Where or best places to see Mountain Gorillas in Uganda

Where or best places to see Mountain Gorillas in Uganda

Uganda has two national parks where you can find the endangered mountain gorillas, the most famous being the 321 sq. km Bwindi impenetrable national park and the smaller 34 sq. km Mgahinga gorilla national park situated in the Virunga massif bordering Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park and Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga national park and all these are joined by the 5 volcanoes of Muhavura, Gahinga, Sabyinyo, Karisimbi, and Bisoke.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, covering 32,092 ha, is one of the largest areas in East Africa which still has Afro-montane lowland forest extending to well within the montane forest belt. Located on the eastern edge of the Albertine Rift Valley and believed to be a Pleistocene refugium, the property is a biodiversity hotspot with possibly the greatest number of tree species for its altitude in East Africa. It is also host to a rich fauna including a number of endemic butterflies and one of the richest mammalian assemblages in Africa. Home to almost half of the world’s mountain gorilla population, the property represents a conservation frontline as an isolated forest of outstanding biological richness surrounded by an agricultural landscape supporting one of the highest rural population densities in tropical Africa. Community benefits arising from the mountain gorilla and other ecotourism may be the only hope for the future conservation of this unique site.

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park sits high in the clouds, at an altitude of between 2,227m and 4,127m. As its name suggests, it was created to protect the rare mountain gorillas that inhabit its dense forests, and it is also an important habitat for the endangered Golden Monkeys.

As well as being important for wildlife, the park also has a huge cultural significance, in particular for the indigenous Batwa pygmies. This tribe of hunter-gatherers was the forest’s “first people”, and their ancient knowledge of its secrets remains unrivalled.

Mgahinga’s most striking features are its three conical, extinct volcanoes, part of the spectacular Virunga Range that lies along the border region of Uganda, Congo, and Rwanda. Mgahinga forms part of the much larger Virunga Conservation Area which includes adjacent parks in these countries. The volcanoes’ slopes contain various ecosystems and are biologically diverse, and their peaks provide a striking backdrop to this gorgeous scenery.

The park is home to one gorilla family called the Nyakagezi and it has 9 family members with striking 4 silverback gorillas.

This small national park protects the Ugandan portion of the Virungas, a chain of six extinct and three sporadically active volcanoes that follows the borders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mgahinga was proclaimed with the primary aim of providing sanctuary to the rare mountain gorillas, some 450 of which live in the Virungas, and gorilla trekking remains the most popular activity here, though it is dependent on the seasonal movements of the habituated groups.

Mgahinga supports a diverse forest and moorland fauna, notably the localized Golden monkey and at least 12 bird species endemic to the Albertine Rift, but also small populations of elephants, buffalo, leopard, and black-and-white colobus monkeys. The spectacular setting at the base of the volcanoes, the tallest of which reaches an elevation of 4,507m, is among the most stirring in East Africa.