Best Time to Visit The Mountain Gorillas & Uganda
The Best Time Of The Year To Visit Uganda & Go For Gorilla Trekking
Uganda is known as a whole round travel destination for any tourist planning to travel. This is due to its climate and location at the equator. The other factor making Uganda a travel destination throughout the year is Lake Victoria and its unique weather patterns the climate. Uganda mainly has two rainy seasons; the short season starts from October to November and the long rainy season starts from Mid-march to the end of May.
Therefore, the best time of the year when you should go gorilla trekking in Uganda is June, July, August and September. If that is not possible, January and February should be relatively okay.
The average temperatures of Uganda are at 21.5 C and 71 F, these also drop at night time to around 54 F which affects the altitude. Rainfall in Uganda ranges between 1000-2000mm every year. However, throughout the year the skies in Uganda are clear which supports most safari vacations. These climate changes have brought about changes in weather patterns hence making it harder to predict the seasons of the tourism year.
With the best months to visit Uganda, many tourists choose to travel from May to September to February since in these months, the amount of rain has reduced and it’s sunny in most of the destinations. December is one of the busiest months of the year in most national parks and it’s advisable to book the accommodation in time to avoid disappointments. During the Christmas season, most Uganda safaris tourists plan to take vacations to national parks so it’s always a peak season in the month of December.
Visiting in the low season is okay for many tourists since accommodation is cheap to encourage many tourists to travel even though it’s a rainy season. Visiting in this season also means that you will enjoy the jungle with relatively low crowds. It’s also said that February and September are good months for a safari vacation in Uganda since there are fewer tourists visiting and the lodges are not fully booked as such in the high season.
Rainy Season
The rainy season in Uganda affects people’s travels but that doesn’t mean that they don’t completely travel since this season is combined with both rain and sunshine. This means that the sun comes out as soon as it has just rained and most safari activities are able to be carried out without any disturbance. Mountain gorilla trekking as well as chimpanzee trekking goes on even during the rainy season and the national parks are fully in operation.
During the low season of March to May and October to November, most of the lodges reduce their rates to attract more tourists to book with them and this is an added advantage since even the gorilla permits are reduced to attract more tourists to Uganda.
More so, Uganda has got a raised topography and this means that its climate is cool, however, if you are planning to come for a gorilla trek, it’s really important to notice the easiest trekking conditions despite the low rates in the low season, this means that the best time to come for gorilla trekking is during the two dry seasons of January and February and from June to September.
Game viewing in all the national parks of Uganda is perfect in the dry season; from February and March, to September and the beginning of October. This is mainly because the wildlife species are concentrated around water bodies within those parks. Bird watching as an activity is best carried out between November and April when the migrant birds are present in the country but can also be carried out all year round. Tourists are however advised to avoid taking vacations during the heavy rain months of April and May to be able to enjoy their vacations in Uganda.
GUIDE TO UGANDA’S TOURISM SEASONS
HIGH SEASON MONTHS: JUNE – SEPTEMBER
DECEMBER – FEBRUARY
LOW SEASON MONTHS: MARCH-MAY
OCTOBER TO NOVEMBER
What is the best time to track gorillas in Uganda or Rwanda?
Although tracking mountain gorillas can be conducted all year round in these two countries due to the somewhat damp seasons experienced by the national parks in which these gorillas stay, the majority of tourists prefer visiting from June to September as well as from December up to February.
This similarly applies in Uganda although there the rains begin in March up to May. Certainly, the rains although not very heavy make it challenging to trek the sheer landscape. During that time the rain falls for just one to two hours on about 3 days of the week and for the rest the sun is out. However, even in the dry months of Uganda, there are some little showers experienced in Bwindi.
The seasonality of the trackers can as well be accredited to the overall weather back in the home countries. During summers for instance in Europe, the number of gorilla safari trekkers is high and then in winter it greatly lowers. Also, there are some trekkers who take advantage of the seasonal discounts offered on the gorilla tracking permits. For example, not long ago the Uganda wildlife Authority lowered the cost of permits by thirty per cent for all non-Ugandans for the months of April and May in 2014 so they will go for $350. For the other months, the gorilla tour permit will go for $600 with effect from 1st January. A number of accommodation facilities in the areas where the gorillas are found as well will offer discounts in these months.
Within Rwanda, the initial rains are experienced at the end of February, March, April as well as May, and for that reason, most of the tourists don’t visit during that time since it is muddy and pretty wet while tracking the mountain gorillas. but during these very months, since it is raining, there is a lot of food for the gorillas on the lower slopes and also the temperatures are lower on the lower slopes. Because of that, the gorillas stay on the lower slopes since food is easily accessible and it is warmer. Therefore if you choose to track in these months, you won’t have a very long trek and actually, most trackers find the gorillas just after two hours of trekking meaning by 2:00 pm they are back at their lodge.
No matter what your explanation is, experience reveals that gorilla trekking can be enjoyed all year round and you will surely enjoy a great experience.
How To Get To Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park Uganda For Gorilla Trekking
By Road
The Bwindi forest can be accessed from Queen Elizabeth National Park to the northern just 2 to 3 hours drive, from Kampala through Mbarara about a 6 to 8 hours drive or from Kabale town to the south just 1 to 2 hours. These roads then converge at Butogota, just 17 kilometres from the Buhoma entrance gate. A 4×4 vehicle is needed through the rainy months. A daily bus service leaves Kampala for Butogota via Rukungiri and Kihiihi. We recommend booking your gorilla trekking safari with a recognized tour operator.
By Air
Travellers can choose to fly from Entebbe or from Kampala at Kajansi airfield to the up-to-date tarmac airstrip found at Kisoro. Additionally Planes may as well be chartered to the Savannah or the grass Kayonza airstrips. Bwindi is actually well served by 3 airfields at Kihiihi plus Kayonza for the northern area in addition to Nyakabande found in Kisoro for people going to track mountain gorillas within the southern area (Mishaya, Nshongi plus Nkuringo). Bwindi is located in the southwestern part of Uganda with approximately 7 h 35 min (463.7 Km) via Masaka Road. from Kampala . The easiest means of transport to Bwindi is by road.
Queen Elizabeth National Park (Mweya)- Kihihi-Buhoma
On your way to the park, you will pass through Ishasha and you will enjoy seeing the climbing lions along with monkeys on the road. Bwindi covers an area of about 160 km from Mweya and about 64km from Ishasha.
Kampala-Kabale-Kanungu-Buhoma.
The route has a tarmac highway to kabala and covers an area of about 414 km and it’s a 5-6 hour drive. The next route has a murram road and has about 120km. the route goes through Kanungu as well as Kanyantorogo and it takes about 4-5 hours.The most convenient vehicle is A4WD.
Kampala- Ntungamo-Rukungiri-Kihihi-Buhoma.
The easiest and most convenient route is from Kampala direct to the tarmac road Rukungiri which has about 390km in addition to murram road to Buhoma.
Kampala-Kabale-Ruhija-Buhoma.
This route covers an area of about 95km2 on the murram road and it takes about 3-4 hours. The only vehicle that can pass through Ruhija is a 4WD.
Kampala-Kabale-Nkuringo.
It covers a distance of about 105 km from Kabale town and it takes about 4 hours to get to the mountainous murram road. Many tourists take up nights in Kisoro town and the remaining distance is about 80km from Kabale prior to Nkuringo. Kisoro road is a meandering 35km and takes about 1-1.5 hours. The most suitable car for this area is the 4WD.
By means of public transport, a bus set on every day from Kampala to Bogota. Thereafter a tax can be got the last 17km to Buhoma. Nkuringo has no public means and the best thing to do is to hire a vehicle from Kisoro.
Another means of transport can be by Air; tourists can fly from the Kajjansi airfield or Entebbe and land from the Kisoro airstrip. Those who may want to visit Buhoma may take on charter planes and land from the Kayonza airstrip.
Bwindi National Park a home to tremendous biodiversity because of two factors. First of all, its slopes stretch over a broad latitudinal range of 1447 meters to create habitats roaming from lowland forest at 1160m to unique Afromontane vegetation above 2600m. This explains why Uganda gorilla safaris require some level of physical fitness.
Second, it is extremely old. since most of Africa’s forests were destroyed during the arid conditions of the final ice age(12,000-18,000 years ago), Bwindi was among a few ‘refugia’ that remained.
As a result, as most of the nowadays forests are not further than 12,000 years old, Bwindi’s vegetation has been weaving itself into tangles for over 25,000 years, in the process accumulating an extensive species list. This consist of 310 species of butterfly, 200 trees, 88 months,51 reptiles, and a tremendous 120 varieties of mammal including 10 primates. The latter are red-tailed, chimpanzees, L’Hoest’s and blue monkeys, black & white colobus, baboon, as well as Bwindi’s most famous resident,
the mountain gorilla.
Bwindi is a prime location for birdwatchers. Its 350 bird species including 7 which are IUCN red data listed & 90% of all
Albertine rift endemic species that are hard or impossible to see in some other parts of East Africa, especially on Tanzania safari holidays. A more experienced bird
watcher can simply identify up to 100 species in a single day!
Local People
The local people near the park are mos’ and Bafumbira. Minor Batwa communities are(Pygmy!) also present. The Bwindi area holds up one of the rural population densities in Uganda with a number of 350 people.
Getting Around
the diverse trailheads of Bwindi can be accessed by vehicle. But there aren’t any roads inside the park itself that are travelled around on foot. The Bwindi is appropriately named an ‘impenetrable forest’; the paths go through thick vegetation and may be steep. Make use of walking sticks provided at the beginning of the walk.
Climate And Best Time To Visit
Bwindi is cold in the mornings and in night with moderate temperatures between 7⁰C and 20⁰C. Actually, the coldest time in Bwindi is from June to July, while the wet seasons start in March to May as well as from September to November experiencing a total annual rainfall of 2390mm. the Rains received from March to May are actually short. September to November receives heavier although these are long hours of gentle drizzles.
Accommodation
There is a variety of accommodation places to stay based on which gorilla group you track.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Reserve was set up in 1942 and later on renovated into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in 1992. In 1994, it was acknowledged as the world Heritage site. Rukiga is a language commonly spoken in this area and the word Bwindi in reality means Impenetrable. What makes Bwindi Impenetrable is the fact that it covers an area of about 327km2 of scrambled vegetation draped over an intensive landscape of steep, haughty ridges as well as slippery valleys and high. The terrain may be hard for you to manage but remember it’s what makes Africa an exciting continent. The park has a big population of gorillas. 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.
