When to go Gorilla trekking| Choose the best time

Gorilla trekking is undoubtedly the most exciting adventure on every traveler’s bucket list planning to visit Africa. An up-close-and-personal encounter with the mountain gorillas of East Africa is more than a strenuous day hike with great apes for company in the famous Volcanoes national park and Bwindi impenetrable national park. 

Tourists pausing with a silverback on a gorilla trekking experience in Bwindi impenetrable national park

For most visitors it is the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition. All the hard work is worthwhile for some time spent observing these gentle giants in their natural habitat. No cages here, just you and the world’s largest primates, deep in the jungle!

Visiting gorillas in the wild is to wind back the clock of human evolution; to look into the mirror, and magically see a 10 million-year-old version of you staring right back! They are 98% genetically identical to humans, after all. The gorillas are some of our closest relatives in the wild, and being in their presence is an honor.

Planning a gorilla trekking tour involves considering the best time to go and have the best of it and this can greatly determine how much you get to enjoy the journey to the gentle giants and this entirely lies on the seasons in Uganda and Rwanda.

Best season to go gorilla trekking.

There are basically 2 seasons in Uganda and Rwanda and these are mainly the wet and dry seasons;

December, January and February -Dry season

March, April and May -Wet season

June, July and August -Dry season

September, October and November –Wet season

Both counties receive 2 dry seasons and 2 wet seasons in a year but the dry season is the most recommended and preferred to many planning for a gorilla tour basing on some reasons.

The Gorilla trekking Experience

Gorilla trekking experience

Since its clear that this amazing adventure experience takes place in the thick rain forest just astride the equator, there is even more rain received here than any other areas of the countries. Gorilla trekking isn’t an easy outdoor activity; it involves hiking forested mountains, crossing rivers and very muddy swamps.

With heavy down pours in the wet season, the activity becomes even more challenging; the forest floor is very muddy, the steep slopes become very slippery, lianas and trunks wet with fungus and algae you can’t bear to hold onto, swamps now full beyond the height of your boots and of course rain itself over your head makes it uncomfortable for you and your gadgets.

Many base on these to choose gorilla trekking in the dry season, when there is less rain received in the forest and low expectation however much it’s a rainforest. At this time, the forest floor isn’t so muddy and the slopes aren’t slippery making it easy to walk and hike, the board walk through in the swamps are visible making it easy to cross.

Accessibility to Gorilla trekking Destination 

Marram road through Bwindi impenetrable forest

Places like Bwindi impenetrable national park, are found in the remote villages of southwestern Uganda with very poor road network from the well paved roads. This makes accessibility in the wet season quite challenging as you drive through the bumpy, water logged slippery tiny roads on winding on the cliffs of the mountain to the tracking point.

In the dry season, the roads are still bumpy but much easier to drive through even without the need of 4 wheel driving. It’s just a matter of bearing the dusty drives and enjoy the scenery to the home of the great apes.

However, the wet season has got lots of challenges in the trekking park but their advantages that come along if you manage to bear the hardships.

Gorilla trekking Baby boom!

Female gorilla and her baby in Agasha gorilla family

If you are a fun of animal babies, the wet season is the best time to watch baby gorillas. It has been observed that there are more births in the wet season than in the dry season. During the wet season, mountain gorilla welcome new family members and the number of females in the family will determine the number of babies they will have in the wet season. If you happen to track a family with many females, there are chances of seeing more babies. Imagine watching a one day old baby gorilla!

Many people are always worried about mosquitoes in fear of contracting malaria in the wet season but this is something to less worry about. Bwindi impenetrable national park and Volcanoes national park where mountain gorillas live are on an altitude ranging between 1500 – 2600m ASL.  Such altitude is cold for mosquitoes to breed and live perfectly in numbers. Rare encounters can easy be scared off by a mere insect repellant.

Price comparison 

Yes! Your timing to go gorilla trekking can have an impact on the cost of your gorilla trekking tour.

As earlier mentioned, most people prefer the dry season to go gorilla trekking due to the reasons discussed above. This attracts mass numbers turning up for the activity in the same time creating high demand for accommodations around gorilla trekking destinations. This is the reason why most of these hotels have low season rates (wet season) and high season rates (dry season).

If you are planning for a wet season gorilla trek, you have more chances of saving some dimes than someone planning for a dry season.

Singita Kwitonda Lodge in Volcanoes National park

In a nutshell, the best time to go gorilla trekking to many would be in the dry season due to the ease in the trekking part of it but the experience but gorilla trekking can be done in any of the season throughout the year in Uganda and Rwanda provided you’re ready for it.

Once you’ve decided on the convenient month to have your gorilla trek, secure a gorilla permit in time since they are scarce and sold out on first come first serve basis. This will guarantee you that you will have a chance to catch a glimpse of these amazing creatures that can’t be found elsewhere in the world but in the thick rush green jungles Rwanda and Uganda.