How To get a Gorilla Trekking Permit in Uganda

Uganda Gorilla Trekking Permit, Uganda gorilla trekking safaris, gorilla safari, Uganda gorilla safari, How much does a Gorilla Safari Costs.

Gorilla trekking activities in Uganda are conducted in the two protected parks of Bwindi National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

But due to the nomadic nature of mountain gorillas in Mgahinga which keep crossing to Rwandan side, most of the gorilla trekking permits sold by Uganda Wildlife Authority are for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

In Uganda, each and every gorilla permit is sold at US$600 during high season and during the low season from the month of April, May and November; discounted permits are sold at discounted price of US$350 per each.

On one particular day especially during the high season, around 80 individual tourists travel to Uganda’s Bwindi to trek the stunning Mountain gorillas in the ancient Impenetrable forest and only a group of 8 individual trekkers are allowed to trek a habituated gorilla family.

We strongly recommend you to book your Uganda gorilla permit with a Ugandan Tour Operator agent as early as 3-5 month in advance.

The most Common blunder which travellers make is booking a Habituated gorilla family which is located far distance from their choice of lodging facility.

What you should note is that the road network to Bwindi Impenetrable and its different gorilla trekking regions are often very awkward because this is a remote area hilly area and hence if you book a lodge located far away from the gorilla family you are going to trek, it becomes hard to catch up with trekking activity which starts very early in the morning.

For travellers who would wish to plan and do gorilla trekking safari to Uganda on their own in order to save costs, they might end up spending more on their safari compared to if they used Ugandan based safari tour operators.

Booking Gorilla permit through tour operator is best option and usually tour operators charge an extra fee of USD100 on top of US$600 and this happens when you only need a permit from them.

The extra USD100 per permit is attached to help them in administrative costs like make calls to UWA, pick the permit from Uganda Wildlife Authority where the permits are sold officially and then deliver it to you.

In case you involve the tour operators in the whole process of planning for your gorilla safari, they will not charge you the extra USD100 because they know that you will use their other services like guiding services, transfers among others.

The procedure is almost similar as above, except that the tour agencies tend to speed-up the process and most likely you will get you gorilla permit confirmation faster.

Contact us and let us know of the dates you want to tour Uganda with the days you want to see the gorilla permits.

Afterwards we shall let you know if the days you want for your gorilla tour are available for gorilla tracking and tentatively book them for you (but with no guarantee). We send you our bank details for you to send the money for gorilla permits.

It takes about 16 hours for us to receive the money from your bank and pay for your permits. We shall send you acknowledgement for the money and the official Uganda Wildlife Authority Receipt (by scan and email).

Please ensure you pay the bank charges when authorizing the transaction. We do not charge any fee for gorilla permits buying/booking if you are booking the rest of the tour (or a part of it) with us.

In case we do charge, this is to cater for any costs like telephony, transport, etc. we incur to get you the permit.

Send us your passport details to register your gorilla permits. Usually, we only need the Full names, passport number, and nationality.

Let us help you book you Gorilla Permit and Safari (no fees on permits)

We register your names and get the gorilla permits. We send you scanned copies of your gorilla permit. As soon as the payment has been received, the permits for gorilla tracking will be purchased.

Getting a gorilla permit is not a guarantee of seeing a gorilla. However, the chances of seeing them are 98%.

Please ensure you pay the bank charges when authorizing the transaction. We do not charge any fee for gorilla permits buying/booking if you are booking the rest of the tour (or a part of it) with us.

In case we do charge, this is to cater for any costs like telephony, transport, etc. we incur to get you the permit.

How Much Does a Gorilla Safari Cost?

How much does a Gorilla Safari Costs, is very vital question which is often asked by the travellers planning for gorilla trekking safaris in Uganda and according to our opinion, which is meant to act as guide line when you are planning for your Uganda gorilla safari is that, the total cost for gorilla Safari will require you budgeting the cost of following items.

Cost of Gorilla permit which will give you the opportunity to trek the mountain gorillas. The current cost of each permit is at USD600 during the high season (June to September, December to February) and USD350 during the low season (April, May, November).

Cost of Transport. You need to budget and plan for transport from Kampala/Entebbe to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where gorilla trekking is done. The minimum days to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by road are three days.

Therefore you need to budget for three days. The first day is for transferring from Entebbe/Kampala to Bwindi and the next day is for moving around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

You need Vehicle to transfer you to and from the starting head trails of your gorilla trek in Bwindi and the third day is to drive back to Entebbe/Kampala.

Hence traveller needs to budget for a tourist vehicle with guide per day and then fuel to cater for the long drive distance from of 527kilometres from Kampala to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Please kindly contact prime Uganda Safaris and Tours for the best rates of Tourist vehicles for hire. Travel  can as well opt to fly to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park as some companies such as Aerolink operate scheduled flights to and from Kihihi which is the nearest Air Field and as such, you need drive transfers from the Air strip to your choice lodge.

Cost of Accommodation-You need to budget and plan for your accommodation for at least two nights. The first night is when you arrive in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the second night is after your gorilla trekking experience.

It is possible to trek mountain gorillas and depart Bwindi to Kampala on the same day but it is highly recommended that tourists on Uganda Gorilla trekking safaris to Bwindi budget for additional night after trekking the gorillas as they will never tell whether they will encounter the gorillas after what period of time.

The price of the accommodation will depend on the type of lodging facility because all the four gorilla trekking regions of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park have Luxury lodges, Mid-Range and budget. Hence the choice of lodge to stay will depend on you.

Cost of Porters- Traveller to Uganda gorilla trekking safaris are highly recommended to hire Potters because these individuals help to carry your bags and when you are up-close to gorillas, they will remain with your packed lunch and all the other things you might not at that time.

Cost of Tips- Tips is an appreciation of good service rendered to you by your safari guide, gorilla trekking guide, waiters and porters.

It’s not a must that you have to do this. Company Markup- On top of the above costs, the company puts between 10-20% of the total cost as fixing or service fee.

In nut shell, total gorilla safari cost will require you to budget and plan for gorilla permit, book and pay for you choice accommodation, pay for your transport to and from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, you also need to budget for porter, among other requirements.

In order to make your Uganda gorilla trekking safaris success, you need to contact us the number one gorilla trekking safari planners in Uganda the pearl of Africa.