Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

The best experience in our life. The Gorilla trekking was amazing, we will never forget them.

Silver back gorillas - that says it all!! Once in a lifetime experience. best safari ever!!! would strongly recommend it.

Amazing see the gorila. We recomend to take a supporter who helps you for everithing

Mountain rain forest, the mist and the gorillas is just a unique experience

Our guides were able to locate the gorilla family relatively quickly and the forest was lovely. I would have liked to learn more about the animals and area from them while we traveled though.

Amazing to see the gorillas and Bwindi is spectacular.

Beautiful Rain Forest, great Gorilla Trekking.

Loved seeing the gorillas close upm

A Challenging Yet Rewarding Adventure

When I decided to visit Bwindi to track to the mountain gorillas, I expected it to be fairly challenging, but as luck would have it, it was much tougher than anticipated. We stayed at Lake Mutanda Resort, a small camp about a 90 minute drive from Bwindi's southern Rushaga gate. The camp - which involved staying in wooden huts with an astonishing view over the lake and the Virunga volcanoes - was lovely, but staying so far out from the forest meant a very early start to drive on the 'African massage roads' to get to the track briefing point for 8am.

During the briefing, one of UWA's rangers explained to us how the gorilla trek would work, what we should expect, and what we should do when we faced the gorillas. We were also warned that if they discovered we were sick with any airborne illness, we'd be taken back down the mountain, as the gorillas are very susceptible to human illnesses. Each gorilla family has eight permits a day, and on the day we were there, they were completely full. We were assigned to track one of the 'further away' groups, the Kahungye family. This group has 18 members including 3 silverbacks, but would involve a hard hike. We were driven the 25 minutes to our trail starting point and then had to walk up the side of the mountain for an hour to reach the edge of the forest. The views were remarkable. Inside the forest, we walked for about an hour more and then we reached the gorilla family. The hour we spent with them was magical. Just being able to quietly observe their behaviour as they sat, eating leaves and picking insects from each others' fur was breath-taking. It also felt quite adventurous, with our rangers hacking at the dense vegetation (and it really is dense) to get us closer to various family members. At one point, a silverback mock charged us to show his strength and we were left in no doubt about who was the boss!

The walk back was equally as challenging because by this point, we were out of energy and my legs were feeling sore. The guide gave us a 30 minute lunch break to refuel and recover before we slogged back through the rainforest. As we came out of the trees onto the side of the mountain, we were greeted with a stunning view of the Virunga volcanoes. The weather for the entire trek was warm and sunny, although it was humid in the rainforest and the ground underfoot was slippery in places. On the way down the mountain, we stopped for a mini award ceremony with our guide to receive our certificates and play a hilarious game of 'gorilla charades'.

Our guide was very knowledgeable about the gorillas and the forest, but also very good at reading when the group was struggling and needed a rest. As I was the slowest, he put me at the front so everyone had to walk on my pace. This may have frustrated some of the athletes behind me, but it meant I made it there and back. I also hired a porter, a lovely young girl from a local village, and she carried my bag with all my camera equipment and pulled me up the particularly steep and slippy parts.

All in all, visiting Bwindi was a once in a lifetime experience (although I wouldn't rule out a second experience one day!) Although the hike was tough, there are easier families to access, and if you're prepared, it's certainly achievable. And in any case, the hour you spend with our gorilla cousins is something you will never forget.

We hiked for several hours in Bwindi to find and spend time with the gorillas, which we did, it was amazing! Its great to walk through a jungle. You can't get much more bush vibe than this. We did not see much other wildlife though. Maybe because we did not search for it.