Gorilla trekking is an experience where visitors spend an hour in the presence of mountain gorilla as they watch them doing their daily activities. Depending on the time and chance, visitors can view the female gorillas as they breastfeed, grooming young ones, the silverback practicing its leadership responsibilities, feeding, and watch the juveniles play.
Gorilla trekking in Bwindi National Park takes place in the sectors of Ruhija, Nkuringo, Rushaga and Buhoma. Bwindi National Park is one of the few national parks at the edge of Virunga Mountains, south west of Uganda where you can find the mountain gorillas. The park occupies an area of 331 Square kilometers covered by rain forests that are thick and hard to penetrate, hence its name – impenetrable.
Why Buhoma sector is the best sector in Bwindi impenetrable national park?
Even though all the four sectors provide unmatched experiences of gorilla trekking, but Buhoma sector goes a long way to provide unique and historical gorilla experiences. This is because of the different reasons that make this sector unique from others. Buhoma sector was the first area where habituation process took place and one of the gorilla families in this sector – Mubare gorilla group was the first to open to tourists for gorilla trekking in 1993.
This makes it renowned with rewarding history of receiving the first trekkers to visit the Buhoma sector of Bwindi Impenetrable national park for gorilla trekking. It also boasts a good history of undisturbed peace and security, with excellent accommodation facilities such as Buhoma Lodge, Bwindi guesthouse, Bwindi volcanoes Lodge, Mahogany Springs Lodge among others.
The name Mubare came as a result of the location where this group was first spotted by researchers and rangers, near the gorgeous Mubare hill. The habituation process started around 1991 and it took two years. Gorilla habituation is a process where gorillas are introduced to human presence, so that they get familiar to humans.
This sector of Buhoma is situated north of Bwindi Impenetrable forest, taking about 2 hours’ drive from Kabale Town and 4 hours’ drive from Queen Elizabeth National Park in Ishasha sector where the rare tree-climbing lions are located. You can therefore trek gorillas in Buhoma and head for a game drive in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth national park.
Presently, Buhoma sector is home to only 4 gorilla families, including Habinyanja, Mubare, Katwe and Rushegura gorilla families. You will notice that their names are in local language, because most of them are named after places they were first spotted or the conditions that made them form the group or after their leader silverback.
Mubare group which is the oldest started with 18 members but now has 9 members. They reduced due to splitting of the group and death. Habinyanja was open to visitors in 1997 and now has 17 members. Rushegura has 19 members and was open to visitors after habituation in 2000. Therefore, each gorilla family has a rewarding story. When you visit any of the groups in this sector you get a chance to understand this history and other unique facts about Buhoma gorilla region and families.
Each gorilla group is trekked by 8 visitors a day, meaning that for the whole of Buhoma sector, only 32 permits are sold per day, on the basis of first come first serve. This means that gorilla permits are limited and they are in high demand. Therefore, you are advised to book your gorilla trekking permit in advance to avoid disappointments.
Other activities in Buhoma sector.
While in Buhoma sector, visitors have an opportunity to take part in other activities such as cultural encounters with Batwa and Bakiga people, take a community walk, bird watching, nature walks, among others. You can also later visit the nearby scenic lakes in southwestern Uganda – Lake Bunyonyi, Lake Mutanda and Lake Mulehe that offer incredible views.
Buhoma, therefore becomes the best sector in Bwindi with an added advantage of the Rushegura gorilla family being located near the national park offices hence offering the best closest gorilla experience and easier to find while on the trek.
