Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp

Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp is a mid-range accommodation facility located in Ruhija sector of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. Ruhija sector is one of the places that are famous for mountain gorilla trekking and gorilla families in this region include Bitukura, Oruzogo, Mukiza, and Kyaguriro family. The camp is a perfect place for budget travelers to stay when they are visiting Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. This is one of the two lodges located in the heart of Bwindi and this has enabled it to attract more travelers who are coming to encounter mountain gorillas.

Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp has 8 grass-thatched bandas with well-furnished double, twin, and single rooms with solar electricity, wadrope, TVs, and mosquito net. Each rook has a bathroom with hot and cold showers. Some of the facilities at Gorilla Mist Camp Ruhija include Wi-Fi, parking space, laundry services, airport transfers, well-stocked bar with soft and hard drinks, and a restaurant with local and international foods prepared by well-trained chefs. The camp has a fireplace where guests gather during cold nights to get some warmth while listening to stories from different people.

Accessing Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp

Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp can be accessed using air transport or road transport.  Air transport takes 1 hour 45 minutes to get to Kisoro airstrip from Entebbe international airport or Kajjansi airstrip.  From Kisoro airstrip to Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp can take about 2 hours using road transport. Ruhija gorilla mist camo can also be accessed using road transport from Entebbe/Kampala via Masaka, Mbarara, Kabale and Kisoro road. It takes 9-10 hours to move from Kampala to Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp.

Activities to do while staying at Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp

Gorilla trekking in Ruhija

Gorilla trekking

Gorilla trekking is the most done activity by travelers staying at Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp. The activity involves waking up early in the morning and having breakfast before meeting your driver guide to transfer you to the sector offices. At the sector offices is where the park wardens are, they do teach trekkers rules and regulations of the gorilla trekking activity and they do group them not exceeding 8 people.

Each group is led by armed ranger guides who lead trekkers through different trails of the park until they meet the mountain gorillas. The time taken to meet mountain gorillas is always 2-7 hours and this depends on the location of the gorilla family as well as the speed of trekkers. During the search for mountain gorillas, the trekkers do get opportunities to meet different park mammals, primates, and birds.

When the mountain gorilla family is allocated, trekkers get are given 1 hour to be around the members and this will enable them to learn about their habits, take photos, record videos and watch them do daily activities such as hunting, feeding, breastfeeding, nesting, and grooming among others.

Birding

Guests staying at Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp can go birding around the lodge or even the park. there are 350 bird species living in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park some of which are endemic to the Albertine region. Birding activities are led by armed ranger guides who take you to the best birding spots at the same time while protecting you from dangerous wild animals.

Birds to watch out for in Ruhija sector include red-throated alethe, forest robin, little greenbul, grey crowned crane, African jacana, toro olive greenbul, cape robin chat, western nector, plain backed pipit, African thrush, little rush warbler, green combec, chin spot batis, African hill babbler, chin spot batis, Rwenzori batis, tit hylia, yellow-white eye, blue-headed sunbird, banded prinia, grey apalis, ashy flycatcher, grey apalis, olive sunbird, sooty boubou, tiny sunbird, pied cow, and slender-billed starling among others.

Nature walks

While staying at Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp, you can have nature walks in your free time and get to explore the area on foot. Nature activities can be around the national park or the lodge and they are led by armed ranger guides who protect you from dangerous wild animals as well as show you the right routes to use. Nature walk activities give you an opportunity to meet different animals such as buffaloes, bush pigs, duikers, giant forest hogs, elephants, monkeys, birds, and different plant species.

Batwa community tour

Batwa community tour

You can be staying at Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp and visit the Batwa pygmies that live around the park boundaries. The Batwa are short pygmies that used to live in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park until 1998 when the government decided to evict them out the jungle to protect mountain gorillas and the vegetation. A visit to the Batwa community is led by the local guides from the Batwa communities and these take you around the forest telling you stories of how they used to survive there. They take you to their communities where you meet the local people, visit different homesteads to see how they live their day-to-day life, and then get entertained by the traditional dancers.

When to stay at Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp

Travelers can book and stay at Ruhija Gorilla Mist Camp at any time of the year however there are months that are better than the rest. The dry months are the best to stay at this camp and visit Bwindi impenetrable forest national park because they are characterized by little or no rainfall that keeps the trekking trails dry, the vegetation is tall and thick with good views of the mountain gorillas, and then the roads leading to the park are in good conditions.

Travelers can still stay at Gorilla Mist Camp in the rainy season of March to May and October to November and this favors the budget travelers because the rooms and services are cheap. Travelers should note that in the rainy season, there is plenty of rainfall that makes the roads leading to the park impassable, the vegetation is tall and thick with unclear views of the animals and the trails are muddy and slippery.