Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

One of the two nation­al parks in Ugan­da that is home to the endan­gered moun­tain goril­las, along with Mgahin­ga Goril­la Nation­al Park is Bwin­di Impen­e­tra­ble Nation­al Park, which is well-known through­out the world for epic goril­la trekking adven­tures. How­ev­er, it is more well-known than Mgahin­ga because it con­tains near­ly half of the world’s total goril­la population.

As Ugan­da’s most pop­u­lar tourist attrac­tion, it serves as the tourism indus­try’s main pil­lar in goril­la trekking safaris. More than half of the 1060 moun­tain goril­las in the world find refuge here, with the rest resid­ing in the near­by Virun­ga Ranges, which include Mgahin­ga Nation­al Park in Ugan­da, Virun­ga Nation­al Park in the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Repub­lic of Con­go and Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park in Rwanda.

Bwin­di, which means “dark­ness” in the local lan­guage, is the name of this amaz­ing for­est and a hike through it will explain why. Along with the dense veg­e­ta­tion, which includes about 400 dif­fer­ent plant species and 324 dif­fer­ent tree species, ten of which are only found in this area in the entire coun­try of Ugan­da, you will also be able to quick­ly com­pre­hend why the for­est is actu­al­ly said to be impen­e­tra­ble on top of that are its steep slopes and ridges that are con­stant­ly shroud­ed in mist.

There are at least 200 but­ter­fly species, 350 bird species, 120 ani­mal species, and sev­er­al rep­tile species in addi­tion to gorillas.

Because there are so few habit­u­at­ed goril­las (goril­las trained to tol­er­ate human pres­ence and unlike­ly to attack) in this area, the time offered to see them is lim­it­ed. Per­mits are cur­rent­ly avail­able for $500 per per­son. There are no regrets after spend­ing time in Ugan­da’s Bwin­di Impen­e­tra­ble For­est, one of the most breath­tak­ing rain­forests you will ever see, with these incred­i­bly fas­ci­nat­ing moun­tain gorillas.

Since 1993, the park has wel­comed a sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of vis­i­tors from around the globe who want to go goril­la trekking in all its glory.

Expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of ‘goril­la land’, which offers a wealth of oppor­tu­ni­ties for won­der­ful explo­ration and pho­tog­ra­phy. It is home to gor­geous veg­e­ta­tion, fas­ci­nat­ing fau­na, spec­tac­u­lar water­falls, pris­tine rivers and much more.

Enjoy adven­tures into the dense Bwin­di jun­gles, from the well-known goril­la treks to wildlife hikes on well-main­tained trails.

The park is a haven for nature lovers, hik­ers, fam­i­ly vaca­tion­ers, out­door enthu­si­asts, and pho­tog­ra­phers of all levels.

While goril­la trekking is the main activ­i­ty, vis­i­tors can also par­take in a vari­ety of adven­tur­ous pur­suits while they are here.

Tourist Activ­i­ties in Bwin­di Impen­e­tra­ble Nation­al Park.

Goril­la trekking.

Moun­tain goril­las have been unques­tion­ably present in Bwin­di since 1993, when pio­neer fam­i­lies were first habit­u­at­ed. It cur­rent­ly has four sec­tors with over 19 habit­u­at­ed groups, 18 of which are acces­si­ble for track­ing goril­las, and the 19th group was set aside for research and habit­u­a­tion expe­ri­ence. Bwin­di is the most pop­u­lar goril­la trekking des­ti­na­tion and most afford­able for tourists.

Goril­la habit­u­a­tion experience.

This intrigu­ing expe­ri­ence is only avail­able and pos­si­ble in Bwin­di Impen­e­tra­ble Nation­al Park, dur­ing this activ­i­ty tourists are only allowed to spend up to four hours with a moun­tain goril­la fam­i­ly under­go­ing habit­u­a­tion. This charm­ing expe­ri­ence is one of a kind in the entire world. Tourists can vis­it one of the two goril­la groups that are cur­rent­ly under­go­ing habit­u­a­tion and expe­ri­ence what oth­ers describe as fascinating.

Bird Watch­ing.

Bird­watch­ers will love Bwin­di Impen­e­tra­ble Nation­al Park. It is home to over 351 bird species, includ­ing 23 Alber­tine Rift endemics such as the Rusty-faced Wood­land War­bler, Bar-tailed Tro­gon, Short-tailed War­bler, Kivu Ground Thrush, and White-tailed Blue Monarch, which are dif­fi­cult to find else­where in East Africa. This park was also named Africa’s top bird­ing destination.

Cul­tur­al tours to the Bat­wa People

The Bat­wa were the forest’s indige­nous inhab­i­tants, hav­ing lived there for thou­sands of years before the Ban­tu (known as land cul­ti­va­tors) arrived. The Bat­wa, also known as pyg­mies, were orig­i­nal­ly hunters and fruit gath­er­ers who set­tled in the jun­gles of South-west­ern Ugan­da and beyond. This fas­ci­nat­ing Bat­wa expe­ri­ence involves tourists learn­ing about the ancient way of life of these people.

Nature walks

There are numer­ous routes spread out across the four sec­tors (Rusha­ga, Buhoma, Ruhi­ja, and Nkuringo), so vis­i­tors can com­bine their goril­la hike with a wildlife walk. Vis­i­tors can learn about dif­fer­ent kinds of trees, some mon­key species, but­ter­flies, and even bird species by tak­ing nature walks. This activ­i­ty is major­ly done by tourists on longer stays like 2–4 days with­in Bwindi.

Com­mu­ni­ty tourism

The Buhoma Vil­lage walk is a pop­u­lar com­mu­ni­ty walk where tourists take a 3‑hour cul­tur­al walk through the vil­lages to see how rur­al Ugan­dan house­holds live. Com­mu­ni­ty tours are led by a tour guide who is typ­i­cal­ly a vil­lage native who is very knowl­edge­able about the peo­ple’s cul­tur­al val­ues, cus­toms, and practices.

When to vis­it Bwin­di Impen­e­tra­ble Nation­al Park?

The park is open to vis­i­tors through­out the year, though it is more dif­fi­cult to nav­i­gate dur­ing the wet sea­son. Road trav­el from Kam­pala to the park is expect­ed to take 8 hours due to the park’s iso­lat­ed loca­tion and bad road conditions.

Domes­tic flights from Entebbe Inter­na­tion­al Air­port arrive at Kihi­ihi and Kisoro Airstrips, pro­vid­ing easy access to the park.

A resort, tent­ed campers, and rooms man­aged by the neigh­bor­hood are avail­able for tourists close to the Buhoma entrance gate. The park can eas­i­ly be accessed from Kam­pala in Ugan­da and Kigali in Rwanda