Seeing gorillas in their natural habitat was one of the most deeply touching wildlife encounters I had to date. These beautiful, gentle creatures ray meditative tranquility, playfulness and joy. We spent magical hour observing how a family of maybe 10 gorillas (maybe more, hard to tell) slowly moving through the rain forrest before they found some fruits where they stopped for a while to enjoy. When chewing on juicy fruits gorillas make a bubbling sound – this is how they express enjoyment our guide explained. One hour flew by very quickly and it was time to go back.
Day before the trek we had to get from the North (Buhoma) to the Southern entrance of the forest (Nkuringo). There are 2 options: 100+ km by car on a tough rocky road all the way around the Bwindi forrest, or 5-6 hours walk through the forrest. So we of course opted for the walk. The parks permits, guide and 2 rangers costed us 70$ per person, and we took one porter (20$) for one of our backpacks, second one Seb carried himself.
Overall it is an enjoyable walk in a majestic old rain forrest and if you lucky you can spot some monkeys and cool birds. Next day we found out that there was a big chance to just walk on a group of gorillas, as the gorilla family we met moved out of the thicket and walked on that same trail for some time.
The last 2 hours of the walk however were very tough, the way started to climb up and it was constant uphill. Quite exhausted we finally made it to the Nkuringo UWA office, just to find out that the gorilla trek tomorrow will go the same way – all the way down, then back up.
Following local advice we bought rubber boots for the Bwindi – and it was a right call (at least in Sep – beginning of wet season).
We spent a night in Bwindi Backpackers lodge, where as “budget travellers” we were refused proper dinner, because “non budget travellers” had the same menu with higher prices – so even though they arrived and ordered after us, they got served, and we were told to have rice with vegetables but still pay a price for a full mean. We told them where to go, ordered some sandwiches and went to bed cursing and with intention to be out of this discriminating parlour as soon as we can.
In the morning back at the UWA office we had a briefing session, where among everything else they explained to us that if you end up in situation that you “cannot walk anymore” and you have 300$ to spare, they will call for “African helicopter”. Which is a group of 10-15 guys that would run down and all they way back up with you on a stretcher.
The duration of the trek is hard to predict, it all depends on when you find the gorillas. It can be anything between 2 and 8 hours.
We were very lucky and found our X-mas family after just 1h20m of walking. So at about 10:30 we found them. The encounter was magical. First we found the silverback – the dominant male, head of the family, who was eating leaves peacefully. Then other members appeared, and we realised that the family is on the move. We followed them for maybe 40 meters down the trail and then they stopped for the fruits. Fantastic sight to marvel.
There was an american elderly couple with us and this was their maybe 3rd gorilla trek in a month and they told us that this was their best experience in terms of number, proximity and activities of the gorillas.
As we experienced day before, the way back was tough, so we’ve seen at least 2 “helicopter” calls on our way back.
