Bwindi Impenetrable National Park National Park commonly known as home for half of the surviving endangered mountain gorillas lies in southwestern Uganda and is shared between three uganda districts of Kabale, Kisoro and Kanungu.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has 9 habituated gorilla families giving tourists several gorilla permit availability for their selection. These gorilla families include, Mubare, Rushegura, Habinyanja, Bitukura, Oruzogo, Kahungye, Mishaya, Nshongyi and nkuringo. All these gorilla families in bwindi are located in four major regions of the park which include Buhoma, Rushaga, Nkuringo and Ruhija.
The forest boosts of the most biological diverse tropical rain forest which dates as far back as over 25,000 year. Bwindi has abou 120 mammals, 350 species of birds 23 of which are endemic to the albertine rift valley and it is the only national park where gorillas live with chimpanzees.
ACTIVITIES IN BWINDI
Gorilla tracking is the popular activity in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park but it is also a Birder’s paradise. Tourists interested in forest walks to identify butterflies, birds and also visits to the water falls within in the park, they should go for forest walks. In buhoma and Nkuringo, community trails have been developed to allow tourists to go for community walks. these community walks take you to the villages around bwindi national park to experience the day to day community activities that are making the communities survive without encroaching on the national park.
Batwa experience is yet another activity that is available for selection. The batwa are a minority ethnic group that used to live in the forest but after it was gazzetted as a national park, the batwa were relocated from the forest to the near by villages. During this activity, they will gladly show you their way of living when they were still in the forest and then the latest developments thay have achieved ever since they left the forest.
Lodges in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Bwindi has several lodges in its four regions, in Buhoma we have (Gorilla Forest Camp, Volcano Bwindi Lodge, Buhoma Lodge, Mahogany Springs for Upmarket), (Gorilla resort, Silverback Lodgeand Kitandara tented camp for Mid Range), and buhoma community rest camp for economy or basic accommodation.
Kisoro side has Clouds lodge for upmarket, Gorilla Safari lodge for mid range and Kisoro travellers rest inn, Nkuringo Gorilla Camp for basic accommodation.
Accessbility
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park can be accessed from Entebbe International airport and then driving 9-10 hours southwestwards crossing the equotor untill you reach the park. From kampala, the park is approximately 550 kms. You can also acces it through Kigali/Rwanda and the drive is approximately 6-7 hours drive.
