How many Gorilla permits available in Uganda Daily? – Gorilla permits availability – We help you secure Gorilla permits
How many gorilla permits available in Uganda daily? – A Ugandan Gorilla permit costs USD700 per person per trek. Home to almost half of the World’s total population of endangered Mountain Gorillas, Uganda’s prime destinations for Gorilla tracking include Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Located in the extreme south western corner of the country, at the tip of Albertine Rift, these National Parks form one huge conservation area, known as Bwindi-Mgahinga conservation area.
Among the two National Parks, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is the largest with a total area of about 331 square kilometres and divided into 4 major Gorilla tracking regions, that is Buhoma sector in the north, Ruhija sector in the East, Rushaga and Nkuringo in the South. Each sector presents a profusion of vibrant Gorilla families which are well habituated and open for tracking every day.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is the smallest in Uganda, and part of the massive Virunga Conservation Area. This National Park is one of the 3 National Parks that make up Virunga Conservation Area; others are Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Due to its small size, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is a home to only one habituated Gorilla family, known as Nyakagezi, which is made up of 10 members open for trekking daily. Mountain Gorilla tracking activity remains a highly restricted venture with visits controlled to only 8 individuals per Gorilla family per day.
Gorilla tracking permits are issued for travellers on a first come first serve and without which one cannot access any Gorilla family for tracking. Gorilla permits in Uganda are only issued by Uganda Wildlife Authority, a government body that is in charge of conservation and preservation of all protected areas in Uganda. Alternatively, Great Adventure Safaris can help book Gorilla trekking permits on behalf of our clients.
Each Gorilla permit is valid for a day of Gorilla tracking between 1-9 hours depending on the time taken to find a particular Gorilla family allocated to you. A Gorilla permit allows one to access one Gorilla family and spends with it a maximum of 1 hour of photography and observing. Uganda Gorilla permits are highly demanded and therefore advance booking is crucial especially in high season months of June – October and December to February.
How Many Gorilla Permits Are Available Daily?
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is home to over 550 Mountain Gorillas, more than any other Gorilla destination in the world. There are19 habituated Gorilla families that can be visited on a daily basis. This implies that 144 Gorilla permits are available per day distributed throughout the 4 Gorilla sectors. Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on the other hand is home to only one Gorilla family, and therefore 8 permits are available for sale every day which makes a total of 152 Gorilla permits available in Uganda daily.
Cost of Gorilla Permits in Uganda
Each Gorilla permit in Uganda costs a staggering USD700 per person per trek, way less than Rwanda’s Gorilla permit which stands at USD1500 per person per trek. Uganda presents the safest and most unforgettable Gorilla trekking experience of the entire Gorilla tracking destinations.
Gorilla Habituation Permits
Besides Gorilla tracking, Uganda awards travelers with another thrilling adventure, the Gorilla habituation experience in Rushaga the Southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Unlike Gorilla trekking which allows trekkers to be with a Gorilla family for only 1 hour, Gorilla habituation experience allows you up to 4 hours to encounter these magical apes which start counting when you find the fresh trails of the semi-habituated Gorilla family from where they last nested the previous night. Gorilla habituation experience is best for those travelers who need first-hand encounter with world’s most endangered apes.
During habituation, Mountain Gorillas are not yet fully acquainted to human presence, and therefore trekkers accompany a team of researchers, trackers and park rangers who head out to the forest and encounter an unsuspecting family of Gorillas and stay with them for a period of up to 4 hours, observing how they feed, play with each other, behave, and getting to know the general lifestyle and composition of a particular gorilla family.
Gorilla habituation is only done in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Rushaga sector located in the South-East of the National Park. Only 4 trekkers are allowed to do Gorilla habituation on a daily basis. This low number of visitors is aimed at keeping the Gorilla habitat as undisturbed as possible.
Gorilla habituation permits costs USD1500 per permit per trek and valid for 4 hours after meeting the Gorillas. Habituation permits can only obtained at Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters in Kampala or can be booked through a professional local tour operator like Great Adventure Safaris.
Rescheduling Gorilla Permits
Gorilla tracking permits can be rescheduled to any future available date; however late reschedule (7 days to the start of the trip) attracts a surcharge of 30% of the total permit cost. One can change a Gorilla permit details to either another Gorilla sector or a different date.
