Nature walk/ hiking in Bwindi impenetrable national park
Nature walk/ hiking in Bwindi impenetrable national park; Bwindi impenetrable national park is one of the most visited national park in Uganda located in south western region in Kanungu, Kisoro and Kabale districts. Bwindi impenetrable national park is famously known for harboring the endangered mountain gorillas, other primates like l’hoest monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, animals like forest elephants, bush pigs and different bird species. Bwindi impenetrable national park offers various activities that you can engage in during the safari including gorilla trekking, gorilla habituation experience, bird watching, batwa cultural tour and guided nature walks/ hiking.
Nature walk/ hiking in Bwindi impenetrable national park is an amazing activity where you will be able to explore the park on foot with the company of an experienced park guide and armed park rangers to protect you from any danger. During the guided nature walk, you will follow different hiking trails in the forest and they include,
Munyaga waterfall trail
Munyaga waterfall trail is one of the hiking trails in Buhoma sector, Bwindi impenetrable national park. The waterfall trail takes about 3 hours and starts with a briefing about the rules, regulations and expectations at the park headquarters. During the guided nature walk, you will be able to view different primate species, birds, enjoy the beautiful scenery, waterfall, listen to sweet sounds of the bird species, roaring water, take beautiful pictures among others.
Mubwindi swamp trail
Mubwindi swamp trail is one of the best nature walk trail located in buhoma sector Bwindi impenetrable national park. The trail takes about 4 to 5 hours and takes you through the swamp and rainforest where you will be able to view different animals, primates, views of the Virunga massifs and variety of bird species like the African fish eagle, black crake, African jacana among others as its one of the best birding trails.
Muzabajiro loop trail
Muzabajiro loop trails is found in Buhoma sector in Bwindi impenetrable national park. The trail takes about 3-4 hours and takes you through Rushura hill with great views of the Bwindi impenetrable national park, Virunga massif, the great rift valley among others.
Rushura hill trail
Rushura hill is another hiking trail in Buhoma sector northern part of Bwindi impenetrable national park. Rushura trail is the most strenuous trail in Buhoma sector and hiking takes about 3 hours with scenic views of the forest canopy, lake Edward, lake George, Rwenzori mountain peaks among others.
The ivy river trail
The ivy river trail is a 7-hour trail in Bwindi impenetrable national park that either starts from Buhoma or Nkuringo park headquarters. The trail passes through Mukempunu which means a place where wild pigs are usually seen. During the guided nature walk, you will be rewarded with great views of animals, primates, bird species, plants, interact with the local people among others
Habinyanja trail
Habinyanja trail is also located in Buhoma sector in the northern part of Bwindi impenetrable national park. Hiking Habinyanja trail takes about 4 to 6 hours passing through Munyanga river and Riyoyi ridges which overlook Buhoma river. During the Habinyanja trail hike, you will be able to spot different birds species, plant and tree species, butterflies among others.
Kashasha river trail
Kashasha river trail is an interesting trail that can either start from Buhoma sector and end in Nkuringo sector or start from Nkuringo sector and end in Buhoma sector. The trail takes about 4 to 5 hours and takes you through steep terrain, community land, connecting rivers, River Kashasha and River Ivi with great views of bird species among others.
Bamboo trail
Bamboo trail is one of the strenuous hiking trails in Ruhija sector, eastern part of Bwindi impenetrable national park. Hiking bamboo trail takes about 7 hours which makes it one of the longest trails in the park. The trail passes through different vegetation zones such as afro montane vegetation, bamboo vegetation, tropical vegetation among others where you will be able to view different primates, animals like duikers, forest elephants, birds like African jacana, brown snake eagle, woolly necked stork among others.
Cost of nature walk in Bwindi impenetrable national park
Nature walk in Bwindi impenetrable national park costs 30 USD per person for foreign non residents, 15 USD per person for foreign residents and 10,000 UGX per person for East African citizens. The nature walk rate exclude part entrance fee to Bwindi impenetrable national park which cost 40 USD per person for foreign non residents, 30 USD per person for foreign residents and 20,000 UGX per person for East African citizens.
Best time to do nature walks in Bwindi impenetrable national park
Nature walk/ hiking in Bwindi impenetrable national park can be done anytime throughout the year though the best time is during dry season in the months of June to September and December to February because during this period there is less rainfall in the park therefore hiking trails will be dry and passable which make nature walks easy compared to the rainy season when the hiking trails are muddy and slippery which make nature walks difficult.
Other activities in Bwindi impenetrable national park
Apart from nature walk/ hiking, Bwindi impenetrable national park offers other interesting activities like gorilla trekking where you will be able to spend one hour with the mountain gorillas, bird watching where you will be able to spot different bird species, gorilla habituation experience where you will be able to spend four hours with the gorillas under habituation process, batwa cultural experience where you will be able to interact with the batwa people who used to live in Bwindi forest before it was gazetted into a national park.
How to get to Bwindi impenetrable national park
Bwindi impenetrable national park is located in south western part of Uganda and can be accessed by road transport means where you will drive from Kampala via masaka, Mbarara, Kabale and then to the park headquarters which takes about 8 to 9 hours’ drive.
You can as well access Bwindi impenetrable national park from Rwanda where you will fly to Kigali international airport and then connect to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park via cyanika border in Kisoro or katuna border in Kabale which takes about 4 to 5 hours’ drive.
Bwindi impenetrable national park can also be accessed by air transport means where you will book scheduled or charter domestic flights from Entebbe international airport to Kihihi or Kisoro airstrips and then connect to the park headquarters by road.
For more information about nature walk/ hiking in Bwindi impenetrable national park, you can reach out to us at Achieve Global Safaris.