Top Mountain Gorilla Destinations In Africa
The routines of life continually leave us with an anticipation for a day when we can be outside the maze of work. To some, that day (s) is better spent with family in a distant place like Africa. Interacting with wildlife and nature more so in a green environment has a way of enhancing our well-being.
Africa is commonly known for its culture and wildlife adventures. The Savannah game drives are still a major part of what it means to holiday in Africa. But besides the Savannah game drive, primate safaris are starting to become popular because of their uniqueness in interacting with primates at close range.
Gorilla trekking and chimpanzee tracking stand out as the most popular primate safaris on the African continent. Amidst this popularity that interests many to consider gorilla trekking, less is often said about where and why you should go gorilla trekking in a particular destination. Here are the most popular Mountain gorilla trekking destinations on the African continent.
Volcanoes National Park: Rwanda
Rwanda has positioned itself as a must-visit destination on the African continent. Among its frontline activities is gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park. Though Rwanda has the most expensive gorilla trekking permit costing $1500 per foreign non-resident, it remains one of the most recommended gorilla trekking destinations on the African continent.
Volcanoes National Park stands out for three major reasons; the Rwanda road network which makes the transfer from the hotel to the national park smoother than any other destination in Africa, the proximity of the park to the Kigali International Park which makes it possible to move from the airport to the national park within two hours and lastly the low corruption levels in Rwanda that reduces the chances of a tour operator not delivering the services but still get away with it.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
It is hard to talk about gorilla trekking in Africa without featuring Bwindi impenetrable national park in the conversation. Single-handedly, Bwindi has the highest concentration of mountain gorillas in a single national park. It boasts of close to half of the remaining mountain gorilla population in the whole world.
Bwindi also has the highest number of habituation mountain gorilla families that offer close to 200 gorilla trekking slots per day. Regarding accessibility, the road network is in place however some of the roads need tarmacking. The government of Uganda has promised some improvements on these roads but they have not yet taken shape.
The bad thing about Bwindi is the long transfer from Entebbe International Park. The journey often takes 8 to 9 hours. However, you can also transfer from Kigali to Bwindi impenetrable national park in less than 5 hours.
The corruption levels in Uganda are relatively high when compared to Rwanda. This implies that Rwanda is a relatively safer destination than Uganda in scenarios where things have gotten out of hand.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Three national parks make up the Virunga conservation area. These are Mgahinga gorilla national park, Volcanoes national park, and Virunga national park. The Virunga conservation is shared among Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo with Congo holding 90% of the conservation area.
Mgahinga National Park has a bad history of people failing to see mountain gorillas during their treks how this was last heard of over a decade ago before the Nyakagezi family became a permanent resident in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
Regarding accessibility, Mgahinga National Park faces the same accessibility issue as the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The park requires you to spare at least 9 hours to transfer from Entebbe International Airport to Kisoro. However, the road network is in good condition.
The park only has one habituated gorilla family which means that it hosts the least number of mountain gorilla trekkers in the whole world. The maximum of mountain gorilla tourists is always 8 people.
Virunga national park is nolonger among the notable gorilla trekking destinations in Africa. Due to the Congo civil war, Moutaint gorilla trekking was put on hold until further notice.