Area: 331 km²
Established: 1991
Location: Kanungu District, Uganda
How to get there: Bwindi Forest can be accessed from Uganda 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. These roads then converge at Butogota, just 17 kilometres from the Buhoma entrance-gate.
What to do there: Gorilla Trekking, Bird Watching, The Batwa Culture Experience, Forest Walk/ Hiking, Mountain Biking, Lake Mutanda Visit.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest became popular to the world because of Gorilla trekking! It is an environment for more than half of the world’s still remaining Mountain Gorilla population. These gentle monkeys are highly endangered species and the forest possesses more than 360 individuals of the reasonable 800 plus mountain gorillas in the entire world.
Bwindi, located in the south western region, on the edge of the rift valley. It is a typical tropical rain forest with an annual mean temperature range of a minimum of 7–15°C to a maximum of 20–27°C. Its annual rainfall ranges from 1,400 to 1,900 millimetres. The heavy rains climax from March to April and from September to November.
It is commonly referred to as the impenetrable forest, as Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the western side; Kabale town to the south east is the nearest to the main town of the park, 29 kilometres away by road. It covers an area of 331 square kilometres and is located in the highest parts of Kigezi highlands with an altitude of 1,190 to 2,607 meters above sea level and 60% of this magical park has an elevation of over 2,000 meters above sea level. The highest raise in the park is Rwamunyonyi hill at the eastern edge and the lowest part of the park is located at its most northern tip.
The park is a sanctuary for colobus monkeys, chimpanzees, and varieties of birds such as hornbills and turacos. It is the most prominent home for the 400 Bwindi gorillas, half of the world’s population with the endangered mountain gorillas. 14 nos. of familiarized mountain gorilla groups are open for tourism in four different sectors of Buhoma, Ruhijja, Rushaga and the Nkuringo in the Districts of Kanungu, Kabale and Kisoro respectively all under the management of Uganda Wildlife Authority. The park is inhabited by about 459 individual mountain gorillas as per the last 2019 Gorilla Census (Gorilla Fund) which makes up almost half of all the mountain gorillas in the world.
