Get a chance to trek gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda irrespective of your busy schedule. Rwanda air has introduced new flights to and flow direct from UK to Kigali and vice versa. These flights have put into consideration weekend programs where by you are able to be in Rwanda by Friday track gorillas and you board back on Sunday.
This gorilla safari helps in a way that you don’t need to first get a leave since it’s a weekend program. It will always be a short safari but worth since it doesn’t involve any disruptions from your work duties. It will instead refresh you from your daily workloads.
The moment you land at Kigali airport, you will be transferred either to volcanoes national park or Bwindi national park. Mountain gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Uganda rank as one of the most rewarding wildlife encounters in Africa. Coming eye to eye with a great ape touches a nerve in most of us.
A big part of what makes it special, is that gorillas are so closely related to us humans (the difference in our nuclear DNA is about 1.6%). Mountain gorillas are also very rare. Their range is naturally restricted to a small niche area of forested highlands, and habitat loss due to the growing human population further threatens their future. Luckily money spent on mountain gorilla tourism goes a long way toward securing their survival.
It’s possible to do a one-day gorilla trek in Rwanda from around $1,700 per person. A two-day gorilla tour will start from £1,900. A three-day luxury gorilla safari may cost $2,000 to $5,000 per person. Tours include one gorilla tracking permit, private transport, English-speaking guide, accommodation and meals.
While the cost of gorilla trekking in Uganda can vary from 2-day gorilla safari in Uganda running from about $1350 (economy) to $3900 (luxury) per person. A 10-day gorilla safari in Uganda will run from$4800 (economy) to $6400 (luxury) per person.
Gorilla trekking is becoming more and more popular. Luckily strict regulations are in place to protect these gentle giants, and the number of permits available per day is finite. Only eight visitors can spend one hour with a habituated gorilla group per day.
Rwanda has 12 groups available for short gorilla tours in Volcanoes National Park, and Uganda has 20 groups in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and just one group in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
The habitat and landscape of the main gorilla trekking parks in Uganda and Rwanda are very different. Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park is part of a mostly dormant volcanic mountain range known as the Virunga’s. Here, the gorillas stay almost exclusively in the bamboo forest zone, a beautiful setting in which to see these great apes.
The vegetation tends to be quite open, which is ideal for easy viewing. Uganda’s most popular gorilla trekking destination, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, is an extensive tract of tropical rain forest. It’s a stunning setting as well, but as the name suggests, the denser vegetation can sometimes make clear views of the gorillas a bit more challenging. This puts you at liberty to choose where to go on your UK-Kigali flying gorilla safari.
