Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda on the edge of the Rift Valley. The hillsides are covered by rainforests comprising of about 400 varied plant species.
The word “Bwindi” means “darkness” and taking a hike in this forest will certainly unveil to you the reason why the forest was named so.
Rukiga is a language commonly spoke in this area and the word Bwindi in realty means Impenetrable.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Reserve was set up in 1942 and later on renovated to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in 1992.In 1994, it was acknowledged as the world Heritage site.
The impenetrable forest protects about 320 population of mountain gorillas and approximately half of the population in the world.
Bwindi is a habitat to more than half the world’s population of Mountain Gorillas with over 300 mountain gorillas living here.
In addition, there are also 346 bird species and more than 200 butterfly species, about 324 species of trees, ten of which are only found in this areas in the whole of Uganda.
Furthermore, there are about 350 bird species supported within this forest, among which are twenty three Albertine Rift endemics. The adjacent towns of Nkuringo as well as Buhoma offer an remarkable collection of luxury lodges, budget campsites, restaurants, rustic bandas and craft stalls in addition to guiding services.
This biologically varied region as well offers shelter to a additional 120 mammals, among which are various primate species like the baboons plus chimpanzees, in addition to elephants as well as antelopes.
The local people near the park are mos’ and Bafumbira and other communities. The Bwindi area holds a population density of about 350 people in Uganda.
Bwindi forest can be accessed from Queen Elizabeth National Park to the northern just 2 to 3 hours drive, from Kampala through Mbarara about 6 to 8 hours drive or from Kabale town to the southern just 1 to 2 hours.
Bwindi can be accessed by vehicle. But there aren’t any roads inside the park itself that is traveled around on foot. The Bwindi is appropriately named as ‘impenetrable forest’; the paths go through thick vegetation and may be steep. Make use of walking sticks provided at the beginning of the walk.
There is a variety of accommodation places to stay basing on which gorilla group you to track.
What makes Bwindi Impenetrable is the fact that it covers an area of about 327km2 of scrambled vegetation draped over an intensive landscape of the steep, haughty ridges as well as the slippery valleys and high. The terrain may be hard for you to manage but remember it’s what makes Africa an exciting continent.
Bwindi is well known to be very cold in the morning and at night. The coolest months are usually June and July and the average temperature is about 70c-200c.When it concerns what to pack for gorilla safaris please pack warm clothes because Bwindi is so cold and receives about 2390mm of rain. It has two rain seasons, little rains are in the months of March-May and heavy rains are in the months of September as well as November.The rain in Bwindi takes long hours to stop.
One requires to be realistically physically fit to take part in this mountain gorilla tracking / trekking adventure because it may involve climbing the steep terrain.
