Gorilla trekking in Africa ranks as the most remarkable thrilling wildlife safari experience. According to the latest mountain gorilla census conducted in 2017 to determine the population of these highly endangered species remaining in their natural habitats.
Approximately 1027 gorillas were recorded and these still exist in the wild which has tremendously motivated the need to go harder in terms of protecting the only mountain gorillas remaining in the world.
Therefore, gorilla trekking tours are such a great idea for strengthening the protection of mountain gorillas. This is done at a cost of which part of the permit fees is directed towards sustainable conservation practices and this has over time contributed to an incredible rise in the numbers of existing gorillas in the wild worldwide.
Where to see gorillas in Africa?
Mountain gorillas are critically endangered species and cannot survive anywhere else apart from only their natural habitat. Africa is home to the only remaining gorillas in the wild worldwide.
Mountain gorillas in Africa are found in Rwanda at Volcanoes national park, Uganda at Mgahinga national park and Bwindi impenetrable forest national park and in DR-Congo at Virunga national park and Kahuzi Beiga National Park for lowland gorillas.
Congo however is the only one amongst all three gorilla trekking destinations in Africa with both Lowland and Mountain gorillas existing in the wild at Kahuzi-Beiga and Virunga national parks’ respectively.
The possibility of an exclusive private Gorilla trekking experience has become a common request and a regular quest among the frequently asked questions about gorilla safaris; how possible is it to go on a private gorilla trekking experience?
Private gorilla trekking can be arranged in Uganda and Rwanda. The exclusive experience of a close encounter with the gorilla family as an individual or even better with friends and family can be exhilarating.
The exclusive trekking experience means you are allocated a whole gorilla family/group for you to track alone or with your friends and family.
Exclusive private gorilla trekking safari in Uganda
In other words, personalized private gorilla trekking will allow you track a gorilla family alone or with the people you travel with for the gorilla trip in Uganda.
However, this will seem a bit costly compared to the normal gorilla trekking. Time allowed to spend in the presence of mountain gorillas does not change from one hour given to spend with the gentle giants on a trek. But most tourists are enjoying it since it allows one to visit the gorilla family alone with no other tourists joining the trek.
And this gives a great opportunity to fully utilize the one hour spent with the gorillas without any hassle and discomfort. It also gives such a credible moment of interacting with the gorillas while taking photos at your comfort and pace.
In this article, we look at how to successfully book an exclusive private gorilla trekking safari in Uganda. For any gorilla trekking safari experience in any of the destinations, you need to have a gorilla trekking permit which works as the gate pass to the gorillas.
In Uganda the price of the permit is $700 for all foreign nonresidents, $600 for foreign residents, and UGX 250,000 for Ugandans and East Africans. Therefore, without alliterating procedure in planning any gorilla safari tour, purchasing a gorilla permit is very important – be it for a normal gorilla trek or private one.
The main difference here is that on a normal gorilla trek, you will be allocated a gorilla family to track with other tourists tracking the gorillas for the day whereas for a private gorilla trek, you’re allowed to visit a whole gorilla family alone, with friends and family depending on how you want it.
Gorilla trekking in Uganda is done at Mgahinga national park and Bwindi impenetrable forest where every gorilla family/group is allocated 8 people per day trek and therefore 8 gorilla permits are issued on a daily basis for each gorilla family in the park.
Uganda apparently has the highest number of gorilla families in the region about 18 of them and this guarantees a total of 144 gorilla permits available per day for gorilla trekking in Uganda.
With that in mind, booking an exclusive personalized private gorilla trekking in Uganda will cost you $5600 for buying the eight gorilla permits at $700 each and will definitely guarantee a reserved gorilla family well allocated for you to track.
Gorilla habituation experience allows full four hours in the presence of the gorillas in the company of rangers, researchers, and guides following the semi-habituated gorillas in their natural habitat as they go through their daily activities like feeding, grooming, playing among others.
Before gorilla families are declared fully habituated and available for trekking tours, they’re first visited by park rangers, guides and researchers for some time, about 2yrs as the process of getting them ready to normalize and get used to human presence in their habitats. Those looking to spend more time with the gorillas can choose to take on the gorilla habituation experience.
For gorilla habituation in Uganda, you need a gorilla habituation permit which costs $1500 and only four permits are available for the habituation experience each day.
This means that whoever wants to go for gorilla habituation in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park alone or as friends, couple without any other tourist joining the trek shall pay for the four gorilla habituation permits available on a daily basis at a cost of $6000. Please reach out to us to help you secure your permits
As gorilla holidays we will help you achieve your dream of gorilla trekking at comfort. Contact us for an exclusive personalized private gorilla trek in Uganda.
Exclusive private gorilla trekking in Rwanda
Rwanda is Africa’s high-end gorilla destination for those looking out for exclusive private luxury gorilla safaris.
Rwanda’s volcanoes national park has 10 habituated gorilla families with 8 gorilla permits issued per gorilla family thus 80 gorilla permits available in Rwanda for gorilla trekking on a daily basis.
Rwanda gorilla permit costs $1500 unlike in Uganda where it costs $700. Therefore, a private gorilla trek in Rwanda is highly-priced than in Uganda and DR-Congo but worth it.
If you’re interested in trekking the gorillas alone or with a few friends or family, then you will need to book and reserve an entire gorilla family for yourself. Those are 8 permits booking a whole gorilla family to trek alone and this brings the cost to $12,000 for the permits.
Mountain gorilla trekking is an early morning activity and starts at 7am with a short informative briefing at the park headquarters in Musanze. The briefing is mainly about the trekking guidelines and allocation of groups to trekkers of the day.
However, for an exclusive private gorilla trekking safari, briefing shall be conducted at your lodge of stay in volcanoes whereby guides and rangers to accompany you for the trek shall come to the lodge and take you through the trekking guidelines before you set off for the trek at 8am.
Where to stay for private gorilla safari in Rwanda?
Rwanda as a high-end gorilla destination in Africa, has really attracted quite a number of both local and foreign investors in the hospitality service industry and massive hotel brand franchises in Kigali city and across all Rwanda tourist destinations including volcanoes national park – Rwanda’s famous and top tourist destination.
There’s a wide range of hotels and safari lodges in volcanoes national park well classified to provide luxury accommodation, midrange, and budget accommodations to all travelers and tourists. And these include; Virunga Lodge, One and Only Gorillas nest, Sabinyo Silverback Lodge, Singita Kwitoda Lodge, and Five Volcanoes Boutique Hotel among others.
Contact us to start planning.
