Gorilla Tracking Briefing and Guidance – Uganda & Rwanda

Gorilla Tracking Briefing and Guidance

Mountain gorilla tracking is done in Uganda and Rwanda. Travellers taking part in the activity always go for briefing before they can actually head into the jungle for gorilla tracking in Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park and Virunga national park in the democratic republic of Congo and in Uganda gorilla trekking is done in Mgahinga Gorilla and Bwindi impenetrable forest national parks.

Where Bwindi forest is made up of four different sectors for gorilla trekking that is Ruhija in the east, Buhoma in the north, Nkuringo and Rushaga in the south.

Travellers participating in the gorilla tracking will be briefed in each sector according to where you will be tracking the gorillas from.

In the process of gorilla tracking, nobody will be allowed to enter the forest without being briefed and guided first at the park headquarters.

Gorilla tracking briefing and guidance is done purposely to remind travellers about the Dos and Don’ts while with the gorillas in their natural habitat.

Gorilla tracking and guidance is normal and is highly advisable to countries taking part in the gorilla tracking experience.

This is important in promoting the security of both travellers and the Mountain gorillas from any harm when visited by the tourists.

When is Gorilla trekking briefing and guidance?

In both countries Rwanda and Uganda, Briefing and guidance occur early in the morning before the start of the exercise at the respective National park headquarters.

At Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, gorilla briefing and guidance starts at 08:00 am every morning of each day of gorilla tracking. This, therefore, indicates that all travellers taking part in gorilla tracking will be required to wake up early in the morning and be at the park headquarters by 08:00 am in time for a gorilla tracking briefing. Gorilla briefing and guidance helps to remind travellers about the rules and regulations and how to conduct themselves when they encounter the gorillas and to behave while in the forest while in the forest during the trek. For travellers who book gorilla tracking safaris to Uganda and Rwanda with safari vacations and travel services, we always provide our clients with reliable information regarding gorilla tracking in the respective countries so that you have the necessary knowledge and information about the tracking exercise.

We at Safari vacations and travel services, again do pre- gorilla briefing and guidance and this is majorly done by one of our professional driver guides who will be in charge of taking you for the safari, this guide is your driver for the whole safari and will drive you early in the morning to the park headquarters for briefing and will and will be with you through the safari.

While in the forest tracking gorillas, the park ranger will help you find the gorillas and will answer all the questions you have about the gorillas and will keep reminding you about the Dos and Don’ts for gorilla tracking so that you have the best of your tracking safari experience in Uganda or Rwanda.

Gorilla tracking in Rwanda takes place in Volcanoes national park, visitors are briefed at the park headquarters about the Dos and Don’ts while in the forest. Gorilla tracking briefing and guidance in Rwanda happens at Kinigi park headquarters by 08:00 am Rwandan time.

In Rwanda, it is done in one place whereby all trackers come together in one place for briefing before entering the forest starting the tracking activity. But in Uganda, Bwindi has four sectors for gorilla tracking and briefing, it goes down in different sectors where you are tracking gorillas from.

In Rwanda, gorilla tracking is most exciting as the locals come in to entertain, motivate and show their performances for the travellers as they begin the gorilla tracking activity and also as travellers wait for briefing and guidance, all visitors are offered a cup of coffee or tea initiate the energy to start the tracking.

On the side of Uganda, before the start of gorilla tracking, all travellers are warmly welcomed by the Uganda wildlife authority park ranger who then direct the travellers where to be sited as you wait for the briefing. Usually, as you wait for the briefing, a documentary is shown to the tourists taking part in the tracking enabling them to have some knowledge about mountain gorillas in the highland areas such that if the exercise starts, you are ready to have a hint about gorillas and gorilla tracking experience.

In the process of watching the documentary, the Uganda wildlife authority representative shall be cross-checking all the necessary documents like passports, gorilla permits and all that is required of you before entering the forest for gorilla tracking in Bwindi impenetrable forest, Mgahinga gorilla national park and volcanoes national park in Rwanda.

Passports are checked normally to know the nationality of the clients and their age to allow them to start the exercise.

The nationality is checked to know aiming at establishing who and which brings a large number of tourists into Uganda and this again helps in keeping clear records.

It continues to help the tourism industry on how to improve on marketing, the age is also important to know since there is an age limit required for gorilla tracking in Uganda and Rwanda. The current age limit for gorilla trekking in both countries is 15 years. And any person below that age is taken to be a child and will not be allowed to participate in gorilla trekking in their natural habitat. And for this reason, for Safari vacations and travel services, we advise our clients to always be informed that we try to avoid such scenarios from happening and in case a person is discovered to be below 15years, automatically he/she will be disallowed to trek gorillas.

The next and most important about knowing the age limit for tracking mountain gorillas is that there might be the elderly person (s) that has come to trek and may not be in position on acclivitous in the forest, they will be advised to take porters with them or sedan chairs used carrying to or from the forest after the encounter with gorillas. The main purpose of the sedan chairs is that no one is left out to find his/her dreams of tracking gorillas be it the disabled, old persons, or any person who cannot walk long distances, we got your back.

Another reason for checking the gorillas permits in the course of gorilla tracking briefing is that gorilla trekking permits are issued according to that exact date of the gorilla tracking, therefore, the cross-checking of permits is meant to check the validity for Gorilla tracking on that particular day or date as you will not be allowed to trek gorillas in case you come a day before or a day after your exact stated date for gorilla tracking. We advise our clients to be mindful of the date of their travel and the real date for Gorilla tracking so that you don’t miss out on the activity.

Also, put in mind that Bwindi impenetrable forest has got different sectors or starting points for gorilla tracking and so Gorilla permits are available depending on each sector of Bwindi forest and also book your accommodation closer to the sector you are to trek in an early morning rise for the start of the activity with the briefing at the headquarters of each four sectors of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. So this means that in case you have booked a Rushaga gorilla permit and you book your accommodation in Buhoma, you will not be allowed to trek in this sector because you will be in the wrong place.

At safari vacations and travel services, we always provide you with relevant information about gorilla tracking in Uganda and Rwanda in the respective sectors they will be tracking and also book accommodation nearer to the region.

When you book your safari with us, we ensure that you have the right gorilla tracking permit with the exact location where you will be tracking the gorillas. We also make sure that we book for you the accommodation closer to the starting point or park headquarters so that the guide will transfer you early morning for your briefing on Dos and Don’ts.

Still, while on the briefing, the Ranger guide will highlight the procedure of gorilla family allocations, tell you the number of people visiting each habituated gorilla family, you will be allowed to spend one hour with the gorillas. The ranger guide will again mention the rules and regulations and also encourage travellers to take the porter with them or hiring a sedan chair for those who cannot trek long-distance on the steep slopes and from there, then travellers are allowed to ask questions that they would need some clarification and you start the activity of gorilla tracking.

For any enquiries, please contact Safari vacation and travel services for more detailed information.