Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is an old, steep rainforest in south-west Uganda, on the edge of the Albertine Rift. It became a national park in 1991 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

Why go

About 459 mountain gorillas live in Bwindi, close to half of all the mountain gorillas left in the world. You walk with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers until you find a gorilla family, then spend one quiet hour with them: young ones playing, mothers feeding, a silverback resting nearby. Bwindi is also a top birding forest, with more than 350 species, including 23 found only in the Albertine Rift.

What you can do

• Gorilla trekking from four areas: Buhoma in the north, Ruhija in the east, and Rushaga and Nkuringo in the south.
• The gorilla habituation experience: about four hours with a family that is still getting used to people.
• Birding walks, especially around Ruhija.
• Forest walks, and the long walk between Buhoma and Nkuringo.

The people side

The Batwa are the first people of this forest. They had to leave when the park was created. On the Batwa Forest Experience near Buhoma, Batwa guides show how their families found food, medicine and shelter in the forest. The walk is led by Batwa guides and is included in your trip, so what you pay goes to the hosts. In Buhoma, Ride 4 a Woman, started by local women in 2009, runs sewing and craft workshops, bicycle hire and a guesthouse. On trekking day you can hire a local porter to carry your bag and help you on steep parts, a fair day’s pay for village families.

Best time to visit

Bwindi is open all year. June to August and December to February are drier, so trails are less slippery. In April, May and November gorilla permits are sold at a lower low-season rate and the forest is quieter, but these permits cannot be moved to another date.

Getting there

Allow 8 to 10 hours by road from Kampala, about 1 hour more from Entebbe; most guests break the journey at Lake Mburo or Lake Bunyonyi. Scheduled flights from Entebbe reach the Kihihi or Kisoro airstrips in about 1 hour 10 minutes, followed by a 4×4 transfer.

Good to know

UWA rules: the minimum age is 15, each gorilla family takes at most eight visitors a day, you stay one hour, at least 10 metres away, and you cannot trek with a cold. Walking time can be 1 hour or more than 6, on steep, muddy slopes between about 1,160 and 2,600 metres, so we rate gorilla trekking Level 4, Challenging. Permits are paid in full at booking, so tell us your dates early. UWA’s current prices are valid to 31 December 2026; new UWA prices start on 1 January 2027.