Of recent gorilla trekking is one of the trending safari activities in Africa but do you have an idea of what the activity is? No need to worry, you can find all details here

Gorilla trekking is a safari activity in Uganda, Rwanda and Congo which involves hiking to the gorilla habitat in search of gorillas taking about 2-8hours within tropical forests. This offers tourists a precious 1 hour to get close to these human-like species as they sight them at play, chunk fruit and interact with their families.

Gorilla trekking involves going through trails in search of the gorillas depending on where they spent the previous night (they nest in a difference place every day) for unpredictable number of hours.

Mountain gorilla trekking can be done when one opts for a Uganda gorilla trekking safari to either Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park offers the Rwanda gorilla safari destination where’s a Congo gorilla trekking safari is done at Virunga National Park.

The Gorilla Trekking Experience

Before Gorilla Trekking

Every day, before tourists start their trekking experience, an advanced team of rangers sets off into the forest to find where the gorillas are.

They normally start from where the gorillas slept last night following their footsteps until they find them. Rangers do this to make it easier for tourists to find them.

Gorillas are always on the move as they are searching for food or water.

Sometimes, if there is a fight between habituated and non-habituated gorillas, they will tend to move far and sometimes become hostile.

The work of this advanced team is to establish the state in which these gorillas will be and then, they will communicate to the Park Head Quarters to tell them where the gorillas are. Because of this, chances of seeing gorillas is approximately 95%.

During Gorilla Trekking

In the morning, after breakfast at your lodging facility, you go to the trek start point with packed lunch and enough drinking water.

Your Uganda, Rwanda or Congo safari guide transfers you to the park headquarters for a briefing that starts at 8:00am local time.

During the Park headquarters, you will be divided into a group of eight people because the maximum number of people to trek a give gorilla family is eight.

After dividing you into groups, a Uganda wildlife Authority Guide takes you through the briefing session after which you are allowed to ask some questions. After briefing, tourists are driven to the starting point and off you will start your trek.

Gorilla trekking is fairly energetic so a certain level of fitness is always required because either Uganda, Rwanda or Congo gorilla trekking safaris are on higher altitudes and taking about 2 to 8 hours to find the gorillas.

Once your trekking group finds these mountain gorillas, tourists will be allowed to spend one hour with them and then return to the trek start point.

After Gorilla Trekking

After trekking gorillas, you return to the start point where you receive a gorilla trekking certificate then after be transferred by your driver guide to your next destination.

Lowland gorilla trekking can also be done in Congo’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park which is at a lower altitude and this could be the best option for those who don’t want to hike high altitudes.

In each country you can opt to visit other national parks. Uganda has variety of National Parks with unique wildlife where tourist’s safari to extend their trips and these include, Queen Elizabeth National Park popular for the tree climbing lions and Akagera National Park is the best after a Rwanda gorilla trek.