Uganda and Rwanda are both small land locked countries in the East Central Africa. Uganda is almost the size of the United States and these are close neighbors and Rwanda borders Uganda in it’s south. These are must visit destination of wonder and beauty, Uganda and Rwanda are famed for being a brimming destination with the worlds largest living primates.
These two countries are reknown for being the best destination to witness the rare endangered Mountain gorillas in the wild and the other place recommend for gorilla trekking and the other place is in Congo. Uganda has two Jem’s that are permanently inhabited by these gentle apes. The parks include maghinga gorilla park and Bwindi impenetrable national park, this holds half of the worlds mountain gorilla population where as Rwanda has one park with the Earth’s largest living primates.
Uganda and Rwanda share the famous virunga volcanoes which encompass three of the virunga volcanoes namely Muhabura, sabinyo and virunga, this conservation area covers three countries with each protecting its own portion of these volcanoes. If you are planning a gorilla trekking tour or safari trip to Uganda there are two options available for you to enjoy, first you can embark on a gorilla trekking experience or alternatively choose to go for the more fun gorilla habituation experience. Gorilla habituation is a process where the gorillas are introduced to human presence around them. This process takes three years to be fully completed.
Only through special permits can tourists be granted access to these apes. Gorilla trekking are very essential if one is to do gorilla trekking. Each day Uganda wildlife authority (UWA) puts out 160 permits for grabs. Rwanda tourism board is in charge of issuing gorilla permits in Rwanda. The permits are continually put out on a daily bases. A gorilla trekking permit costs $700 in Uganda and this is really cheaper compered to Rwandas gorilla trekking permit which goes for $1500 only for a single gorilla trek.
Gorilla habituation experience is however a bit expensive since it costs $1500 but the experience is worthy the money, it’s only done in Uganda. These special gorilla trekking permit in Uganda are issued by Uganda wildlife authority, a government body that manages tourism and wildlife conservation. It is possible to book the permits directly from (UWA) however this might be tricky, the easiest and possible way is booking through any trusted tour operating company of your choice, most tour operators include booking gorilla permits but these are split between the habituated gorilla families in Bwindi and Maghinga gorilla park.
Tourists should however note that a gorilla permit only grants access for a trek and one hour with the gorillas, it doesn’t include any other costs such as accommodation, transport, meals and personal interests. Habituation permits gives tourist four hours with the endangered primates as they are explained all about the gorillas, tourists looking forward to visiting the gorillas should consider the habituation experience.