Best time to visit Mgahinga park – Gorilla trekking safaris to Mgahinga gorilla national park

Best time to visit Mgahinga park – Mgahinga National Park is situated in south western part of Uganda, the park covers an area of about 33 square kilometres which is only 8% of the entire Virunga conservation area. All the three countries have a portion of the Virunga Conservation area within their boundaries, i.e. Rwanda, D.R Congo and Uganda, protect their part of that conservation area.The following article will highlight the best time to visit Mgahinga park for your gorilla/wildlife adventure.

Mgahinga park is one of the best destinations that offer different attractions and activities that will entice you to appreciate the beauty that lies in the land locked country Uganda.

The park is located at a high altitude which perhaps makes it one of the coldest regions in the country with climate changes from wet, cold to mild. During the day, the temperature is around 15°C, and nights, drop to around 10°C

Once you choose to visit Mgahinga park be rest assured to meet and greet with different activities such as Mountain gorillas, bird watching, Batwa experience and Nature walks among others. Most visitors who visit the area purposely come to meet gorilla trekking experience which is one of the life changing adventure to meet face to face with the holistic human friendly endangered mountain gorillas in the jungle. Here are currently 80 mountain gorillas found in Mgahinga National Park and only one habituated gorilla group (the Nyakagezi group) is available for tracking by tourists.

Best time of the year to track gorillas in Mgahinga national park

Gorilla tracking in Mgahinga can be done all year round regardless of the season basing on the fact that everyone has his preference and that one can ought to either do tracking in wet or dry season and depending on the schedule for your holiday. The dry months are much advocated for since it’s in these months when the grounds are less slippery and less rains are expected creating a soft avenue to track the primates however prices tend to be high as this is termed as high season due to high demand for gorilla permits by visitors to undergo the experience, gorilla tracking in wet season is also accompanied with its own benefits whereby it’s a low season and permits tend to reduce in their costs, more so the gorillas tend to occupy the lower altitudes of the forest for food and their vegetation hence making it easy to track them

There are two dry seasons December-February and May-August, with June and July having the least chance of rain. The wettest months are March-April and September-November. But when the rain stops, the scenery is very beautiful and the views can be really good. And the wet season is really good for bird watching due to migration of birds for nesting thus this is the best time for those who would like to do birding as most of the species will be centralized around the area.

The wetter months (April, May and November) are also low seasons in Uganda’s gorilla tourism hence discounted gorilla permits are offered to tourists whereby foreign non-residents pay $450 per person instead of the normal $600 hence saving $150, foreign residents pay $400 in place of the usual $500 allowing tourists to save $100 and East African residents are charged Shs 150,000 instead of the Shs 250,000 charged during peak seasons and other normal months.

All tourists can visit Mgahinga National park for this life changing adventure and  look forward to achieving maximum satisfaction and unforgettable experience once you encounter the primates.