Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
This home of the rare Mountain gorillas sits on an area of 327 sq km of tangled vegetation. Draped over a deeply fleshy fissured landscape of steep slippery valleys and high draughty ridges. This park was gazetted in 1942 as a forest reserve. In 1992, it was recognized as Bwindi Impenetrable National park and in 1994 it was named a World Heritage Site. In the Lukiga language, Bwindi means impenetrable and this double meaning is apt for Bwindi is all but impenetrable
Altitude
This park spans an altitude range between 1440m and 2600m above sea level. The annual average temperature ranges from 7 degrees centigrade and 20 degrees centigrade. It receives rain at any time of the day, but between March and May and September to November, there are more serious rains.
Accessibility
This park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda. From Kampala, you take a long drive of about 7 to 8 hours. There are several routes one can take to get to the park, like:
Queen Elizabeth national park – Kihihi-Buhoma. This route passes via the southern Ishasha sector, giving you a chance to search for the renowned tree-climbing lions.
Kampala- Kabale –Kanungu-Buhoma.
This way leads you to Kabale and passes through a winding road for 120km, and passes through Kanungu and Kanyantorogo. This additional drive lasts 4 to 5 hours.
Kampala- Kabale –Nkuringo
This drive is very long, but from Kabale to the park premises, you take 4 hours on the mountainous winding road to Bwindi National Park.
Fauna and flora
This forest has luxuriant trees with creeping plants on their stems. It is a prehistoric forest that survived the ice age period. In case you are to find the statistics of the forest that existed in the ice age, you may fail to get even 5 in the entire Africa, but at least start with the Bwindi forest.
This forest is home to primates like baboons, monkeys, black and white Colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, and mountain gorillas. This is also a prime destination for birders. This area is a habitat to endangered Albertine rift endemics, which are not easily found in any other part of Uganda. Fanatic bird watchers have this as their haven.
Accommodations
Gorilla Forest Camp, Clouds lodge, Bwindi safari Lodge, Lake Kitandara camp, Gorilla Forest Camp, Buhoma community Bandas, Bwindi view bandas, Engagi lodge, Gorilla resort
Activities
Gorilla tracking
This is the chief activity in the park. This is worth a try and unforgettable experience. Passing through the thick vegetation of the forest is quite tiring but meeting the great apes is exciting. Your guide walks with you explaining more about the plants you come across and some birds.
