Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

a great pleasure, one of the best animal experience

we were very lucky, the weather was good. The way to the gorillas was exhausting (especially for my wife) but we reach the gorillas after one and a half hour. We were lucky to see the whole family (silverback with babies) in a meadow, so we had enough light for photos (if you like I can send you more photos) . After an hour we go back in an very happy mood.

Exciting but not very challenging

There was a lot of build up to my visit which made me expect if would be very difficult for me to do. Because of this I was very excited and looking forward to a challenging maybe dangerous experience. In truth my experience involved walking along the road into the bush about 50 metres and there were these tame looking gorillas. We were back at the resort within the hour. Others in our travel group trekked for 3-5hours and had a very exciting experience. I felt duped and very ripped off by the Ugandans who managed the gorilla trekking.
We had paid the obligatory $500 to help with the preservation of the gorillas habitat plus paid for local guides who would help carry our lunch pack and required water bottles, 1litre each, or our cameras over difficult terrain, and we had waited for people to go and get heavy duty footwear on, listened to all the instructions about how to manage the trek and so the anticipation was great. The guides carried guns which all suited the drama I expected. All for a 10min walk 30min photo session and 10mins back. Very disappointed....but we did see the gorillas and got great photos.

Gorilla Tracking Day at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

The day started very early at our campsite on the border of Bwindi Forest. Around 4am we were guided towards one of these Toyota people carriers, Hiace. Not very comfortable, but heey, it was only going to last for 1 hour or so. The reason we needed transportation is that the Gorillaclan we were tracking (something you don't decide yourself, you get assigned to a group of Gorilla's) were on the North-Western side of the Forest (close to the Entrance Gate) and we were lodged on the South-Western side. The name of the clan we were about to meet was Nkuringo.

Now, the forest is only about 10K wide and the quickest way around was clearly through DRC, this being far too dangerous and the forest being "impenetrable" (a 6 hour hike), we had no other option then to go all the way round in what later became known as the "torture Toyota". All the way around a park which is an estimated 20K wide, couldn't take much longer than 1, maybe 2 hours. So after 3 hours of incredibly windy and headbashing dirt gravel roads on a seat that made your bum sleep, we started asking where we were going. The answers were served in true african style: "we a almos the", "just a littel bit furder"... Anyway, it took more than another hour to get there! So after this we were convinced that we had to rewarded with something incredible, something that would far exceed all expectations.

At the entrance we were briefed and asked to put our trousers in our socks to avoid termites and to use mosquito repellant. The whole entrance area has guarded by military men. We set off with a few trackers / guides and carriers into the impenetrable rain forest. It was absolutely astonishing to enter a microcosm full of birds, flowers and trees. We saw other monkeys high up in the trees and listened to several very special birds. The news came that Nkoringo, our Gorilla hosts for the day, had been seen not very far from where we were (I assume the eye that saw this, circles somewhere around the earth). Soon enough the guides halted the group and we were let very close to them to take some pictures. Family Nkoringo did not pay much attention to us as they were feeding. Circling around the big family feedfest, we found an older Silverback on the border of a small creek resting after his lunch, together with a baby gorilla that clearly was in playmode, amazing spectacle. Anyhow, as tourists can't stay longer than 1 hour we had to make a move, and seemingly the gorillas were doing the same. Most of them had left the feeding site and were waiting on the path we came from, when a few older boys and a Silverback that had stayed behind join up with the group! Whis particular scene can be seen in the video. The guides said we were very lucky to catch this.

Fully Recommended, including the car-ride!

Nick

It is very steep and undulated. Difficult to move in the park

My husband and I felt that the behavior around the wild mountain gorillas was somewhat disrespectful of these animals. The guides hacked the vegetation away from the gorillas with machetes, leaving them suddenly exposed while they had been napping and resting. The gorillas covered their faces with their hands and buried their heads in their arms, as though flinching, and It felt like we had intruded on their peace. When discussing this with a guide, he said that the gorillas were there for our entertainment, an attitude we didn't agree with.