This national park is 331square kilometers in size and is shared by Ugandan districts mainly Kabale, Kisoro and Rukungiri districts and was gazetted as a national park in 1991. Gorilla tracking is the major safari activity that is done in this national park compared to other activities like hiking, birding watching, launch cruise etc, because of the related human beings that are interesting to watch and research about. The national park experiences annual temperatures of about of about 8-20 degrees census which favor most especially gorillas with a number of them living in highland areas of Kabale, Kisoro and Rukugiri looking for food and are characterized by feeding on the montane type of trees.
Bwindi impenetrable national park is one of the national parks not only in Africa but also the whole world as it hosts more than half of the entire population (350 gorillas in bwindi alone) of the gorillas which are about over 800 gorillas in the world in countries Rwanda, DRC and Uganda etc which calls for a massive touring of these primates by mainly the foreign tourists in this region of east Africa. These primates cannot be kept in zoos because of their size and strength that can break the cages of steel within a minute endanging the lives of the tourists in particular as the male primates are 10 times much stronger than the best boxing man in the world. It is for this reason that they need to eat a lot of food which cannot be given in the zoos compared to the free food in the Bwindi forests. As the name suggests(mountain Gorillas) Gorilla tracking is done in mountainous places of Kabale, Kisoro and Runkugiri
There are number of Mountain Gorillas groups that are situated within the national park and these include Nshongi, Kahunge, busiingye, Mishaya, bweza, Mubare consisting of 16 members, habinyanja consisting of 23 members etc. some of these gorillas are hard to find as some groups are few in number like the Mubare which pulls in much effort to track these particular primates when required by a tourist to see them almost the all day.
Just a few years back, Gorillas not only in bwindi impenetrable national park but also other national parks were this activity is carried out that is to say Mgahinga national park, faced problems of poaching by foreign tourists who had the tension of getting something out of them. this entitled the government of Uganda to set up an independent body concerned about the presentation of poaching in Uganda called Uganda tourism board which greatly put up strict measures and laws of touring these so called related human animals (the Gorillas)and also the other problem was diseases that were attacking these primates which forced the tourism board to stand up and bring doctors from outside countries to treat them.
Meanwhile, there are various periods that are sweet-able for gorilla tracking in Bwindi national park. starting from June to September and from December to mid February are the best periods to do this activity because they tend to be dry. First in the dry periods, the roads to wards to the national park are dry making the movements of tourists by a car or van either within or outside the park more easier to do and secondly, Gorillas tend not to move a lot because food in the dry season is few compared to the wet seasons of March, April, May were food is plenty increasing the movements of Gorillas in the park thus making the safari more harder to finish although there is no specific period of the year to visit this amazing mountain Gorillas. Furthermore Gorillas permits in the dry periods tend to be expensive about 650 dollars because tourists come in plenty than in wet season were permits are as low as 350 dollars. Some of the money that is corrected from the sale of Mountain Gorilla permits is donated or even funded to the communities around the national park for development like building roads and schools near the national park
For one to do this activity, one is required to have some of the safari requirements that include wearing proper foot wear shoes that are above the ankle in cases of the rainy seasons to prevent water from entering the boots making the safari activity more easier to do and comfortable to words the tourists. Other requirements are having a camera for photographing the primates, rain coats, packed food and water just in case the activity takes long to do especially from morning to evening.
Lastly, there are number of lodges and some hotels that are located either within or outside the national park with various rates of accommodations ranging from budget, mid range to luxurious accommodations. These include clouds lodge, Buhoma lodge, gorilla forest camp etc. Bookings at these lodges are mostly done on behalf of the tourists by touring companies. To get an early booking without interfering with the issued bookings, one is required to book 3months before his safari begins or starts.
