Reason why you should book your gorilla permit in advance
Reason why you should book your gorilla permit in advance: A gorilla permit is a document issued by Uganda Wildlife Authority that allows a tourist or traveler above the age of 15 years to trek or track mountain gorillas in any of the two habitats that is Bwindi impenetrable national park or Mgahinga national park all in Uganda. A gorilla permit is issued to an individual and people are allowed to track the gorillas in a group of 8 tourists and an encounter with the adorable primates goes for One hour. Before starting your trekking journey, each individual will be required by the Uganda Wildlife Authority operatives to present their permits to confirm their individual gorilla permits and other credentials.

It is advised for an individual to book for his/her gorilla permit in advance for it has got a lot of advantages if hoping for a gorilla trip in Uganda or Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. Gorilla permits for both Bwindi and Mgahinga in most cases sell out quickly, below are some of the reasons as why one should book for the permits to avoid last minute bookings.
Clients are advised to book their gorilla permits 3-4 months prior to time of their expected journey or even 6 months earlier in order to avoid short notice or last minutes frustrations. During the high season in the months of Jan, Feb, Mar, June, July, Aug, Oct and Dec, the permits tend to sell out very fast due to high demand within these months because there’s fewer rainfall amounts.
Scarcity of gorilla permits in the peak season as a result of high demand from clients all over the world. Rwanda permits are expensively sold out to the clients and each permit goes for $1500(FNR) per person while Uganda gorilla permits go for $600 (FNR) per person in the peak season and $450(FNR) in the low season. These price variations between Uganda and Rwanda tend to call for demand in Ugandan parks thus shortage of permits.
Affordability of Uganda’s gorilla permits is another reason for a tourist to book for the permit in time. Like said earlier, Uganda gorilla permits are cheap as compared to those of our counterparts in the Rwandan side.
Bwindi impenetrable has over 10 gorilla troupes/families that scattered in various parts of the park. A client should be aware that some gorilla families get booked faster as compared to the rest. Buhoma, Nkuringo, Rushaga and Ruhija are the most highly places in the park because they have the biggest gorilla families hence saving travelers energy and time. Also the lodges and camps within these places of the park tend to get fully booked because of the proximity to famous gorilla families.
Each day, about 72 people Bwindi impenetrable national park in only a group of 8 people to visit gorilla families. It’s advised to book for a gorilla permit with the tour company at the same time you’re booking for your trip or a safari in Uganda depending on one’s traveling time.
It should be noted that some tour companies tend to offer discounted fares for the gorilla permits from $600 to $400 per person, these fares are normally for the low season in the park within the month of April, May and November.
