Best Places to See Mountain Gorillas in Africa

Mountain gorillas are not found in so many parts of the world as compared the rest of the other animals in the wild they are only exclusive to only the African continent and in only three countries in east Africa. Mountain gorillas are great apes found in three countries in Africa as earlier said namely Uganda, Rwanda, and in the democratic republic of Congo. These endangered mountain gorillas are in Uganda’s Bwindi Forest Park and in Maghinga in southwestern Uganda.

In Congo, you will find these apes in Virunga national park, and in Rwanda, they are typically visible in volcanoes national park which is a section or part of the three northern Virunga volcanoes which lie on the Albertine rift valley. The mountain gorillas are one of the few species that have been downlisted as being critically endangered. They are endangered due to the loss of habitats and poaching caused by the hunters for bush meat, these animals also die due to the catch of human diseases because they are closely related to humans in fact they share much of the behaviors and traits we have (humans). Mountain gorillas have very few natural predators compared to other animals, their diet is made up of mainly leaves, roots, branches, and stems.

gorilla trekking

Mountain gorillas also hunt for larvae, snails, and ants their favorite food is bamboo. These mountain gorillas spend a quarter of the day hunting for these above-mentioned foods. Away from all that these mountain gorillas are a major tourist attraction in East Africa and this is brought about because they are only found in these three countries in the whole world hence pulling visitors from all over the world who keep coming to experience this amazing adventure. Well, there are specifically two activities to do when it gets to visiting mountain gorillas these are gorilla trekking and there is what we call gorilla habituation experience typically this habituation refers to teaching the wild mountain gorillas to get used to human presence around them this habituation experience may take about six full years to be complete.

So far this is one of the popular activities around these three parks and each is done at a particular fee depending on the number of times one would wish to do it putting this in mind with the number of people to do it. These two activities are literary different though they may look the same.

First I shall talk about gorilla trekking. Gorilla trekking is referred to as a hike to the tropical forests to see the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat, gorilla trekking can take 1hr to 6hrs but this depends because trekking is categorized in three types, long, always recommended for those in the age bracket of early ages years -18++ up to 35 years of age medium trek goes for those from the age of 35-50 years of age and short trek, always reserved for people with special needs, like Knee issues those that had surgical operations and those that have flights that same day of trekking late in the evening. and this goes for USD700 in Uganda in the famous Bwindi impenetrable forest and Mgahinga park and $1500 for Rwanda side.

When it comes to gorilla habituation is where a wild mountain gorilla is gently introduced to human presence around them and it only at USD 1500  each this activity restricts a maximum of four people per day and is only done in the southern sector of Bwindi in a small place called Nyabalemula, normally one acquires a permit, has to be at the briefing by 6:30 am when gorillas are still in their nests, and this exercise may go up to 6:00 pm only 4 hours are restricted to stay with the gorillas  and this is done to regulate the destinations carrying capacity  in order to maintain the sustainable tourism