Uganda · East Africa
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Bwindi holds around half the world's mountain gorillas and is where most Ugandan itineraries are built to reach.
Photo Max Christian / Unsplash
Trekking is by permit, in small groups, to a habituated family — and the walk can be an hour or the better part of a day, on steep, wet, genuinely difficult ground. Reasonable fitness matters more here than on almost any other African activity.
The forest has several trekking sectors, and which one you stay near determines how far you drive before you start walking. It is a detail worth getting right at the planning stage.
How do you get to Bwindi?
Fly from Entebbe by light aircraft to the airstrip at Kihihi for the northern sectors or Kisoro for the southern ones, a flight of around two hours. The road from Entebbe takes the better part of a day. Kigali in Rwanda is a common alternative gateway for the southern sectors, a drive of four to five hours.
What are the rules for gorilla trekking in Bwindi?
Every trekker needs a permit from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and permits are limited, so they are booked well ahead. Groups are at most eight people, the time with the gorillas is one hour, and the minimum age is 15. Anyone with a cold or other illness should not trek, because gorillas catch human infections.
What are Bwindi's trekking sectors?
Buhoma in the north, Ruhija in the east, and Rushaga and Nkuringo in the south. Each has its own gorilla families and its own lodges, and trekkers start from the sector they are staying in, so the choice of base decides which families can be visited and how long the drive is on the morning of the trek.
Is Bwindi or Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park better for gorillas?
Both give the same hour with a habituated family. Volcanoes is faster to reach from Kigali and its slopes are more open. Bwindi is a denser, steeper forest with more gorilla families and more sectors to choose from. Some travellers trek in both.
What is there to see in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest?
What does Bwindi Impenetrable Forest pair well with?
- Volcanoes National Park, RwandaVolcanoes is the Rwandan side of the Virunga massif and the most accessible mountain gorilla trekking in the world.
- Kibale and the crater lakesKibale has the densest chimpanzee population in Africa, and the crater-lake country around it is some of the prettiest in Uganda.
- Queen Elizabeth and IshashaQueen Elizabeth is Uganda's most visited savannah park, and the Ishasha sector in its south is known for lions that rest in fig trees.
Planning
Elsewhere in Uganda
- Murchison Falls and the northMurchison is where the Nile is forced through a gorge seven metres wide and falls into the Albert Nile below.
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