What time of the year is Ideal for Trekking Mountain Gorillas?
What time of the year is ideal for trekking mountain gorillas? The best time for visitors to do gorilla trekking has been discussed extensively. Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda are home to gorillas. As a result, there are a lot of viewpoints regarding the best season for mountain gorilla trekking that have been expressed on various venues, such as social media and blog posts on multiple websites. When travelling to gorilla destinations such as Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for gorilla trekking, tourists are frequently curious about the optimum time to trek the gorillas since they want to make the most of their safari experience.
Although gorillas can be trekked at any time of the year, according to reports, tourists go gorilla trekking all year round. The dry season is the ideal time to trek mountain gorillas in Uganda, Rwanda, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as it has been realistically noticed that most tourists prefer the wet season when planning for the gorilla trekking experience.
The ideal time to trek Mountain gorillas
The ideal time to trek mountain gorillas is during the dry season because of the nature of the gorillas, and the terrain becomes much more challenging during the wet season, which is why tourists prefer to trek during this period. Thus, when organising your trip to view the gorillas in Africa, it is recommended that you take advantage of the months with a lot of rain. Due to tropical rain forests, visiting gorilla sites such as the Volcanoes National Park, Mgahinga Gorillas National Park, and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park during the rainy season is riskier. Try to stay away from it if you can. This does not imply, however, that you must cease trekking the gorillas during the rainy season; rather, we are examining the optimal time to undertake gorilla trekking.
Certainly, according to several authors, the ideal time to trek mountain gorillas is in the dry season, which is now designated as June, July, August, and September to be specific. These months are favoured because they have less rain than the wettest months, which are April, May, and November. The majority of our clients decide to plan their gorilla treks in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo during these arid months as a result. We can state with certainty that these are the best months to go gorilla trekking, so we suggest that you make these dates when you reserve your permits.
It is also important to remember that gorilla permits tend to sell out quickly during the drier months. For this reason, it is always advisable to book your gorilla trekking permit in advance if you want to see the gorillas in July, August, June, or September. If you don’t, you will automatically find out when there are no permits available, and you will miss out on seeing the amazing gorillas. The primary issue with the dry season is that gorilla trekking permits are typically hard to come by, so you have to be cautious.
Where can one see mountain gorillas in Uganda?
Gorilla trekking is the primary activity and the high point of any safari in Uganda. There are two recognised destinations where gorillas can be found: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. These are the places where gorilla trekking takes place in Uganda. When it comes to the best times of year to hike with the gorillas in Uganda, tourists can visit the country at any time of year to witness the mountain gorillas.
With the greatest gorilla population, Uganda is said to be home to half of the endangered mountain gorillas. There are two distinct tourism seasons in Uganda: the dry season, sometimes referred to as the high season, and the rainy season, also known as the low season. Since most tourists like to travel during these seasons, the dry season is the most expensive of all. The low season is the least expensive.
There are two different dry seasons in Uganda, which run from December to February and June to October. These months offer the perfect time to travel to Uganda to trek mountain gorillas and other wildlife species such as primates like chimpanzees and other big game animals, particularly the big five such as the lions, leopards, rhinos, buffaloes, and elephants in different national parks.
Uganda has two distinct rainy seasons: the long rainy season and the short rainy season, just like most of the countries in East Africa. The long rainy season, which lasts until the end of May and brings heavy rains, starts in late February. The brief wet season runs from the end of October to roughly the middle of December. The frequent downpours, though they are brief, invariably leave the trekking pathways muddy and dangerous, and most hikers opt to forego this and obtain gorilla permits during the dry seasons. For this reason, dry circumstances with clear skies are ideal for working with gorillas.
What to carry during gorilla trekking safari
The following are some of the items necessary for travellers when planning to trek mountain gorillas: hiking boots, long-sleeved shirts and pants, gloves, binoculars, cameras, extra batteries, ponchos and sweaters, backpacks, raincoats, hats, socks, facemasks, insect repellent, water bottles, and snacks, among others.