Who sells gorilla permits in Uganda?

Who sells gorilla permits in Uganda?: Gorilla permits in Uganda are sold by the Uganda Wildlife Authority only. UWA is a government body that controls and manages national parks in the country. Uganda gorilla permits are for Bwindi impenetrable forest national park and Mgahinga national park which harbor mountain gorillas in Uganda. Bwindi impenetrable forest national park has the highest population of mountain gorillas and over 168 gorilla permits while Mgahinga national park has only 8 gorilla permits. Uganda wildlife sells 168 gorilla permits every day of which 160 are gorilla trekking permits and 8 are gorilla habituation permits

The role of gorilla permits is to enable trekkers to encounter mountain gorillas for 1 hour or 4 hours in their natural habitats. The normal gorilla trekking permit is for those that want to be around fully habituated mountain gorillas for 1 hour and the gorilla habituation permits are for those travelers that would want to be around semi-habituated mountain gorillas for 4 hours.

For any traveler to encounter mountain gorillas, they must have gorilla permits. These gorilla permits are sold at a certain for different categories of travelers. Uganda wildlife authority has a fee for foreign non-residents, foreign residents, and citizens of East Africa and these pay different amounts of money to encounter mountain gorillas. Uganda Wildlife Authority is the only government body that sells gorilla permits for Uganda however travelers can use their trusted local tour operators to help them get permits on their behalf.

How to buy gorilla permits in Uganda from the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

Travelers that want to buy gorilla permits from Uganda Wildlife Authority must check if they are available. Travelers should first get the dates of the month and the year they want to travel and they will send these to the reservation’s office at Uganda Wildlife Authority. They will look at your dates to see if permits are still available and once they are available, they will send you an email letting you know about the availability and the other email will contain different banking details as well as the price of the permit.

You will go to any bank that is okay for you and send the money for the gorilla permit and after you will email the reservations office a scanned copy of the receipt of payments for confirmation. Your permit will be booked for you and when you arrive in the country, you will find it at the Uganda Wildlife Authority offices.

However much it’s only Uganda Wildlife Authority that sells gorilla permits, local tour operators can help by booking them for you at the same fee. Africa adventure vacations is one of the local tour companies licensed by the Uganda Tourism Board to book gorilla permits for clients. To book with us, you must contact us via email with the dates of the month and year you want to travel. We shall use this information to check for the availability of gorilla permits with the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

The moment the mountain gorilla permits are available, we shall send you an email containing the different banking details and the prices of the permit. You will go to the bank and send us money and after you will send us an email of the scanned copy for us to prove that you have paid. We shall go ahead and book the gorilla permits for you and when you arrive in the country, you will find them with us.

Does Uganda Wildlife Authority sell permits in installments?

Uganda Wildlife Authority agreed the proposal to sell the gorilla permits in installments to enable those who can’t afford the money at once to pay in phases. A traveler can now pay gorilla payments in installments of 30%, 50%, and 70%. Travelers who pay in installments must complete the balance 3 months before the gorilla trekking day and those who fail to do so will just lose all their money. If a traveler sees that they won’t pay the bal ance 3 months to the gorilla trekking day then they must request to extend the dates for trekking.

At how much does the Uganda Wildlife Authority sell gorilla permits

There are two types of gorilla permits at Uganda Wildlife Authority- gorilla trekking permits and gorilla habituation permits. Each gorilla trekking permit is sold at $700 for foreign non-residents, $600 for foreign residents, and UGX250,000 citizens of East Africa. The gorilla trekking permits allow trekkers to be around semi-habituated mountain gorillas for 1 hour. Uganda Wildlife Authority sells gorilla habituation permits at a fee of $1500 for foreign non-residents, $1000 foreign residents, and UGX750,000 citizens of East Africa. The gorilla habituation permits enable travelers to be around semi-habituated mountain gorillas for 4 hours while making them get used to human presence around them.

Best time to buy gorilla permits from Uganda Wildlife Authority

Uganda gorilla permits should be booked 3-4 months earlier in advance before the gorilla trekking date the fact that they sell out quickly. Travelers that are visiting Uganda in the dry season are the ones that need to book their gorilla permits in advance because they sell out quickly. The gorilla permits sell out so fast in the dry seasons of June to July and December to February because a lot of travelers want to visit the parks in that region because in these months there is always little and sometimes no rainfall.

Travelers that are visiting the park in the rainy season can even book the gorilla permit’s a few weeks before the gorilla day and they will always find them available. This is because a few travelers are planning to visit the park during the rainy season which occurs from March to May and October to November due to different reasons among which include plenty of rainy fall, impassable roads to the park, and muddy trekking trails among others.