Blogs from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Western Region, Uganda, Africa - page 4

Well, this was a long anticipated day. I was going to see gorillas in their natural habitat, at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP, a Unesco World Heritage site. After breakfast at 7:00, I headed to the park entrance at 7:45 for a film on gorilla behaviour plus the UWA briefing for gorilla tracking. Basically, stay 7m away from them, no flash photography, and no eating, drinking or smoking in their vicinity. We were told to expect anywhere between a 15 minute and 6 hour hike through tough tropical rain forest. We were to have sturdy boots, with pant legs tucked into the socks to avoid fire ant bites, and to have at least 2L of water each. We also needed to have rain gear and long sleeve shirts were strongly recommended to avoid getting all cut up ... read more

Uganda is home. While I did not play much of a tourist in Uganda, I was the tour operator and travel consultant, so I did travel and enjoy the perks of going to tourist destinations such as Bwindi and other national parks in the country. To say gorilla tracking is a thrilling adventure is to understate it, nothing speaks of adventure like spending a whole day in thickets tracking giant black primates that could easily kill you. Of recent years Gorilla tracking has become one of Uganda's leading tourism activities: Uganda boasts of two National parks in which mountain Gorillas inhabit. The first and most popular is Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the second being Mgahinga which closely boarders Rwanda. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is found in the South Western region of Uganda, at edge ... read more

Our transfer fromTanzaniatoUgandawas one that I was a little bit worried about, because we planned to take an overnight bus fromArusha,TanzaniatoKampala,Uganda, passing throughNairobi. This meant two border crossings, into countries that we didn’t yet have visas for (KenyaandUganda), in the middle of the night! I had heard horror stories of people being left behind by their bus (luggage still on board) as it takes longer to get tourist visas than for the Africans to simply have their papers stamped. Unfortunately we did see a French girl to whom this had happened, but we had no problems at all. An employee of the bus company, Kampala Coach, even told us that he’d watch for us on theKenyaside of the border. For those of you who haven’t travelled outside North America orEurope, it seems that in most other ... read more

Some good news just in - the Habinyanja gorilla group has a two day old infant. The gender is still to be identified, but its fantastic news as this group is the group who lost Mizano, a black-back to a poaching incident on the 17th June. There is a new gorilla group about to open in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Oruzogo which is under going the last phase of the habituation process, "mock-tourism" should be up and running shortly. A few visitors are currently viewing this group on a daily basis now. The group has a total of 22 individuals, two of which are very small babies. ... read more

Those all planning to visit the mountain gorillas, note that a brand new ruling, with effect from 1 June 2011, is that ALL visitors to Uganda's passports are required to have at least ONE YEAR of validity remaining from the date of entry. Also, please note that irrespective of the duration of the visa granted, immigration often stamps the passport for a shorter period on arrival. If so, the visitor will need to get the stamp extended at any immigration office free of charge (unless extending beyond the duration of the initial visa). Prospective visitors should also note another development as follows": 'Visitors should not overstay their visa validity otherwise they will be subjected to a fine of U$ 30 per day and other appropriate legal action' ... read more