What to do in Bwindi after gorilla trekking tour
What to do in Bwindi after gorilla trekking tour: Gorilla trekking is the most done tourism activity in Bwindi for the park is home to mountain gorillas. Bwindi is home to the highest number of endangered mountain gorillas in the whole world and this has attracted a huge number of tourists. Bwindi was gazetted by the government in 1991 to protect the mountain gorillas that were getting extinct as well the forest that was home to these gorillas.
The population of mountain gorillas in Bwindi keeps on increasing every day and the park has the highest number of mountain gorilla families habituated in the whole world. The other places where mountain gorillas can be trekked include Mgahinga national park, Bwindi gorilla park, and volcanoes national park. Bwindi alone has 19 fully habituated mountain gorilla families and 2 families that are available for gorilla habituation purposes only.
Gorilla trekking in Bwindi is done by tourists that have valid trekking permits and these are checked at the briefing point early in the morning to confirm that they are issued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Each gorilla group is trekked by 8 people and these are led by armed ranger guides that show the trekkers the best trails to use while protecting them from dangerous wild animals.
The gorilla trekking activity takes 2-7 hours to meet the gorilla group but during the search, the trekkers are able to meet different mammals, primates, and bird species of the park. On meeting the gorilla group, the trekkers are given 1 hour to be around the fully habituated gorilla group or 4 hours around a semi habituated group and in the time given they are able to watch them do daily activities, learn about their behaviors and take photos.
Trekking Bwindi gorillas is done by those that have gorilla permits. These permits can be purchased in advance from Uganda Wildlife Authority or a trusted local tour operator at a fee. The normal permits cost $700 for foreign non-residents, $600 for foreign residents, or UGX250,000 East African citizens. Tourists that want to spend 4 hours with mountain gorillas buy permits at $1500 foreign non-residents, $1000 foreign residents, and UGX750,000 East African citizens.
Community visits around Bwindi park
Activities to do in Bwindi after gorilla trekking tour
Birding
After gorilla trekking, birders can join an armed ranger guide to look for different bird species in the park. With over 180 bird species recorded, Bwindi offers the best birding. besides watching gorillas https://bwindigorillapark.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=8338&action=editin Buhoma sector, there are birding activities in the sector and Ruhija sectors where different walking trails are used to look for different birds. Birding in Bwindi gorilla park is done along Buhoma waterfall trail, Mubwindi swamp, and bamboo zone.
The bird species that can be encountered in Bwindi include archer’s robin chat, handsome francolin, red-throated alethe, African wood owl, Rwenzori nightjar, yellow-streaked greenbul, bar-tailed trogon, shelly’s greenbul, black bee-eater, dwarf honeyguide, western green tinkerbird, grey cuckoo-shrike, white-bellied robin-chat, finely banded woodpecker, Kivu ground thrush, African green broadbill, short-tailed warbler, mountain yellow warbler, grauer’s warbler, red-faced woodland warbler, dusky twinspot, and tit hylia among others.
Nature walks
Done with gorilla trekking, engaging in a forest walk r guided nature walk in Bwindi is one of the ways to explore most of the attractions in the park. The attractions in Bwindi include wild animals, birds, and vegetation. Nature walks in Bwindi are done in the company of an experienced ranger guide who lead participants in the jungle using different trails. Some of the nature walk trails in Bwindi include Kashasha river trail, Bamboo trail, Munyaga waterfall trail, Ivy river trail, Habinyanja trail, and Muzubijiro loop trail among others. During the nature walks, travelers get opportunities to meet different park animals such as buffaloes, elephants, duikers, bushpigs, monkeys, olive baboons, birds, and plants among others.
Community visits
After trekking mountain gorillas, you can enjoy a community tour while in Bwindi. The community visits are done in the communities that are around Bwindi gorilla park and most of the visits are done in the Batwa communities. A visit to the Batwa community is done by those that are interested in exploring the culture of the communities in the country. The visit will offer amazing experiences and you will participate in different activities such as farming, winemaking, preparing local dishes, and much more. You will get entertained by the traditional local dancers and you will seat with the local people to tell you stories of how they used to live in the forest, get food, and use plants as medicine before they got evicted by the government.
Visit Lake Mutanda
Lake Mutanda is a freshwater lake in Kisoro southwestern Uganda which can be visited by those tourists staying in the southern sector of Bwindi park. the lake has got a cool breeze, and warm temperatures for one to rest and have a good time seeing some of the attractions on the lake. A visit to lake mutanda gives travelers an opportunity to be part of the fishing, canoeing, and nature walks around the lake. There are lots of birds that can be spotted around lake mutanda and some of them include great cormorant, pied kingfisher, malachite kingfisher, pian-tailed whydah, hadada ibis, and sunbirds among others.
A sunset view at Gorilla Forest Camp in Bwindi Forest park
Best time to visit bwindi gorilla park
Bwindi can be visited at any time of the year for different activities in the park but there are some months that are better than the rest. The dry months that occur from June to September and December to February are the best to visit Bwindi because they are characterized by little or no rainfall, the trekking trails are dry, the vegetation is short with good views of the animals, and the roads leading to the park are in good conditions.
Bwindi can still be visited in the rainy season and this period favors the budget travelers because there are huge discounts on accommodation facilities. The rainy season happens from March to May and October to November and during these months there is plenty of rainfall, the trekking trails are muddy and slippery, the vegetation is tall and thick with unclear views of the attractions and the roads leading to the park are in poor conditions.
Accessibility to bwindi gorilla park for gorilla trek
Bwindi can be accessed in a single day whether you use road transport or air transport. Air transport is expensive but the quickest way to get to Bwindi gorilla park. There are different airline companies that organize flights to Bwindi and some of them include Bar Aviation, Uganda Airlines, and Aerolink Uganda. The flights start from Kajjansi airstrip or Entebbe international airport and go to Kihihi airstrip for these visiting Buhoma or Kisoro airstrip for those visiting Rushaga, Nkuringo, and Ruhija sectors.
Travelers can use road transport to from Kampala or Kigali and access Bwindi. From Kigali to Bwindi is the shortest journey and travelers will have to drive to Katuna birder in Kabale or Cyanika border in Kisoro cross to Uganda and then connect to any of the sectors they are to visit in Bwindi. The longest journey that takes 9-10 hours to get to Bwindi is Kampala via Masaka, Mbarara, Kabale – Kisoro where you turn get off the main road at different stages and connect to the sector you are to visit. Using road transport to get to Bwindi is the best for it gives you an opportunity to see different things on the roadsides as well as stopovers.
