I have been planning for a trip to see the Mountain Gorillas since 2018. By no means it is an affordable trip. Safety in Uganda has been a concern too, so was the part when we were figuring out travels.
By 2025, when we figured how to make the trip to Bwindi National Park, I was happy, as well as skeptical. At 37, I have become a relatively obese person and am not in my best physical self!
Can I do this?
Turns out I can. And even if you are scared of the strenuous hike, you have other ways.
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Is it necessary to hike to see the Mountain Gorillas?
No. You can be carried by 4 porters to go see them, and I have seen elderly men being carried on the shoulders to be able to go and see the Mountain gorillas.
Some of the gorilla family are extra friendly, and they decide to make appearances for you at the lodge at time, just like the way Monkeys come down to residential places in India. In search of food, or may be they are on their migration route.
However, it is not wise to depend on their mood and plan this long and expensive trip to Uganda.
The Hike to see the Mountain Gorillas at bwindi
You have three options to go see the Mountain gorillas.
You can hike, for hours at tie, and climb the steep hills, or go down the valley. there is a reason why they have named this forest, Impenetrable. You experience the glorious greenery, the thickets, the uprooted ancient woods, the forest trails often used by the ghost elephants (forest elephants of Uganda).
Otherwise, you request for a small hike. I have seen people, especially the elderly ones, being grouped in a cluster that is assigned a relatively easier trek, often a plain land.
The last option is be carried away by the porters, which is not bad if you really can not walk, but want to see the great apes. But I would not prefer it as long as I can walk, even for a bit.
The Hike adds to the whole experience
The Gorillas you will see are habituated groups. They are used to with rangers being in close vicinity, hence can communicate with them using various grunts. They know visitors will come and see them for an hour or so every day, and they are used to with their presence.
The Mountain gorillas ignore the tourist groups most of the time. That means, they would either be resting, or munching on the greens around them.
You will be mesmerized by their presence but it can get boring after a while, if they really decide to be immobile.
Gorillas are not Chimpanzees, who will do an array of activities, that will amuse you and scare you at the same time!
The hike to the Gorilla group that has been assigned to you is exciting. It is an immersive experience to see the rainforest in all its glory. If possible, i would encourage you to go for a moderate hike, if not opting for the difficult one.
The porters are there to help you
You can hire a porter, or even two from the nearby Batwa Community for a meagre payment of USD 20 and a few bucks for tips. They will carry your camera, lunch box, and if necessary your body in parts when the hike gets steeper, tougher.
My porter helped me immensely when it started to rain. We were standing close to the Mountain Gorilla family, who were grunting.
I do not recall very well how we wrapped up, and hiked up the hill and reached the plain stretch of the mountain. I had my eyes closed for the larger part of the trek. the porters were very helpful.
I would recommend you use their service if you do not feel very confident to hike the trail by yourself.
My experience of hike for the Mountain Gorillas
We went at the Briefing center sharp at 8 am, where the rangers lecture us a bit and divide in small groups of people. We go on to visit the Gorilla Troops.
We were assigned our troop and 7 other people, who were in great shape and were from UK.
We drove for 40 minutes, and started the hike.
We walked for 15 minutes on plain. Then we started the descend to the valley. That descend was a bit challenging, with thick leaves making sunrays almost absent from the face of the Earth.
The descent was no more than 10 minutes when we spotted our first member of the group, a mother caressing its four month old baby.
We stood their for an hour. Then came the rains.
It was not just a shower. a proper bout of rain that drenched the rainforest and pierced through the leaf, the canopy and came straight for the mere mortals down there!
I do not recall very well how I made my way back. I could hardly see. There were two porters who helped me with the climb up, they took care of the camera as well.
I found the hike to be an easy one. the rain had made it really difficult.
We spent 10 days in Uganda road tripping from Bwindi to Entebbe.
How to Train for the hike to see the Mountain Gorillas
I had practiced walking on the stair stepper at the gym everyday for 15 minutes for a month to build stamina before the hike.
You could also opt for weight training, to build strength. It helps with mountain hikes.
If you are opting for the moderate hike, meaning you don’t just walk on the plain land for 20 minutes, you need a bit of a planning ahead and bit of practice.
Is there any other way to see the Mountain Gorillas?
There is another type of Gorilla, that is the low land Gorillas, who thrive in numbers at the western part of the African Continent. You can see them, if not the Mountain Gorillas, although they are a completely different species.
Mountain Gorillas do not survive captivity. Efforts were made in past to keep them at Zoo. But they simply give up on their life.
So yes, your only chance to see a Mountain Gorilla, the last of the few Great Apes we have in this Planet, is to hike one of the rainforest mountains in Uganda, Zaire or Rwanda and come close to the species.
