What is the best time to buy gorilla permits for Bwindi?: A gorilla permit is a document that allows a tourist to be around mountain gorillas in their natural habitats. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park situated in Uganda is one of the places where tourists can encounter mountain gorillas in their natural habitats. The national park has the highest population of mountain gorillas in the world most of which are open for tourist visits.
Some mountain gorillas of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park have been fully habituated and open for gorilla trekking while others are still going through habituation with one family open for tourist visits. To see the mountain gorillas of Bwindi in their natural habitats you need to purchase a gorilla permit and we are going to look at the best time when one needs to buy these permits.
What is the best time to buy gorilla permits for Bwindi?
Gorilla permits for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park can be purchased at any of the year before the trekking date. Tourists have a right to buy these gorilla permits years, months, days, or even a day before the gorilla trekking date subject to availability. Even though gorilla permits can be purchased at any time before trekking, tourists still need to be guided on when it is best to buy these permits.
There are over 22 mountain gorilla families available for trekking in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park on a single day. Each mountain gorilla family is trekked by a maximum of 8 people which means more than 160 gorilla permits are in Bwindi every day. This number is too small compared to people who want to see mountain gorillas, especially in the high season.
Tourists who intend to visit Bwindi impenetrable forest national park in the high season of June to September and December to February need to buy their gorilla permits 3 to 4 months or more even a year in advance. This is because the permits sell out on some days of the month leaving many people disappointed.
Tourists who are planning to visit Bwindi impenetrable forest national park in the low season of March to May and October to November can buy the gorilla permits early enough for assurance but again they are able to get them a few weeks to tracking date because a few travelers move and so the permits are always available.
Even though gorilla permits are always available during the rainy season, we still advise tourists to make advance bookings for their safari. It helps the tour operator to make proper arrangements and bookings for the safari to be successful. Tourists who are interested in visiting specific sectors might end up disappointed in case the gorilla permits for that sector are sold out.
For travelers who want to do gorilla habituation, booking the gorilla permit should be done a year or 6 months before the habituation date. This is because Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park currently has 4 gorilla habituation permits. The 4 permits are few compared to the number of people who are interested in being with these mountain gorillas for a maximum of 4 hours.
What is the cost of gorilla permits in Bwindi?
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is a place with fully habituated mountain gorillas that are trekked using gorilla trekking permits and at the same time, it has semi-habituated mountain gorillas trekked using gorilla habituation permits. The costs of these permits are different as a gorilla trekking permit comes with 1 hour and a gorilla habituation permit.
A gorilla trekking permit costs $800 for foreign non-residents, $700 for foreign residents, $500 Rest of Africa and UGX300,000 citizens of East African member states. A gorilla habituation permit costs $1500 for foreign non-residents, $1000 for foreign residents, and Rest of Africa while the citizens of East African member states pay UGX750,000.
Tourists who intend to buy gorilla permits for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park must know that the above prices are paid by children that are above the age of 15 years. Below 15 years no one is allowed to go trekking because they are too young to manage the long hikes which may at some points go through difficult terrain.