Gorilla Tracking Safaris and Wild Adventures
Gorillas tend to live in groups known as troops with a Silverback Gorilla as the head of the troop and also tasked with security duties in case of attacks from any predators. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is ideal for Gorilla Trekking with up to 4 different Gorilla Trekking areas which include Buhoma, Ruhija, Nkuringo and Rushaga.
Below are highlights of out typical 4 day Gorilla Trekking Safari
Kampala - Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
DAY 1
Arrival of your international flight. Picked up by the driver and transferred to a hotel.
Check-in at the booked hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 2
Kampala – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
06h30: After morning breakfast, you are transferred to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park via Kampala- Masaka route. Stopover in kayabwe at the equator for a photo opportunity or craft shopping. Have Lunch in Mbarara Town, then proceed to Bwindi national park driving through the savannah grass land viewing the banana plantations and herds of Ankole cattle famous for their long horns. Reach the park in the evening check in your booked hotel for dinner and overnight.
Buhoma lodge – luxury
Trackers safari lodge – mid-range
Ruhija resort lodge- budget
DAY 3
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
06h00: Wake up very early in the morning for breakfast drive to the park headquarters for registration and a briefing by park rangers about gorilla trekking before commencing to the gorilla sanctuary,
07h00: Start Gorilla trekking; the ranger-guide takes you through the huge Bwindi Forest as you search for the giant apes. The venture of spending time observing these gentle and endangered giants is awesome and thrilling experience to be long relished but tiresome. Return to the lodge for lunch and resting, afternoon take a community walk to Buhoma village which gives you an opportunity to see how the people surrounding the park have survived for the generation living near the great forest. Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 4
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park– Kampala – Entebbe- Departure
06h00: Early morning breakfast prepare and return to Kampala stopover in Igongo cultural centre for hot lunch and explore ancient history of the Ankole kingdom that has existed for years, proceed to Masaka-kayabwe at Uganda equator for photographs arrive Kampala in the evening check into a hotel for an overnight stay or evening transfer to airport for your home bound flight.
How to survive freak accidents on holiday
While many of these calamities are out of our control, there are things you can do to up your chances of survival should you find yourself in the worst-case scenario. While many of these calamities are out of our control, there are things you can do to up your chances of survival should you find yourself in the worst-case scenario. Find yourself face-to-face with a lion, for example, and you'll need to make direct eye contact and back away very slowly. Your strategy in dealing with a dangerous encounter will depend entirely on the species of beast.
They're highly unlikely eventualities, but freak accidents do happen. Your strategy in dealing with a dangerous encounter will depend entirely on the species of beast - a lion, for example, you should back away slowly from but never turn and run
While the vast majority of safari expeditions are safe, no drive is ever risk-free when it comes to wild animals.
Your strategy in dealing with a dangerous encounter will depend entirely on the species of beast.
Find yourself face-to-face with a lion, for example, and you'll need to make direct eye contact and back away very slowly. Never turn your back, never run.
If you endure a stand-off with a leopard, the reverse is true. Here, you'll need to avoid eye-contact at all costs and hope they lose interest.
Elephants may look slow and peaceful, but they can be highly aggressive and very capable of harm. The trick here is to stand your ground and pretend to be brave. You're be hoping they'll make one or two mock charges, then saunter off when unchallenged.
As for a buffalo, there'll be no such warning. You'll never outrun one, nor survive them in combat, so your only option is to get a head start and climb a tree.
Africa's best national parks
More and more visitors flock each year to the continents' parks and reserves, bearing witness to nature on a grand scale and playing a vital role in generating tourism income.Here are some of the top picks on the continent.
More and more visitors flock each year to the continents' parks and reserves, bearing witness to nature on a grand scale and playing a vital role in generating tourism income.
Here are some of the top picks on the continent.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
Maasai Mara National Reserve, which has been honored by the World Travel Awards, is named after its ancestral inhabitants, the Maasai people, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in southwest Kenya.
In addition to an impressive population of big cats, rhinos and elephants, it plays host from July through to October each year to one of the world's more spectacular movements of wildebeest known as the Great Migration, the phenomenon involves more than 1 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of gazelles, zebras and other animals, which migrate from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Serengeti National Park was established in 1951, making it Tanzania's oldest national park. The park is arguably one of the most famous in the world and covers 5,700 square miles of grassland, riverine forest, woodlands and savannah.
It is famed for its spectacular scenery, diverse wildlife and its part in the impressive annual migration of more than a million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of other animals.
Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo
Established in 1925, Virunga National Park is Africa's oldest national park and is often considered the crown jewel of parks on the continent. It lies in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The park is known for being the "continent's most biologically diverse protected area" and is home to endangered species, such as the mountain gorilla and the okapi.
In the 1970s, Virunga welcomed an average of 6,500 visitors every year, but it has suffered terribly from armed conflict and poaching. The park is slowly re-establishing itself through international donations.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in southwestern Uganda and is home to a multitude of birds, butterflies and endangered species, including the mountain gorilla. Some 300 wild gorillas live in the park, accounting for nearly half the world's population
The park also boasts more than 160 species of trees.
The main tourist attraction is gorilla tracking, which generates a steady stream of revenue for the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Kruger National Park, South Africa
Kruger National Park was established as a game reserve in 1898 and is home to a vast number of species, including more than 500 types of bird and more than 100 reptiles. It also boasts a huge diversity of trees and flowers.
The park is also known for big game, as well as more than 255 recorded archeological sites. Several rivers traverse the park from west to east, including the Sabie, Olifants, Crocodile, Letaba, Luvuvhu and Limpopo.
Wildlife encounters you will never forget
In Africa, everyone is a cat person. Giraffe are endearing, elephants are imposing, hippos can bellow like no one's business, but it is the big cats that are really mesmerizing, both for their beauty and for their ability to eviscerate you should the mood take them.Of all the cats, the lions put on the best show. Leopards and cheetahs are shy, solitary creatures; lions, by contrast, let it all hang out.
LION FEEDING FRENZY, KENYA
THE ENCOUNTER
In Africa, everyone is a cat person. Giraffe are endearing, elephants are imposing, hippos can bellow like no one's business, but it is the big cats that are really mesmerizing, both for their beauty and for their ability to eviscerate you should the mood take them.
Of all the cats, the lions put on the best show. Leopards and cheetahs are shy, solitary creatures; lions, by contrast, let it all hang out. They seem remarkably unperturbed by spectators, whether they are engaged in marathon mating sessions or just lounging around on a tree branch.
The most spectacular moment for a lion encounter is, of course, feeding time, and since lions spend several days feasting off a kill, plenty of safari-goers get the chance to gatecrash a meal.
It is not a sight for the squeamish; if its good manners you want, stay at home. Safari is life unedited and when animals feed, there is plenty of blood and guts involved – literally. However, it is fascinating to see a wild animal eat. Turns out that lions' tongues are as rough as sandpaper, more than a match for the tender underbellies of their prey.
One of the most impressive things about life on the African plains is how many animals a single kill can sustain. Once the lions have taken their share of the carcass, other animals get a go. None will make a move while the lions surround the carcass, alternately dining and dozing, but a few metres away, a hungry horde eagerly positions itself, its members squabbling among themselves over who gets priority. The burly hyenas are top of the pecking order, followed by the slender jackals and finally the vultures. There will be enough for everyone, even if the poor old vultures have to make do with the least tempting morsels.
NEED TO KNOW
Kenyan safari camps offer twice-daily game drives under the supervision of expert guides. The best wildlife viewing happens between the months of July and October. Leave the littlies at home; safari requires the ability to sit quietly for long periods of time
ESSENTIALS
Mara Ngenche Safari Camp, an intimate tented camp overlooking a hippo pool, offers spectacular wildlife encounters. Room and board rates start from $US807 ($1075).
SPOTTING GORILLAS, UGANDA
THE ENCOUNTER
Gorillas have always driven humans a bit nutty. How else to explain their roles in Tarzan, and King Kong, and Planet of the Apes – how else to explain the likes of Dian Fossey going almost insane when gorillas emerged from the mist.
And yet, for an animal that has dominated our thoughts for so long, mountain gorillas are now so rare as to be just a human war or serious disease away from permanent annihilation. They are five times rarer than tigers, three times rarer than giant pandas, and you absolutely don't come across them by accident.
Instead, in a very few places, including Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, tourists can go on expensive, organized treks to reach the dwindling world of the mountain gorilla.
The rules and regulations are extensive – a maximum of 24 people a day are permitted to see the apes, with interactions limited to an hour, so as not to over-familiarize the gorillas with people, and to cut down on the chances of tourists doing something stupid.
Although they're completely wild, gorilla trekking in Bwindi comes with a virtual guarantee of success and a little hardship too.
"It seems really very unfair that man should have chosen them to symbolize everything that is aggressive and violent, when that is the one thing that the gorilla is not, and that we are."
NEED TO KNOW
You're not allowed to get closer than seven meters from mountain gorillas, but that doesn't mean they won't get closer to you. When they approach, don't stare into their eyes too long and try not to bare your teeth – even if all you want to do is smile.
THE ESSENTIALS
You can track gorillas year-round, although the height of the rainy seasons can make the conditions heavy going. The best times are in the drier months from about June to mid-September or December to February.