Gorilla tracking is a very interesting yet tasking exercise which requires one to walk through the thick forest in search of the gorillas, the exercise takes from 2 – 9 hours depending the movements of the gorillas, and then visitors are given a chance to stay with the gorillas just a few feet away, the one hour observation is out of this world, very thrilling and heart melting, watching these rare human like gorillas in their natural wild going about their daily activities, like feeding, caring for their loved ones, babies playing and swinging from tree to tree, you get swept away in amazement, how they conduct their lives just as humans. Gorilla are second closest to humans after chimpanzees, they have an intelligence equivalent to that of a five year old child.

 During Gorilla tracking, only a group of 8 people are allowed to track one gorilla family/group per day, and now that there are 14 groups/families, it means the maximum number of tourists to track gorillas has increased to 112 per day, this is literally good news to the industry, Uganda now has a total 112 gorilla tracking permits on sale per day.

TRACKING GORILLAS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS VISITORS

Safaris for Persons with Diabilities or spacial Needs
Special needs safaris in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya & Tanzania. Gorilla & East Africa Safaris, conducts special needs safaris for persons with disabilities. Be it a gorilla tracking, Chimpanzee safari, or wildlife safari, does not have to be only for the able bodied. We give a chance for the disabled people to enjoy a safari vacation in East Africa regardless of their physical inability. We provide friendly and vibrant personal escorts, nurses, interpreters, and porters for our guests throughout the special needs safaris accordingly to individual needs.   Most of the special needs safaris are purely customized to consider every part of your needs, please contact us and we will be happy to plan and execute your safari successfully.

 Who are the Special Needs Persons?
The special needs persons include; the Physically challenged persons , Hard to talk and hear, the Elderly, Very young children and People living with certain health conditions.

 Planning Special needs Safaris
While planning a safari for the disabled or special needs tourists we take into consideration the individual and unique conditions, because different travelers have different needs. We endeavor to carefully select the activities, accommodation, vehicles, and personnel that are disability friendly. Our special needs safaris are purely private and customized; this is to ensure that our pace is to that of our clients and that our guests get quality attention that they deserve.

Everyone human being is entitled to a social right of tourism and travel, the traditionally holidays and vacations have been to only the able bodied and had left a population of  over 500 million estimated disabled people in the world without ever taking a holiday or vacation. Traditional holidays have been with limited resources restricted to the able bodied. Gorilla & East Africa Safaris is one of the first tour firms to conduct special needs safaris in Uganda, we have assembled a teams of various staff that support such safaris.

Special Needs Requirements

We would love to know your particular requirements, whether you require the walker, a cane for walking, manual wheelchair, or services of a personal caretaker, nurses, for travelers with medical needs during game viewing, boat rides, cultural and birding tours, we will try as much as we can  to provide. Bed or bucket baths may be also be available upon request.

For travelers with hearing and talking impairment, we arrange for them a sign language interpreters to escort them during the entire safari, and these can participate in any activity from gorilla tracking, chimpanzee tracking, white water rafting, adventure tours, wildlife safaris, cultural safaris, hiking, boat cruises, game viewing.

 Gorilla Tracking, Chimpanzee tacking, Chimpanzee habituation, and hiking tours are quite demanding and require that tourists be in a good physical health, thus travelers with serious medical conditions may have to refrain or seek medical advice before undertaking such activities.

 Gorilla tracking for the travelers with walking disabilities, Porters can arranged to carry you on local carriers through the trekking process to the point where the gorillas or chimpanzees are and back to the park headquarters.

BOOKING GORILLA PERMITS/ FMILIES IN UGANDA 

During Gorilla tracking, only a group of 8 people are allowed to track one gorilla family/group per day, and now that there are 14 groups/families, it means the maximum number of tourists to track gorillas has increased to 112 per day, this is literally good news to the industry, Uganda now has a total 112 gorilla tracking permits on sale per day.

Gorilla tracking is one of the most attractive and most sought after tourist activities on a Uganda safari/tour. Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is in the process of increasing tourists that visit the park for gorilla tracking, in this effect two more mountain gorilla families/groups at Rushaga, Kisoro, the Southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park have been habituated, bringing the total to 14 groups/families in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. All of the habituated gorillas are known individually by the rangers and have been given names in order to identify them. The males can weigh more than 500lb and some silverbacks exceed 6ft!

According to UWA publicist Jossy Muhangi, habituation enables gorillas to get used to human presence without changing their wild character. The new gorilla families groups are Bukingi and Bushabo, they have been under habituation for the last two years. The two gorilla families/groups are ready for tourism, Muhangi said. He noted that there have been tourists who have already tracked these new groups in the recent weeks, they were accompanied by the team that has been habituating them but the gorillas did not charge at them.

The two-decade-long gorilla tourism contributes 60% of UWAs total revenue, according to Muhangi. He also said some of the gorilla revenue is used by UWA to support other parks whose revenues fall short.

Where is Gorilla Tracking/ Habitaution Experience Done

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage site. The 331-square-kilometer park also provides a rich diversity in one of Africa’s richest and most dense montane and lowland forest. The park prides of over 400 individuals of mountain gorillas estimated to be half of the world’s population. The park is homes to other wildlife that include; 11 primate species that include black-and-white colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys, baboons and chimps. There are also forest elephants and several species of antelopes, over 220 butterfly species, 42 are endemic to the Albertine Rift and 348 species of birds including 23 bird species restricted to the Albertine Rift too.

What to add on Gorilla Tracking /Habituation Experience

Here are additional activities you can do to add on after the gorilla tracking experience, depending on the sector where you tracked the gorillas.

Birding watching; along the main trail, the Buhoma Waterfall Trail and along the bamboo zone and Mubwindi Swamp trail in Ruhija.

Nature & Hiking guided walks; 

• Muyanga 33 meter Waterfall Walk, Rushura Hill Walk, Muzubijiro Loop 6km walk around a hill, where you will encounter primates and birds and enjoy a view of the Virungas, 
• The 14km Ivi River Walk, The Buhoma-Nkuringo Trail, The 4-6 hours Habinyanja (Railegh) Trail thorughMunyaga River, Habigorogoro and Riyovi Ridge overlooking Buhoma River, “African Corner” named after a rock piece depicting a map of Africa. Following the steep ascent, keen hikers can enkoy a more relaxed gentle slope to the mighty Habinyanja swamp. Birders on this trail should watch out for the Pel’s Fishing Owl, African Black Duck and Black Bee Eaters, among others.

Cycling/Mountain Biking: through well-maintained 13km trail via Ivi River. You may bushbucks, black-and-white colobus and red-tailed monkeys.