Location of Bwindi Gorilla Park

What is the location of Bwindi Gorilla Park? Yes, Bwindi gorilla park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda in the current districts of Kanungu, Rubanda, Kabale and Kisoro. Bwindi gorilla park is located in hilly areas that are surrounded by hills and mountains. The park is located not so far from Mgahinga gorilla park which also harbors mountain gorillas. Bwindi gorilla park is located near the borders of DR Congo with Uganda near Kabale town. The nearest national parks to Bwindi park are Kibale national park which harbors chimpanzees and Mgahinga national park which harbors mountain gorillas.

Bwindi gorilla park is among the most visited places in Uganda located in the southwest of the country. Bwindi gorilla park covers a total area of 331 km. sq full of equatorial tropical rainforests.  The national park is home to more than half of the mountain gorilla population on earth, 120 mammal species, 350 birds, 10 primates, and 160 species of trees.

Mountain gorillas are the reason why Bwindi gorilla park is known to the outside world because they do attract thousands of travelers that want to come and encounter apes that share 98% human DNA. Mountain gorillas in Bwindi gorilla park are over 600 and they do live in different parts of the park. The park has 4 sectors where mountain gorillas do live and these are Ruhija, Rushaga Buhoma, and Nkuringo.

Due to its strategic location, Bwindi Gorilla park can be accessed by both air transport and road transport in a single day. The park can be accessed using air transport from Kajjansi airstrip or Entebbe international airport in just 2 hours. The flights land at Kihihi airstrip in Buhoma sector of Kisoro airstrip where ground transport is used to access the park.

For road transport users, there are so many routes that can connect one to Bwindi park based on their location. There is a route from Kampala via Kabale, Kanungu and Buhoma, another route is from Kampala via Masaka, Mbarara, Kabale to Ruhija or Nkuringo. There is another route from Kampala via Masaka, Mbarara, Ntungamo, Rukungiri, Kihihi and Buhoma. Travelers from Rwanda access Bwindi using Cyanika and Katuna birders and all these journeys give great views of the beautiful sceneries of hills, plantations, and homesteads along the roads.

Gorillas in Impenetrable Forest of Bwindi

What to see in Bwindi gorilla park?

Mountain gorillas: Mountain gorillas are the main attractions in Bwindi gorilla park. The pace has the highest population of endangered mountain gorillas in the world. There are over 600 mountain gorillas living in Bwindi and travelers can meet them in different gorilla groups that have been habituated in the park. There are about 21 mountain gorillas that have been habituated in Bwindi gorilla park and they do live in park sectors such as Buhoma, Nkuringo, Ruhija, and Rushaga.

Other primates: Bwindi Park has about 10 primates that are seen during the gorilla trekking experience, birding watching, or nature walk activities. The primates are not habituated for trekking activities they give found a home inside the park and some of them include l’hoest’s monkeys, golden monkeys, blue monkeys, chimpanzees, red-tailed monkeys, pottos, demidoff’s galago, black and white colobus monkeys, olive baboons, and spectacled galago.

Birds: Bwindi gorilla park is home to about 350 bird species of which some are endemic to the Albertine region and the park itself. Notable bird species in Bwindi park include African green pigeon, cinnamon-chested bee-eater, giant kingfisher, crowned hornbill, black bee-eater, many-coloured bush-shrike, Rwenzori apalis, handsome francolin, black-billed turaco, nuemann’s warbler, cinnamon chested bee-eater, yellow -streaked greenbul, shelley’s crimsonwing, regal sunbird and olive-breasted greenbul among others.

Mammals: Bwindi gorilla park is home to about 120 mammal species that have been so far recorded in the park. These mammals are seen in the park roaming while carrying out gorilla trekking, bird watching, and also nature walk activities. Some of the mammals in Bwindi gorilla park include buffaloes, elephants, civet, side-stripped jackals, clawless otter, giant forest hogs, bush pigs, yellow-backed duikers, and black-fronted duikers.

The Batwa pygmies: The Batwa pygmies used to live in Bwindi gorilla park before 1991 when the government decided to evict them out of the jungle to conserve the forest as well as the animals most especially mountain gorillas. The Batwa pygmies now live on the boundaries of Bwindi gorilla park and can be visited during the safaris to see how they live their day to day live, listen to their stories, and get entertained by the traditional dancers.