How to upgrade your permit from a normal one-hour to a gorilla habituation experience permit

Upgrade your permit from a normal one-hour to a gorilla habituation experience permit. Uganda is currently the only country to offer gorilla habituation experience permits, so you can only do this in Uganda to upgrade your gorilla trekking permit to gorilla habituation experience. The Gorilla Habituation experience is an adventure where tourists can follow a team of researchers to a semi-habituated gorilla family in the wilderness and stay with them for four hours.

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The Southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is the only home of gorilla habituation experience in Uganda. Currently, two gorilla families are open to gorilla habituation, but only a maximum of four tourists are accepted to visit each family.

During the Gorilla trekking adventure, only one hour is allowed with the mountain gorillas as they are habituated to be in front of humans for just one hour. Currently, Uganda has 19 gorilla trekking families open for gorilla trekking safari.

To upgrade your gorilla trekking permit from one hour to a gorilla habituation of four hours, you need to write to the Uganda Wildlife Authority requesting this through a credible tour operator. At Encounter Africa Safaris, we can assist you in the journey to upgrade your gorilla trekking permit from one hour to four hours with the mountain gorillas.

How Can I Upgrade The Gorilla Trekking Permits To Gorilla Habituation Permits

In case you possess a Uganda gorilla trekking permit but wish to spend more time with the mountain gorillas, you write to the Uganda Wildlife Authority through a tour operator. You have to state your interest in upgrading the gorilla permit from one hour to four hours.

At Encounter Africa Safaris, we contact the Uganda Wildlife Authority with your letter. Upon approval, your gorilla habituation experience permit is upgraded according to prevailing availability.

You must top up the balance for the gorilla habituation experience to finally be confirmed as an upgrade.

How Much Is The Balance For The Gorilla Habituation Experience Permit?

The current cost of a gorilla trekking permit is $800 per person per trek, yet the gorilla habituation permit is now $1500 per person. Upon approval, at Encounter Africa Safaris, we forward you an invoice with the balance required to top up your permit, which is currently $800 per permit.

Upgrading your gorilla permits gives you extra time with the mountain gorillas. Instead of one hour, you have an extra four hours with the mountain gorillas, although this time you are to meet semi-habituated ones.

What Is Included In The Costs Of The Gorilla Habituation Experience Permit?

The gorilla habituation experience permit cost includes researcher fees, park entrance fees, security, mountain gorilla conservation, ranger guide fees, local community support, four hours with the mountain gorillas, government tax, and any other items of a personal nature.

What is the difference between Gorilla Trekking and Gorilla Habituation Experience?

• Only one hour is allowed with the mountain gorillas during gorilla trekking, while four hours are allowed with the mountain gorillas during gorilla habituation experience.
• The current cost of a Uganda gorilla trekking permit is $800 per person per trek for foreign nonresidents, $700 for foreign residents, and 300000shs for East African residents. The current gorilla habituation experience permit cost is $1500 per person for foreign nonresidents, $1000 for foreign residents, and 750000shs for East African residents.
• So Uganda has 19 gorilla families open to gorilla trekking while at the moment, 2 gorilla families are open for gorilla habituation experience.
• Gorilla permits for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are sold according to the Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga, and Nkuringo areas. Only gorilla permits for the southern part of Bwindi forest are booked for the gorilla habituation experience. 
• Fully habituated gorilla families are open for gorilla trekking, while semi-habituated gorilla families are open for gorilla habituation experience.
• Only a maximum four gorilla permits are open for gorilla habituation experience while maximum 8 permits are allowed during gorilla trekking adventures.

How Difficult Is Gorilla Habituation Experience 

The gorilla habituation experience is strenuous because of the nature of the topography where mountain gorillas live. This is a volcanic area with highlands on whose slopes mountain gorillas may spend their daytime.

You may be required to hike to the slopes or deep the valleys to find the mountain gorillas, as they love lounging or feeding in these areas.

Because less sun rays is penetrating through the dense canopy yet rains fall in the Virunga area at any time, the trails are soggy most of the time. You may have to climb through the thick vegetation full of creepers and thick vines. Wearing garden gloves helps you hold a tighter grip on the climbers and move forward.

One of the escorting ranger guides carries a machete to help trim obstructing creepers along the way to give you access to where the mountain gorillas may be lounging or feeding.

What is the minimum age for gorilla habituation experience?

Just like gorilla trekking, 15 years is the age limit for attending gorilla habituation experience. This is because of the nature of the terrain, which is ragged with a number of highlands like plateaus and ridges. A child below 15 years may be incapable of enduring the hikes, and walking through thick foliage may be challenging for a young person.

Following religiously the guidelines of gorilla habituation experience is important because some of them help prevent chances of angering the mountain gorillas. A child below 15 years old may need to be in a position to remember the rules of gorilla habituation, like no shouting when with the mountain gorillas, avoid provoking the mountain gorillas, and so much more.

Even gorilla habituation experience may take a long time because you need help finding mountain gorillas. Children below 15 years may be incapable of withstanding the long hours in the forest, yet once you start the gorilla adventure, there is only turning back once you conclude it.

Since you are still determining when to return from the forest during the gorilla habituation experience, a child below 15 years may delay the rest of the group, causing anger and quarreling among habituators. The ranger guide follows the slowest trekkers so no one is forgotten in the wilderness.

Gorilla safaris are a dream come true experience that every person desires to have fun while on holiday. 

Which accommodation can I Book During the Gorilla Habituation Experience?

The Uganda gorilla trekking permits for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are booked according to area that is Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo. Gorilla habituation experience permits are booked in the southern sector of the park so even accommodation needs to be booked closer or within the southern sector.

The southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has different categories of accommodations, including luxury, mid-range and budget facilities.

Southern Bwindi accommodations: Clouds Lodge, Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge, Rushaga Gorilla Safari Lodge, Bwindi Backpacker’s Camp, Nshongi Camp, Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge

It is best to spend the night before the gorilla safari in the southern sector or close to it to avoid driving in the dark to get to the briefing point. When you overnight in another area, connecting to catch up with early morning briefing before gorilla habituation is challenging. The way has many obstacles like poor visibility, slippery roads, poor terrain, and misty weather to mention but a few.

What Is The Cost Of Gorilla Habituation Safari?

The gorilla habituation experience permit costs $ 1500 for foreign nonresidents, $1000 foreign residents and 750,000 shs for East African residents.

Other than a gorilla habituation permit cost that cuts across all safari plans that is luxury, mid-range or budget, other gorilla safari costs are determined by: 

The number of days on safari, time of booking the gorilla habituation safari, additional activities to combine with gorilla safari, number of people on gorilla safari, and accommodation type to use on gorilla safari to mention but a few.

It is best to preplan your gorilla habituation safari because the gorilla permits and other safari amenities are sold out fast because of the high demand especially during high season. You can start by reserving the gorilla permits at least 6 months to a year upfront. At Encounter Africa Safaris, we can work with you to tailor a great itinerary that can suit your needs.

Our safari consultants are ready to answer your questions and provide appropriate answers to your questions about gorilla safaris in Uganda. Our expertise has been accumulated for over 10 years of experience. This is attested by the safari reviews about Encounter African Safaris given by a number of clients on platforms like Safari Bookings, Trip Advisor and others.

Is The Cost Of Gorilla Habituation Experience Safari Worth?

Spending your day with the mountain gorillas is amazing, especially when you stand before the few leftover mountain gorillas worldwide. Although the gorilla permit has a hefty price, it is worth the experience as you are one of the lucky travelers just a few meters from the mountain gorillas.

Doing gorilla habituation experience is heartmelting because you have more time to engage with the mountain gorillas. You get the chance to make moments with the endangered mountain gorillas, watch them groom infants, and participate in collecting their samples, not down some of their traits as per your observation and others.

Gorilla habituation gives you more insight into the mysterious life of the mountain gorillas. You get to personally experience the life of the mountain gorillas to erase the fictions displayed in films and animations about these primates.

Mountain gorillas are gentle and calm primates despite their gigantic outlook. You realize their shyness and their family life are similar to humans. A few people have the opportunity to have time with the mountain gorillas because of the limited number of people allowed to visit each gorilla family. For the gorilla habituation experience, only a maximum of 4 visitors are allowed to accompany a team of researchers.

When you participate in the gorilla habituation experience, you get to support the conservation of mountain gorillas as they were on the verge of extinction by the 1980s, according to the population census carried out by them. The cost of any gorilla permit includes support for conservation, as their sustainable existence is a top priority. At the moment, the population is about 1,000 mountain gorillas, according to a recent census. All this is awed by the continuous funding and support for mountain gorilla conservation.

What are the guidelines for gorilla habituation experience?

Rules and regulations of gorilla habituation expeditions are set to protect them from human infections and chances of changing their nature when you feed them, they change their lives to start depending on human provision.

• When with the mountain gorillas on a habituation safari, keep a distance of about 8 meters from them. This protects these primates from catching human communicable infections like cough, flu, COVID-19, etc. 
• Upon locating the mountain gorillas, refrain from surrounding them as they may feel ambushed.
• Please do not eat or smoke close to the mountain gorillas during the gorilla habituation experience to prevent them from pulling anything from you. They are wild animals that must look for their food.
• Do not litter in the forest, as this is the feeding spot for the mountain gorillas because the biggest part of their meal is foliage.
• Avoid spitting on vegetation to prevent passing human communicable infections to these mountain gorillas. 
• Keep your voice low while with these mountain gorillas and avoid sudden movements
• Only four hours are accepted with the mountain gorillas during the habituation experience. 
• Never use flash photography when with mountain gorillas because this frightens them. This may scare them, pushing them into hiding.
• Volunteer to stay behind in case you catch any communicable infection before the mountain gorillas are susceptible to communicable human infections. The mountain gorillas can easily catch human infections like flu, cough, covid-19. This may lead to their massive deaths, yet conservation has come a long way.

Are you interested in spending more time with the mountain gorillas? Contact us for more information.