064 individuals as of 2024 in the world where half of their population can be found in Uganda. The other being that the DNA of gorillas is 95-99% close to that of humans and that they are the closest relatives to humans after chimps and bonobos.
Gorilla Tracking Registration starts at 7:30am; and briefing takes place at 8:00hours. Gorilla tracking then starts at 8:30am and can go from a few hours up to the whole day starting from where the gorilla group were last sighted the previous day. Once the gorillas have been found, you are allowed strictly one hour with the gentle giants for ordinary gorilla tracking. 8 gorilla permits are available for every gorilla group and have to be paid for in advance of tracking date. Payments must be done at the Uganda Wildlife offices by Ugandan licensed tourism operator. A gorilla trekking permit costs 800$ for foreign nationals and 700$ for foreign nationals
Gorilla Habituation
Gorilla Habituation is the process of training mountain gorillas to live amongst human beings. A gorilla Habituation permit allows 4 tourists 4 hours led by a team of specialists with the animals while studying their way of life.
Gorilla Groups in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Mubare gorilla group was the first to be habituated and made available for tourism in 1993. With 20 habituated gorilla groups for tourism, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is the leading tourism destination in the world for Mountain gorilla tracking. Bwindi has 20 habituated gorilla groups at the moment.
Four sectors have been gazetted for gorilla tracking namely; Ruhiija, Buhoma, Nkuringo and Rushaga.
Five families can be found in the Buhoma sector namely Mubare (6 members), Habinyanja (16 members), Rushegura (15 members), Katwe (7 members), and Binyido (6 members)
In the Rushaga Sector, we have Eight families i.e., Shongi (8 members), Kahunge (19 members), Bweza (11 members), Busingye (12 members), Bikingi (14 members), Mishaya (10 members), Kutu (8 members), Mucunguzi (8 members)
Four Gorilla families are in Ruhiija, we have four families namely, Bitukura (11 members), Oruzogo (17 members), Kyaguliro (8 members), Mukiza (13 members)
In Nkuringo we have 4 gorilla families namely Nkuringo (15 members), Bushaho (12 members), Christmas (9 members), Nyakagezi (8 members)
Gorilla trekking rules
- You are not allowed to track gorillas if you have a communicable disease, eg. diarrhoea, flu, etc.
- You don’t have to surround the gorillas but remain in a tight group
- Leave a distance of not less than 5 metres between you and the gorillas
- Flash photography is strictly forbidden
- You are not allowed to eat or smoke within 200 metres of the gorillas
- If you cannot avoid sneezing or coughing, turn away from the gorillas and cover your nose and mouth
- Bury all your human faeces in a hole dug at least 30cm (1ft) deep and ensure that it is properly covered afterwards
- Do not spit on vegetation or soil while in the park
- No person under 15 years is allowed to track gorillas
- Do not make a loud noise or sudden movements in the presence of gorillas
- All liter must be removed from the park for disposal
- Please observe all instructions from your guide.
Nature walks
Although gorilla tracking is the main attraction, nature walks provide a more relaxed chance to explore Uganda’s renowned impenetrable rainforest. Walks can be arranged to depart in the morning at 09.00 and in the afternoon at 14.00. Through the nature walks expect to see, a number of baboons, various monkey species, chimpanzees, antelopes and duikers as well as various tree species, such as the African brown mahogany, Ceiba trees, Cecropia trees and Ebony tree species. A nature walk costs 40$ for Foreign nationals a fee that includes entrance fees.
Bird Watching
All the sectors have opportunities for seeing the Albertine Rift Endemics along trails set aside for this purpose. Birds to see in Bwindi are but are not limited to: the Handsome Francolin, African Wood Owl, White-bellied Robin-Chat, Purple-breasted Sunbird, Short tailed Warbler, Dwarf Honeyguide, Western Green Tinkerbird, Rwenzori Nightjar among others. A Bird watching costs 40$ for Foreign nationals a fee that includes entrance fees.
Batwa Community Cultural Visit
Here, visitors can take part in cultural experiences such as traditional dance performances, storytelling, and visits to a Batwa village to learn more about their way of life and traditions. A Batwa community trail costs 40$ for Foreign nationals.
