Where is Bwindi Impenetrabel Forest

Bwindi  Forest  popularly  is known as the Bwindi  Impenetrable forest national park .  This forest had existed from time immemorial and is among the rich African Tropical forests still intact and hence called impenetrable forest  “ Place of darkness” . This forest was gazetted in  1942, and was upgraded to Bwindi Impenetrable forest national Park in 1992.   And was recognized as a World’s Heritage Site in 1994. Because of the nature of this forest even natives took time to penetrate this forest and this why even the outside world took long to know much about Mountain Gorillas.  As per last census Bwindi national park has over 400 gorillas more than half of world’s mountain gorillas existing on earth.

Bwindi National park is part of the Virunga Massif that supports the Volcanoes national park in Rwanda, Mgahinga national park in Uganda and Parc national des Virunga  in Congo. These are only national parks in the world where Mountain gorillas are found. Bwindi has the largest concentrations of mountain gorillas.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is 327Sq Km of tangled vegetation draped over a deeply fissured landscape terrain  of deep slippery  valleys , high hills, draughty ridges  and punctuated with natural streams of rivers flowing all directions. Thus trekking mountain gorillas means the efforts you spend negotiating the terrain which may not be easy but is worth paying your efforts when you encounter the mountain gorillas in  their natural habitat being that mountain gorillas are among the premier wildlife encounters sought in the world people are seeking to have in their lifetime. 

Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park

mountain gorilla sliverback

Bwindi Temperatures  and climate

Bwindi can be cold especially in the  morning and at night going as far as 7 degrees centigrade .  The coolest months are usually June and July.  Thus warm clothing is usually preferred whiletrekking mountain gorillas safari. And you may not avoid rain falling on you because it usually rains almost every day  - This is a  true rain forest of Africa  if you have heard  of rain forests , Bwindi is a typical rain forest of Africa.  Thus a trekking  through this Africa’s ancient rainforest  is where will encounter mountain gorillas. Usually warm clothing’s are a must while trekking mountain gorilla and wet proof clothes are preferred  while trekking.

Bwindi receives a lot of rain 2000- 2500 mm of rain per year. The area has 2 rainy seasons in the months of March – May and in September – November  where Bwindi has a lot of rain concentrations. Thus other  months receive moderate rain and are good for mountain trekking  periods.

Bwindi Flora and Fauna

Bwindi having one of the richest eco systems, Bwindi national park supports a lot of plants and animals and insects  in Africa. It has 120 species of mammals, 350 species of birds, 202 species of butterflies,, 163 species of trees, , 27 species of frogs, 50 species of reptiles, 100 species of ferns, , chameleons, geckos,  and many more. Birders find Bwindi a haven for birders. Birders cannot fail to view over 100 species  of birds in a  single day. Most birds are  Albertine rift endemics which are difficult to be seen in other parts  of East Africa.   Chimpanzees do exist here but are not easily seen, many monkey species – L’Hosests, red tailed and blue monkeys , black and white Colobus, baboons and the famous mountain gorillas all are fount here.  The forest also has forest elephants which are not easily seen  but they  do exist in Bwindi. Thus trekking mountain  gorillas will not only yield gentle giants but viewing other primates as well.

Accessing Bwindi impenetrable Forest.

Bwindi is approximately away from Entebbe 500km.  Road is all paved save for 80 km from Rukungiri to Buhoma. I understand this section will also be done in the 2 years and get completed. This will reduce the time spent on the road from 9 hours to 6 hours. Today Bwindi has like 4 points where to start gorilla trekking , save for Buhoma the original one , Ruhija is the also near around 460 km , Then can also go through Kisoro to trek mountain gorillas of Nkuringo and Rushaga. 

Air transport to Bwindi

Today we have daily  scheduled flights from Entebbe to all placed mentioned in the above paragraph. Flight leave daily from Entebbe Airport and flight takes like 1,5 hours. Travel hemispheres arranges this and  can bookgorilla trekking flying safari with us.   Even in the afternoons there are some days when you can book flight. Gorilla safaris continue to go on in all other parts of Bwindi where mountain gorillas have been habituated . as we talk and read Bwindi has the highest habituated mountain gorillas that can be trekked by visitors.