Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on uwa system online is a new innovation by Uganda Wildlife authority in their endeavor to solve the problem of gorilla permit booking and reservation for Bwindi impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park. Gorilla permits are official passes issued by Uganda wildlife authority and allows individuals or groups to spend one hour with habituated mountain gorillas in Bwindi impenetrable National Park of Mgahinga National Park for the case of Uganda. For those interested in spending four hours with mountain gorillas, they should look at booking or reserving gorilla habituation experience permits to see semi habituated mountain gorillas in Nkuringo or Rushaga.

Why reserving Uganda gorilla permits on uwa system online was introduced.

When gorilla trekking started in 1993, companies and individuals would book gorilla permits on ground and at the park headquarters in Kampala. With more people interested in selling gorilla trekking as a tourist activity and more families of mountain gorillas being habituated, there was competition of gorilla permits and congestion at UWA head office in Kampala. Before booking any gorilla permit, tour operators and individual tourists are required to first check availability of gorilla permits for the specific date, month and year before reserving, booking and securing them.

Overtime, it became very hard to check availability of gorilla permits at Uganda wildlife authority due to the fact that one would call head office and reservations but no one would pick phone. This became a problem and Uganda wildlife authority had to devise ways of addressing all these complaints from its clients. The first initiative was to expand the reservations office by employing more staff to attend to the ever expanding demand of gorilla trekking clients and tour operators. This slightly reduced on pleasure but still one could not reserve or block gorilla permits for some time. It was all about checking availability and booking permits with cash. There was no room for holding permits for some time to enable for example people to make payment at a later stage.

Advantages of reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA system online

Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA system online came with many advantages to Uganda’s registered tour operators. This Uganda Wildlife Authority online system was introduced in 2017 and some tour operators under their umbrella organization (AUTO) Association of Uganda tour operators were summoned, trained and introduced to the use of this system and how it operates by Uganda Wildlife Authority. By doing this, there were some noticeable advantages as below.

Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA online system to some extent reduced the congestion at Uganda wildlife authority reservations office. With the growing demand of gorilla trekking and gorilla permits, it had been very hard for the reservations officers at Uganda Wildlife Authority to do the booking as well as checking gorilla permit availability to individual tourists as and tour operators. Registered tour operators are now able to check availability online and reserve these gorilla permits for a period of seven days which was not the case with the old system of physically visiting their head office for availability and reservation of gorilla permits for Bwindi impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park.

Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA system online meant that Uganda’s registered tour operators are able to view, reserve and book Bwindi and Mgahinga gorilla permits online and 24/7. Normally gorilla permits would only be booked during working days from Monday to Friday but with the introduction of this system of reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA online system, tour operators are able to reserve and secure gorilla permits even on weekends as well as night hours. This has helped to provide timely availability of gorilla permits to clients and helps to solve the problem of time differences versus gorilla permit availability.

Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA online system also allows gorilla permits to be held for a maximum of seven days which as increased sales and confidence between tour operators and their clients. In the allowed seven days, tour operators and their clients are able to work on payments and securing of gorilla permits without fear that there will be loss of space for gorilla permit and gorilla trekking.

Challenges of Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA online system

There some sighted challenges of reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA online system. One of the challenges include slow or the system being off for sometimes. It happens when the system is slow or not responding something that delays the booking process. Slowing down of the system is normally caused by congestion as well as slow internet. Also for the last half of 2018 into 2019, the system has been down and tour operators able to reserve gorilla permits only at night. This therefore means that tour operators find themselves having to call head office reservations for gorilla permit availability.

Encounter Africa safaris is one of the few Uganda tour operators that is allowed to access UWA online gorilla permit booking system 24/7 and is able to block and reserve your gorilla permits when contacted. All our safari consultants were trained by Uganda Wildlife Authority and will be able to check availability of gorilla permits for Bwindi impenetrable National Park as well as Mgahinga National Park. This allows you to plan your Uganda gorilla safari basing on the best advice from our safari designers.

There all reasons why you should book your gorilla permits with Encounter Africa safaris. Encounter Africa safaris is owned and run by Ugandans. We are members of Association of Uganda Tour operators and work very closely with the Ministry of Tourism and Uganda Wildlife Authority. All our office and field staff are well trained and will give you adequate advice to allow you plan your gorilla tour. Encounter Africa safaris is highly recommended on trip advisor as well as safari bookings where our clients are allowed to drop their comments. Book an all inclusive tour with Encounter Africa safaris and we will make sure that your gorilla permit reservations is taken care of.