Termite Mounds
November 8, 2022Gorilla Habituation| Bwindi’s unique gorilla experience
May 10, 2023This is a common question many planning for gorilla trekking ask, this comes from the mere fact that this lifetime adventure activity is not easy and physical fitness is advised. We draft a picture of the gorilla trekking experience in this article and at the end of it you will realize how this outdoor activity gets easy for some trekkers and quite hard for others.
For many visitors, the tracking portion of the experience is just as exciting as the actual gorilla viewing. For others, it is a sheer torture. How it goes will depend very much on your physical condition, the weather, and the amount of time you spend hiking. Sometimes gorillas are found within fifteen minutes of entering the forest; a real stroll in the park. On other occasions, gorilla watchers must slog down and up densely vegetated, slippery slopes for more than four hours before making contact, then spend the same amount of time walking out; an utterly exhausting experience. The actual condition of your gorilla tracking session will depend on the luck of the day. All you can do is being prepared physically and mentally for this lifetime adventure.
The best advice that makes this tough activity quite easier is to take a porter with you. A porter will be very important in your trekking; carrying your heavy bag full of packed lunch, water and other gadgets or clothing. He/she can help can give you a pull or push in the tough times while sloping or hiking steep slopes and slippery floors. A porter is paid a minimum of $20 and at the end of it all it’s really worth it. It’s also another way of supporting the community that is surrounding the park hence appreciating tourism activities and the apes.
Alternatively, there is a better solution for those who can’t even give a try due to their physical disability; the sedan seat stretcher, famously called the “helicopter” in Bwindi National Park, is a comfortable seat fixed to a metallic platform with handles that is lifted on shoulders by a group of four young and energetic men. The handicapped or elderly person is carried shoulder high to the gorillas and back.
In Rwanda, a well-sawn stretcher is what is used to carry the handicapped or disabled person to the gorillas. Unlike the “helicopter” chair in Uganda that a person sits on and is carried in that sitting posture, the stretcher used with Rwanda gorilla tours is flexible as it allows one to lie-down or seat as you are carried through the trekking.
It’s also advisable to inform your tour guide your condition or any challenge you know may hinder your trekking. In most cases, he may try to discuss with the rangers and they try to find the best way to go about it. However, it’s not a guarantee that they can make any change with nature.
In conclusion, a gorilla trek can turn out to be difficult or easy depending on natural factors which no one has control over them. Since gorillas are located in rain forests, rain can’t be predicted regardless of the current season. On the side of the gorillas, they have no permanent homes and keep on moving day by day in quest for better food. When you’re lucky and they are at the beginning of your trail, you will see them in less than an hour and if you’re unfortunate and they have moved quite far away, you will have to trek for hours to find them.
Keep in mind that almost every tracking session is successful in finding the gorillas. Generally, only those who give up miss their viewing.