Uganda Gorilla Permits Price to Increase

UPDATED 4.2.2020, Uganda wildlife Authority has increased gorilla permit price from USD600.00 to USD700 per person per trek for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park following in the footsteps of Rwanda that increased their gorilla price from USD750.00 to USD1500.00.. This price change will effectively take place beginning on 1st July 2020. While Uganda Wildlife Authority has always increased the price of gorilla permits, other stake holders have continuously questioned value added as all roads leading to National Parks as still in a sorry state. For those interested in trekking mountain gorillas at the current rate of $600, make sure that you book your gorilla permit and safari tours to Bwindi or Mgahinga National Park before 1st July 2020. Click here to view our selected Uganda gorilla tours .

Bwindi Impenetrable National park has also adapted a new system of allocating gorilla permits to clients. Initially, Tour operators and individuals were allowed to by gorilla permits for specific gorilla families. For instance, one would check availability of gorilla permits and then reservations at Uganda wildlife Authority would indicate how many permits were remaining per gorilla family and from there, one would pre purchase a gorilla permit in his/her preferred gorilla family. This time round, this has changed and gorilla permits are sold per region. That is to say, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has The southern Region that has two trailheads of Rushaga and Nkuringo, the Northern which has Buhoma and the East that has Ruhija. Each region has several gorilla families and when you go to UWA to purchased gorilla permits, they will just indicate the region only. For example (Rushaga, Nkuringo, Ruhija or Buhoma and not Gorilla Families as it has been previously). The fact that different regions have several families, one will be allocated a gorilla family on the day of trekking depending on Age, Physical fitness and interest as it is done in Rwanda.

While this is a welcome idea as it will give a chance to tourists to trek a gorilla family depending on age, physical conditions and interest, some gorilla families in Bwindi requires one to at least drive to reach the starting point. This therefore means that for solo travellers/backpackers should be prepared to set aside at least USD100.00 for their transfer to the starting point but for those who book all inclusive tours with us, they don’t have to worry as all transfers are always included in the package.