Gorilla Habituation Experience

Gorilla Habituation is a slow and gentle process where wild mountain gorillas are trained to get familiar with human before they are declared free for trekking. Gorilla Habituation may take between two to three years to be completed. During this period, researchers keep on visiting an identified Wild mountain gorilla group on a daily basis. They get to learn more about individual gorillas and the way they behave. With time, these gorillas get used to these researchers and in the long run, each individual gorilla is given a name. Once researchers are sure that these mountain gorillas can be trekked, they then introduce a mock exercise where some few people who may include scientists, journalists start visiting the family. Once such a gorilla family has passed mock exercise, then it is opened for trekking.

Do you wish to spend more time with mountain gorillas? It all starts with you waking up early morning and drive to the head quarters of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park in Rushaga sector. You will attend a short briefing for rules and regulation with the gorillas. From there, tourists together with rangers and gorilla doctors will hike into the forest in search of the being trained gorillas. You may spend several hours before reaching the gorillas but when you meet with them you will spend 4 hours interacting with the gorilla family. The four hours of interaction is a trilling experience in which you will come closer with wild gorillas. You will have an opportunity to listen and observer researchers doing their work of habituating gorillas and if possible you will be called upon to participate by collecting samples, naming of group members, making calls.  The four hours are to observe carefully the characters of these gorillas, as well as taking as many photographs as possible. This experience is likely to attract more tourists since your spend more time compared to those interested in doing two treks. The only difference is that those going for this experience should expect to visit semi habituated mountain gorillas which can decide to hide, behave in a manner which is not usual and the experience can be stopped upon recommended from researchers. Travelers are reminded to be extra careful to ensure safety in the presence of wild gorillas. Also, travelers must follow all trekking rules and guidelines like keeping a seven-meter distance, keeping calm, staying within your groups are all highly emphasized.

All visitors in mountain gorilla habituation must have valid permits just like in mountain gorilla trekking.  A single habituation permits costs 1500usd. Every day, each gorilla family is visited by four people hence 8 permits available for sale per day. Habituation permits can be accessed direct from the Uganda wildlife authority (UWA) or through any trusted tour operator. All travelers planning to take part in gorilla habituation are reminded to book as early as possible (4 months before the actual day) and pay 20% deposit of the total cost.

To book your experience contact us at [email protected]