Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

The meeting with the Mountain Gorillas!

A big highlight to be amongst the Mountain Gorillas, hard walking at times (steep, slippery) but then to see the amazing Gorillas up close made all the uphill work worth every step.

To see the gorillas at Bwindi was an experience that I will always remember and to see the passion with the guides showed how important the conservation of these animals are for the future.

It was amazing to be out on foot in the jungle, walking for over three hours in search of a gorilla family. Once you find the gorilla family, you know the hard hike through the heat and jungle was worth it.

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.

It was very beautiful, and we had a hiking for 8 hours.

The highlight of my trip, standing just a few feet away from a silver back is a souvenir that will never forget. The hike to find the gorillas can be difficult and a minimum of fitness is required. Great guides very friendly and knowledgeable.

Impenetrable

Seeing the mountain Gorillas at the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park was an amazing experience. The area surrounding the national park is also spectacular, however there are distinctive areas to the park and getting between locations can take 3-4 hours! Choosing accommodation near the selected Gorilla location is a must, something we didn't appreciate and something our guides didn't arrange very well for us.

This is quite an amazing adventure

It takes quite a lot of effort to get to Bwindi but the journey is well worth it if you get to see a Mountain Gorilla which generally most people do. This is really why you go there. I have worked for the National Parks Service in Australia so i went with a critical eye as to how the experience was managed but particularly how the Gorilla trekking was managed, especially since there are only 880 Mountain Gorillas left in the world. And i was very impressed. I stood within four metres of a Silverback and his family after a five hour hike with my heart thumping a million miles an hour. The guide was fantastic. You are only allowed one hour with the Gorillas but it was a truly wonderful experience to see these magnificent animals in their environment. A word of caution. The trip to get there from Kampala is long and arduous and if you get car sick then the last two hours could be hell but i dont so i just took it all in and had a wonderful time. I highly recommend going. It's a good idea to take a stop at Lake Mburo and/or Queen Elizabeth national parks on the way.

Dream coming true Gorilla interaction experience

We planned this trip around the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Mountain - Gorillas and was expecting wet weather and muddy dirt roads and slippery hike thru the undergrowth. The Torrential rains was not disappointing the day before the hike - I was drenched within 2-3 meter when running from the reception to the bungalow - but the next morning we experience a road that was partially washed away with mudslides that covered a 60-75% of the road on the uphill side of the road and cave in scenarios on the down hill side of the road - Needless to say that it was not impossible to uncontrolled heading down hill if it was not for our experienced Driver ( Tolbert from Encounter Arica Safari's ) with the permanent 4 x 4 Hi- Ace bus that take us up ( slipping and sliding) to the mountains thru washed away and blocked roads (tree fell a crossed the road)at some places. The scenery up there was breath taking and the hardworking local villagers plowing the lands with picks i must say was an eye opener for me--(I couldn't believe that all those lands was not work with the aid of tractors and farming implements)
The weather was playing along and we had a perfect day trekking the Gorillas . Even the Gorillas played along and we did found the with a hour and a half since we started the long trek downhill ( I must say another bonus for me--at the age of 58 this is not a joke to trek thru thick undergrowth vegetation with hooks and thorns) -- but I'm not complaining - I was enjoying every minute of it even when I dropped down a washed away hole in the pathway the tracker indicated to us. Then we got our first glimpse of the mountain gorillas in the distance --about 300meter away. I must say the silence was overwhelming and the only thing we hear was the cracking of the boots and clothing against the undergrowth. as we move forward towards the gorillas. We spend the allowed 1 hour in their midst. We were surrounded by 16 Gorillas - 2 x silverbacks, youngsters. 2 x babies and females. Soft whispers and the clicking sound of the cameras as the picture were taken from the group could be clearly heard as the gorillas was in front, left and right next to us, behind and above us . And to soon the hour was up and we had to move on. This was also an experience and a half -- we basically move back at an angle varying from 45º to 75º to the road where our transport will collect us. Now nearly dead when we reached the road . I was puffing, heaving and my heart was beating about 2 feet above my head and this is where i realized why they called it a rain forest-- The sweat was raining from my head.
The food was also very nice especially the fruit - Sweet and very fruity.