2021 Park entry fees Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

2021 Park entry fees Bwindi Impenetrable National Park: Bwindi impenetrable national park is Uganda’s gazetted national park to conserve the endangered mountain gorillas from human beings settling around the park area thus it is a home to the mountain gorillas. Bwindi impenetrable national park is located in the south western part of Uganda close the Uganda-Rwanda borders of Katuna and Cyanika. Bwindi forest has a diverse flora and fauna with about 130 animal species, recorded 350 different bird species and about 20 different primate species and different tree and species.  Bwindi Impenetrable national park is the main habitant for mountain gorillas and it is said that Bwindi forest is home to half of the remaining world’s population of mountain gorillas. Bwindi forest is divided into 4 different given their population and location that is Buhoma sector, Nkuringo sector, Ruhija sector and Rushaga sector. Mountain gorillas in these 4 sectors is all the same in trekking except that the topography of these sectors differ hence gorilla trekking is the same in all the gorilla trekking sectors of Bwindi Impenetrable national park. Bwindi national park has about 16 habituated gorilla families in all the 4 sectors and 1 gorilla family is reserved for habituation process in Rushaga sector, in total Bwindi is blessed with 17 gorilla families. Each gorilla family is comprised of about 10 to 40 members varying in ages and all headed by a silverback gorilla that is the oldest and head of the family. The habituation gorilla families are the ones open for gorilla trekking in Uganda. 

Therefore, any travellers interested in seeing the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable national park are required to purchase gorilla permits in advance before their trekking date. Recommended time for purchase is usually 3-5 months given that the permits are competitive and the earlier booked the higher your chances of Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park. These permits are issued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority after payment has been effected. There is no need to pay additional park entry fees because the park entry fees are included on the permit fees. The gorilla trekking permits can be bought directly from the Wildlife Authority which is usually hectic so you are best recommended to buy through a tour operator like Achieve Global Safaris.  

After every 2 years, the Uganda wildlife Authority makes changes on the park fees and 2020—2021 is no different especially Gorilla trekking fees 2021. Uganda Gorilla trekking permits were increased to $700 per person for foreign non-residents, $600 per person for foreign residents while permits for East African residents remained at 250,000 Uganda Shillings per person. So travellers planning to travel for gorilla trekking in Uganda, are informed that the gorilla permits were increased as of July 1st 2020. 

Therefore, 2021 park entry fees for Bwindi Impenetrable national park are charged according to the activities one is interested in doing. For gorilla trekking, park entry fees are included on the cost of a gorilla permit. Other costs include; the armed ranger guides fees and their services which is providing protection to the visitors during the trek in the forest. The paid fees are also used for conservation of the gorillas and 10 percent of the paid fees are given to the communities staying around the gazetted park as a way of supporting their livelihoods. 

2021 park entry fees in Bwindi Impenetrable national park is only paid if one is not going for gorilla trekking and habituation but rather doing other activities. It costs $40 for a foreign non-resident to enter Bwindi forest if one is not doing a gorilla trekking. Other activities like nature walks for bird watching costs $30 for foreign non-residents, $15 for foreign residents and 10,000 Uganda shillings for East African Residents.

After you have purchased your gorilla permit, prepare for your experience with the right gorilla trekking gears. On the day of gorilla trekking, drive to the park quite early by at least 6:00 am depending on where you will be staying closer to the park headquarters. Be at the park headquarters by 7:00 am when the briefing about the experience is done by the park officials and you will as well be allocated which gorilla family to visit. If you have any disabilities, it is then that you inform that officials for example if you cannot take long walks so that you are allocated a closer group to visit or if you want a further group, you can also ask for it. At 8:00 am is when you arrive at the starting point of trekking. Each gorilla group is allocated only 8 people for protection. This search of the gorilla group can take 2 to 8 hours depending in the location of the gorilla group. On finding the allocated group, you will be allowed to spend at least an hour in their presence as you watch them do their activities like playing, and feeding. Ensure you carried your camera and binoculars because this is would be the best time to use them. After an hour, you will be lead back to the end point where your vehicle will be waiting for you and at the end also you will be awarded a certificate that proves to the whole world that you visited the endangered wild mountain gorillas.