The bamboo forest paradise of Mgahinga sits high in the clouds in south west Uganda in Kisoro district boardering Rwanda Volcanoes National Park. Today Mgahinga National Park is recognized as one of the most beautiful places in Africa to see mountain gorillas and hike the attractive volcanoes. The Big thanks goes to the conservation team and gorilla doctors that ensure that living treasure still lives each day.
Perhaps the unique beauty of the park lies in the mountain gorillas, volcanoes, golden monkeys and the Batwa people also know as pygmies and forest people.There is some thing in Mgahinga to suit every one no matter when you chose to explore the park.Where else can you track gorillas , golden monkeys and hike the impressive volcanoes at affordable rates other than in mgahinga national park in Uganda.We think Mgahinga is one of the most captivation cheap places for gorilla safaris , golden monkey trekking and volcano hike.
Things to See & Do in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Mountain Gorillas
Mgahinga mountain gorillas that are described by their life style of staying up in the bamboo forest, gorilla tracking safaris in Mgahinga are always exceptional and requires tough hikes through the bamboo vegetation to where gorillas are.Tourists need to be fit enough or in health shape in order to make it to where the Nyakagezi gorillas could be. Once you find the gorillas and set eyes on the silver back and others, the hassles and pains go away and the focus is only put on the impressive forest creatures. No wonder tourists and tour operators fine the park very amzing despite its small size and having only one habituated gorilla group. Gorilla safaris in Mgahinga are conducted just like gorilla safari tours in other gorilla parks like Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Virunga National Park, Volcanoes National Park but the experience is same.
Volcano Hikes
Hiking Mghainga volcanoes has always been among the top tourist activities that make Mgahinga national park incredible and its best done during the peak season also known as dry months of the year-June-August and December- March when Uganda has less rains. The three volcanoes make the border of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic and a hike to the top open doors of wonderful views of all the three countries. Imagine being up and having the entire world at hand for photography.To hike the volcanoes you need to be fit enough since the hikes are challenging and takes a full day to the top and back.
Golden Monkey trekking
Do you want to see mountain gorillas and golden monkeys on your trip to Africa?.Mgahinga National Park is one the great places to experience it best. A forest walk in search of golden monkeys in very interesting and would recommend this activity to all primate lovers in the park on gorilla tracking tours provided you have a free morning at the park. Enjoy the beautiful Park Forest habitants and scenery among which include the forest birds, Rugezi swamp, wild vegetation and much more.
Batwa Cultural Trail
Still this makes Mgahinga very unique among all other gorilla trekking safari destinations in the region. A forest walks of learning and engaging into the Batwa people life style deep in the forest that ends at a cage. If you like getting close to new cultural traditions, The Batwa trail in Mgahinga will make your day. Hunting, medicine making, making fire with sticks, singing and dancing and a lot more is what you enjoy while with the forest people who still believe there life style is the best. The bamboo forests in Mgahinga gorilla national park was previously occupied by the pygmies(Batwa) tribe that now live in the neighboring areas of the park. Get a chance to interact with pygmies and learn more details about their new life ancient through a cultural tour in the forest.
Bird watching
Mgahinga is also one of the bird watching paradise areas in Africa and birders spot over 120 bird species both residents and migrants.a birding safari to the park will expose you to many forest creatures that will add value to your birding safari experience.Its definqate that Mgahinga offers fantastic bird watching tours found no where unless if you choose to explore the wonderful protected area. Birding guides take you through the entire process even to points where you can spot your favorite.Despite the many bird watching spots in Africa, Mgahinga national park stands out among the best and worth visiting for any bird watching safari in Uganda.
Guide to Gorilla Trekking in Mgahinga
With several activities that are carried at Mgahinga gorilla national park, gorilla tracking stands out to be most interesting and loved activity by the tourists in general. About 75% of the tourists that come in to this national park are more interested in watching and touring Mountain Gorillas than other activities like game drive, launch cruise etc due to the point that mountain Gorillas have features of a human being in behavior and character. It is estimated that Uganda alone has total population of about 400 primates which for this case Mgahinga has a few of them compared to Bwindi impenetrable national park which has over 85% of the these primates.
Within the Mgahinga Gorilla national park there is one habituated gorilla group that can be visited by tourists. This group is called the Nyakagezi gorilla group. Although sometimes they tend to move or migrate to the nearby countries of Rwanda and Democratic republic of Congo due to the fact that, the national park is just located near the boarders of both DRC and Rwanda. Due to the fact that both Mgahinga Gorilla national park and Bwindi impenetrable national park are near to each other, tourists are able to visit both national parks at the same time.
Furthermore, a one day gorilla trek in the park with a local destination guide will enable you learn the behaviors of these primates! This life time experience is one of the most memorable safari experiences you will ever take in Africa. The atmosphere in the forests of Mgahinga calls for gorilla tracking as the main safari activity compared to other activities.
Gorilla trekking as an activity starts from Ntebeko entrance in the morning hours at 8:00am taking around 2-4 hours. While during the activity, the visitor is expected to at least spend one hour with them closely studying their behavior and characteristics after all when the hour ends, the Gorillas start to behalf differently and that is why, one hour is given. Some of the requirements that are needed to do this activity include packed food and a liter of water is also needed. the other things are bringing rain coats, proper foot wear shoes that are above the ankle plus also a camera to take some photos of these amazing primates. Maximum of eight people are needed in a group to trek these unique primates.
Before one treks these amazing Gorillas, one is required to have a Gorilla permit identifying the type of Gorilla group to be trekked which costs about 650 dollars per day depending on the best season for gorilla tracking. Furthermore, the best period to do this activity is in the dry season of the months of June to October and then from mid December to the end of February as the roads leading to the national park are not as muddy making the movements of both cars and the tourists much easier to use either within or outside the national park compared to the wet seasons of the months of March, April, May, having muddy roads making the movements of tourists much different to use. The permits during the dry season tend to be much expensive at around 650 dollars than in the wet seasons were the permits go as low as 350 dollars due to low number of tourists visiting the Mountain gorillas.
Getting There
Getting there is the main thing as one can use either road transport or Air transport given the cheapest fees charged according to one’s ability to pay. For one to use road transport to get towards to the park from Kampala, one needs a car which takes him or her 8 hours a distance of about 350 kilometers should be covered compared to air transport where one uses a charter from Entebbe to Kisoro air strip taking only one hour reaching their.
Where to Stay
There are number of lodges one can stay in when going for a Gorilla tracking as these lodges are either located within or outside the park and these include: from Ntebeko, there is Volcanoes mount Gahinga Safari lodge and Amajambere lavacu camp. In Kisoro, there is Kisoro travelers Rest hotels and River Muda Hotel. In Lake Mutanda, there is Lake Mutanda chameleon hill lodge.
