Gorilla Trekking Safaris

The rare and elusive Mountain gorillas live in small family groups in the high-altitude cloud forests of equatorial Africa. They live in only two areas. One is the Virunga Volcanoes which straddle Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The other is the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest  in Uganda. We offer gorilla trekking tours to both the Virunga and Bwindi rainforests.

But their numbers declined dramatically in the last few decades of the 20th century. This is mainly due to the erosion of their habitat. However their numbers have increased by over 40% since 1989, mainly due to conservation. So now there are over 1000 mountain gorillas roaming wild.

Gorilla Trekking Tours & Conservation

Gorilla trekking tours, with small numbers of people, play a vital role in this form of conservation. It allows for a carefully managed and minimally-intrusive encounter between you and a few gorilla families. These gorillas are habituated to humans, but the encounter is still carefully regulated. Ever since the mountain gorilla research of Dian Fossy, the pioneering primatologist, people want to emulate her close encounters with these most charismatic apes.

So the gorilla tracking permit prices are deliberately very high. As this vital revenue is what enables environmentalists to preserve the remaining unique montane and bamboo forest. The forest will be destroyed, if not for the gorilla trekking fees and the tourism dollars which go to the local communities. They will plough up or burn the forests to create more land for subsistence farming.

Why it's worth the price?

Despite the high fees, people snap up the gorilla tracking permits many months ahead. For the committed world adventurer, devoted photographer or wildlife lover, there is nothing to beat the thrill of an encounter with a male 'silverback'. An hour passes in a flash but you have forget your time with them. Perhaps it is the fact that mountain gorillas are notoriously hard to capture on camera? Or the challenging trek to get to them? It all combined to reinforce what an incredible privilege it is!

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