Activities in Mgahinga national park
Activities in Mgahinga national park are those things tourists can do in case they visit the park. Mgahinga national park was gazetted in 1991 to protect mountain gorillas, vegetation and other wildlife species which in the end would promote tourism. When Mgahinga national park was gazetted, a lot of attractions in the park were saved. And as of now several tourism activities can be carried out in this park.
Mgahinga national park is a small protected area of 33.9sq.km but its famous for harboring endangered mountain gorillas. Gorilla trekking is the main activity making Mgahinga national park famous. But again there are so many activities that take place with in this park. Mgahinga national park hosts the virunga volcanoes. Over 10 bird species, golden monkeys and boundaries are surrounded by the batwa people.
Activities in mgahinga national park
Gorilla trekking
Gorilla trekking is the main reason as to hwy people visit mgahinga national park. Its very hard for a traveler to visit amgahinga national park and leaver minus encountering mountain gorillas in the wild. We all know mountain gorillas arte close relatives to human beings. There fore tourists make their dreams come true once they be around them.
Gorilla trekking is a 2 to 6 hour activity in mgahinga national park that takes tourists to different areas if the park where mountain gorillas be. Searching mountain gorillas needs patience and fitness. Because you can take even hours searching. The good thing is that during the search, trekkers are able to meet different wildlife species, birds and vegetation. When mountain gorillas are located, 1 hour is given to be around the apes. And you do use it for photography, watching what they do and learning about their behaviors.
Golden monkey trekking/habituation
In the whole of Uganda, golden monkeys are seen in Mgahinga national park since theu are endemic to the albertine region. Tourists to Mgahinga national park can alwys be oart of the golden monkey trekking or habituation if they want to get a chance of seeing these beautiful primates with a silver lining. Golden monkey trekking comes woth one hour aroud the goln monkeys while habitautiin comes woth 4 hours around the monkeys.
With a golden monkey permit, you do join the trekking or habituation team and first thing is briefing. This is done to teach you the rules and regulations of the activity for safety of animals and the trekkers. The search is led by armed ranger guides who take you to different bamboo areas searching for where the monkeys could be. When monkeys are seen, trekkers are given time to be around them and watch them do daily activities, take images and learn their behaviors.
Batwa cultural visit
One of the best cultures to visit is the Batwa pygmies in south western Uganda. The high population is found around the boundaries of Mgahinga national park. The homes of Batwa pygmies were the jungles of Mgahinga national park. These people never owned permanent homes for they lived in the forest alongside animals. When the government was gazetting the park they were forced to move out to reduce on poaching and destroying the vegetation of the animals.
Visiting the Batwa will give you an opportunity to meet the elderly who were there at the time of eviction and they will tell you a story of what really happened. They will also be able to tell you about their life in the jungle for example how they got food to eat, used arrows and bows to kill animals, collect honey, and use local medicine to cure diseases among others. You will be entertained by traditional dancers who sing in their local language.
Bird watching
So far 180 bird species have been recorded in mgahinga national park. This makes it a perfect place for bird watchiung actives. Good birders to mgahinga national by using different birding trails will spot brds such as white necked raven, ibis, spacked mouse bird, black kite, paradise flycatcher, alpine, archer’s robin chat, common bulbul, whydah, kivu ground thrush, rwenzori batis, olive pigeon, rwenzori turaco, scarlet tufted malachite sunbird, moorland chat and rwenzori night jar among others.