Gorilla Habituation Experience | Bwindi-Uganda

Gorilla habituation Experience | Bwindi-Uganda

Gorilla habituation Experience | Bwindi-Uganda : is the primate safari activity you can enjoy while in Uganda. It is also such an exhilarating experience which you should never miss during your African primate safari. This was initially not created for visitor enjoyment, but rather, a professional exercise aiming at taming the wild mountain gorilla to human encounters. Due to the high demand of mountain gorilla trekking in Uganda, gorilla habituation was added onto the activity list for travelers who come for trekking in the low season. 

What is gorilla habituation?

Mountain gorilla habituation activity basically allows you to spend more time with the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. The time you spend with the gorillas is the time that allows you to get familiar to them and also to win their trust. This process is such rewarding to all travelers as they spend time learning intrinsically about all the behaviors of the mountain gorillas. Some of these include; the eating habits, communication language, copulation, reproduction, among others.

Where to do Gorilla habituation

Uganda is blessed with over 450 mountain gorillas which live in Bwindi impenetrable forest; which is almost half of the world’s mountain gorilla population. The gorillas in Bwindi are habituated and live in the four major sectors in the park. These include; Buhoma sector, Ruhija sector, Nkuringo sector as well as Rushaga sector. However, only two gorilla families are put aside for the tourists to enjoy the gorilla habituation experience in rushaga and Nkkuringo sector.

These families include; Bushaho and Bikingi gorilla groups within Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. In fact, gorilla habituation is majorly a research done by real scientists and researchers assigned by Uganda wildlife authority. However, there is a chance always for six other travelers to join the researcher’s team in a day to enjoy the gorilla habituation. Besides, the number of people for the habituation process is always maintained since the habituation is a sensitive activity for research purposes.

Gorilla Habituation process

The mountain gorilla habituation process is a time consuming activity at times and mostly takes about two to three years. However, it is done by a few people every round until the duration elapses and the gorillas are maturely habituated. In fact, the habituation of mountain gorillas is aimed at making them more accommodating for the tourist. As a matter of fact, mountain gorilla habituation is only done in Bwindi and volcanoes national park in Uganda and Rwanda respectively. Gorilla habituation is not favorable in Virunga National Park of DRC since the gorilla families are few and mobile.

The habituation exercise or process involves trekking a selected family of wild gorillas which are not yet familiar with human encounters. However, the exercise is not a one day activity but done for more than one day over period of about 3 to 4 years. As the process goes on, the different members of a mountain gorilla family under study are given identity. This is based on their gender or sex as well as age and size. As time goes on, the mountain gorillas are given names to identify them from one another. However, the naming process happens at the climax of the habituation process. 

Rules and regulations

This process has got a number of regulations and procedures to follow and these include;

1. Remember to always follow instructions given by the game rangers. The rangers have more knowledge about the forest and the gorillas therefore, listen and do what they tell you to do  for safety reasons.
2. Stay near your colleagues as well as in the group assigned to you by the tour guide. Staying in groups will help you from not getting lost or even getting attacked by the wild gorillas. A group of about six people treks for the gorilla family intended to be habituated for about 4 hours a day. 
3. Always don’t forget to keep your voices low while trekking for the gorillas in the forest. The loud noise while habituating the mountain gorillas might spark off violence in some gorillas. Thereby attacking you and end up spoiling your habituation experience. Therefore, keep silent to enjoy your habituation experience.
4. Try as hard as you can to keep a safe distance of not less than 7 meters away from the mountain gorillas. These gorillas are not yet familiar to humans so you might not need to get close to them or else trouble follows. This helps you to say safe and also saves the gorillas from contracting human communicable diseases.

Other Rules and regulations

• Remember not to use flash photography if at all you want to take good mountain photographs. The flash photographs can interfere with the behavioral patterns for the mountain gorilla. Therefore, take your flash off or do not take any photographs while trekking the mountain gorillas.
• Do not dare make a mistake of imitating the mountain gorilla habits. For example when the silver back confronts you and charges in front of you. Imitating the gorillas during habituation might win you a fight with them since they are new to humans.
• Children under the age of 15 years are not allowed to do gorilla habituation or any primate activity in Uganda. Little children might pose a problem to the coordinators. Also little children and elderly people are sometimes not fit for the hikes in Bwindi.
• Also sick people are not allowed to join the team for mountain gorilla habituation. As a result, gorillas too can catch human diseases, like cough, and flu.
• The permits for gorilla habituation experience goes for USD1500.00 per person. Mountain gorilla habituation experience offers you a chance to spend about four hours with the gorillas.

We can always help you secure your gorilla habituation permit and all the required documents. All you need to do is to consult with us. Take time this season and book for your gorilla habituation, the experience is worthy.