Best Way To Access Mountain Gorillas In Uganda- Compare Driving And Flying To Bwindi.
What is the best way to access mountain gorillas in Uganda? Let us compare driving and flying to Bwindi. Yes, most of the travelers prefer to use road transport while visiting the Mountain gorilla destinations of Uganda as well as Rwanda. The roads in Rwanda and Uganda that lead to the gorilla trekking areas are fairly good though this mode of travel is slower because of the nature of the roads leading to the different gorilla destinations mostly in Uganda.
80 percent of these roads mostly in Uganda are seasonally maintained and marram, therefore should you choose this mode of travel, you should be prepared for a bumpy ride mostly to access the Buhoma area. You are advised to use a 4×4 vehicle while traveling to any gorilla trekking national park in East Africa. To access any gorilla trekking destinations, you can use either a private car or any tour operators who will help to organize the overall transport for your gorilla tour, with the beautiful and scenic views of the countryside.
Access to Mgahinga Gorilla and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is an estimated 9-10 hours’ drive from the capital city of Uganda, Kampala or Entebbe International Airport by road. While visiting the Bwindi forest, you will enjoy unforgettable experiences because the journey will offer you beautiful views, African life in all the trading centers, en-route stopover at the Equator line for photography and a collection of Uganda hand crafts
The other option is to choose a flight from Entebbe International Airport to Kihihi which gets you closer to the northern sector of Bwindi Forest or Kisorso for Mhaginga Gorilla Park and the southern sectors of Bwindi Forest then a means of ground transport to your reserved hotel or park. The flight takes about 1-2 hours to the Bwindi forest. Flights to the Bwindi forest are arranged by Aerolink Uganda and the new coming BAA air. You can get in touch with Journeys Uganda to help and check the availability of space for your flights to the famous natural habitat where the mountain gorillas freely live in the wild.
This journey will give you beautiful views of the Islands of Lake Victoria, the swamp vegetation, valleys, trading centers, and others.
Tourists with short time or do not want to take long hours on road drives, you can fly to the main international airport of Rwanda which is known as Kigali, and take a short road drive for just 2 hours to either Volcanoes national park in Rwanda or to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park of Uganda for about 4-5 hours driving from Kigali international airport of Rwanda. This trip will give you an opportunity with clear views of 8 Volcanoes, the Virunga ranges, and Mgahinga national park.
Know more about Mountain Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi.
Bwindi impenetrable Forest National Park is the most popular natural habitat in Uganda with a high concentration of mountain gorillas. It holds almost half of the few remaining endangered mountain gorillas on the earth. Bwindi impenetrable forest national park is among the best place for birders with over 360 recorded bird species sighted along the trails, the vegetation, and swamps of Bwindi forest. While doing bird watching in the Bwindi forest, you will enjoy the view of the Albertine endemics, aquatic birds, and others. The park is also blessed with other primates such as baboons, monkeys, and wildlife animals like forest elephants, buffaloes, giant forest hogs, and others.
Bwindi impenetrable national park is blessed with over 19 habituated gorilla families which are already for tourism and it is carried out in four sectors of the park and these include Rushaga and Nkuringo sectors in the south, Buhoma sector in the North, Ruhija sector in the East.
What to do in Bwindi after seeing the mountain gorillas.
Nature walks are an amazing experience in the Bwindi forest. It is carried out through natural features like waterfalls, rivers, streams, scenic hills, and valleys. This activity gives you a great chance to see the forest mammals, butterflies, reptiles, bats, and several monkey species and also enjoy the sounds of birds singing in the trees.
After visiting the mountain gorillas of the Bwindi forest, you can visit the Batwa communities on the boundaries of the park. This forest was home to the Batwa people before it turned into a national park to protect mountain gorillas and for gorilla tourism. Visiting the Batwa, you will get an opportunity to know more about their traditional forest life, culture, and norms. This activity is led by the Batwa people hiking deep into the forest while explaining to you their initial forest practices such as collecting honey, hunting, picking medicinal herbs. Then, they will entertain you in the evening with dances, songs, and storytelling.
Bird watching in Bwindi National Park: This park is among the best spot for birding in Uganda and the whole of Africa, with over 350 bird species found in the park. Some of the species you can see while at Bwindi forest are mostly high altitude rarities and Albertine Rift Endemics most of which dominate the Ruhija sector of the park among which you will have the Collared Apalis, Chapin’s Flycatcher, the open high grassland dwelling Dusky Twin Spot, Short-tailed warbler, Western Green Tinkerbird, Grauer’s Rush Warbler, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Kivu Ground-Thrush, Africa and Grauer’s Broadbill, African wood owl, Handsome Francolin, Strange weaver, Regal, Blue-headed, Purple-breasted, Blue-throated Brown, Collared, Northern Double Collared, Green-throated, Little-green and Green Sunbird, Doherty’s, Lagden’s Many-couloured and Bocage’s Bush-shrike, Hairy-breasted, Yellow-billed, Yellow-spotted and Grey-throated Barbet, Grey-winged, Blue-shouldered, Archer’s and White-bellied Robin-chat as these species can be spotted in company of or exceptional guides who are experienced with everything about Bwindi and its environs.
Lodges at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
There are many hotel and lodge options in and around Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park where trekkers can spend a night and complete their dream of visiting mountain gorillas of Bwindi forest, which ranges from luxury to budget. It is important to note that booking with a tour operator instead of yourself is good because they help you to choose the right accommodation which is comfortable and fits your budget and section where your gorilla trek will take place.
Some of these accommodation facilities are Agandi Eco lodge, Broadbill Forest Camp, Trekkers Tavern, Gorilla Mist Camp, Ruhija Gorilla Lodge, Bakiga Lodge, Gift Of Nature Lodge, Cuckooland Tented Lodge, Eco marvels Gorilla Resort, Ruhija Gorilla Friends Lodge and the Ruhija Community Rest Camp all in one section of Ruhija. The Buhoma sector also has a variety from Luxury, midrange to budget including; Bwindi Forest Lodge, Silverback Lodge, Mahogany Springs Lodge, Haven Lodge Buhoma, Buhoma Lodge, Gorilla Forest Camp, Bwindi View, Buhoma Community Bandas, Ride For A Woman, Volcanoes Bwindi lodge, Trackers Safari Lodge, Bwindi Community Hospital Guest House among other and the Rushaga Nkuringo sectors have; Clouds Lodge, Gorilla Heights Lodge, Gorilla Safari Lodge, Rushaga Gorilla Lodge, Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge, Kisoro Travelers Hotel, Ikoro Lodge, Gorilla Hills Eco Lodge, and others.
After visiting Bwindi forest, spare some time and go to Lake Mburo national park, where you will enjoy wildlife viewing, or visit Queen Elizabeth national park to see the tree-climbing lions, forest elephants, antelopes plus other animals. Lake Mburo national park is one of the major gateways to the gorilla parks and also gives you a chance to see the Rothschild’s giraffe which is seen in only Kidepo national park and Murchison falls national park.