An hour with Mountain Gorillas
Spend an hour with mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This is a magical hour of interacting with the gorilla family. Trekkers here are required to keep a low tone as they accurately take photographs, not forgetting to avoid a direct look into the eyes of the gorillas.
A dominant silverback gorilla is the head and determines the movements of the entire gorilla family. Female adults nurse the young ones and the juveniles entertain the family, which makes a stay with them so amazing. The human-like characters of gorillas make their amazing animals spend time with but at a distance of seven meters away from the gorillas. More still, trekkers are advised to turn back their faces when sneezing or coughing to avoid the transmission of diseases to the endangered gorillas.
Tips for Trekkers
Trekkers are reminded to avoid looking directly into the eyes of the gorillas to avoid them charging. In case approached by the gorillas, trekkers are told to keep calm and quiet and let them pass. Running away or shouting may disrupt the gorillas hence causing them to behave wildly despite them being habituated.
It’s all very exciting. And the moment you come face-to-face with your first gorilla, the mud and sweat become distant memories. Standing in the heart of a seemingly limitless jungle, with a family of the largest primates in the world, is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Your allotted hour – the maximum time allowed – goes so quickly. But life will never be quite the same again. An hour with mountains gives visitors an opportunity to catch a glimpse at mountain gorillas in their natural habitat, explore their behavior and body gestures; take as many photos as possible, videos, not forgetting asking questions to your tour guide.
Gorilla Trekking in Uganda and the experience of an hour with mountain gorillas
To trek mountain gorillas in Uganda, you need $700 to obtain a gorilla permit and in Rwanda, gorilla permit fees are $1500 per person per trek. A permit at hand allows you to track only 1 habituated gorilla family in Uganda (about 21 groups are ready for trekking in Uganda), Rwanda (about 12 gorilla families have been habituated), or DRC where 8 gorilla groups are readily available for trekking.
Mountain gorillas trekking takes place in Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo. Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Volcanoes National Park, and Virunga National Park respectively. Every morning, the latest influx of tourists gathers on the lawns near the forest entrance for a detailed briefing, before setting off chaperoned by trackers, guides, armed guards, and porters.
The super-human porters will carry anything – no amount of camera equipment is too much. The trek can take anything from less than an hour to six hours. It all depends on where your allotted gorilla family happens to be at the time.
Within minutes of entering the forest, you are sweating and panting, crawling and clambering your way along slippery paths and precipitous mountain tracks. The dark, wet Forest is aptly named – it’s a riot of green where things grow on top of other things that grow on top of more things in layers of ferns, mosses, creepers, and lichens. In places, the parks are so thick you have to hike on solid mats of vegetation that tremble and flex with every step, threatening to break through and dump you into the unseen depths below.
