Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park was designated as a national park in 1991 and in 1994, it was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site because of its ecological importance and a 10 square kilometer area was incorporated into the park. Bwindi forest became popular to the world because of Gorilla trekking! The forest is a habitat for more than half of the world’s mountain Gorilla population. Mountain gorillas are highly endangered species and the forest possesses more than 360 individuals of the plausible 620 gorillas in the entire world. They are highly endangered because of poaching, habitat loss and diseases.
Bwindi is undoubtedly one of East Africa’s most famous national parks and known to be one of Africa’s most ancient habitats dating over 25000 years back. The park contains 120 mammal species – more than any of Uganda’s other national parks although sightings are less common because of the dense forest but on a luck day, a visitor can see forest elephants, 11 primate species including chimpanzees, L’Hoest’s monkeys, African golden cat and the rare giant forest hog.
