Gorilla trekking Guidelines – Gorillas are the largest living primates on earth, they are categorized in to the lowland and Highland gorillas a sub-species of the eastern gorilla, the Uganda Mountain Gorilla is majorly the mountain gorilla beringei, they are situated in two ecosystems in the south western part of Uganda (Bwindi impenetrable national park and Mgahinga national park) The national authorities have been put in place to govern and consider the conservation of the mountain gorilla species. The forest was home to the three great apes including the Chimpanzee and man, however The Batwa were evicted from living in the forest as a way of protecting the other species from encroachment.
Mountain gorillas are characterized by their herbivorous nature, they live in family groups led by a male silverback, baby gorillas are called infants up to the age of 2 years and are in the care of their mothers, the young stars play and swing around trees while rolling on the ground, most mature gorillas are primarily on the ground while eating almost all day, it is unique that these primate species can either sleep in a nest of even on bare ground without having a problem. In order to preserve the brown eyed gentle species the Uganda wildlife authority came up with some Gorilla trekking Guidelines to observe while with the Mountain Gorillas.
Maintain a 7-meter distance from the gorilla, this rule is to observe both your safety and that of the gorillas, in case of any communicable diseases each of you walks away free, this distance is a comfortable length for the gorilla to have someone around them. Smoking, eating and drinking While with the gorillas is not permitted on tour, human waste is supposed to be buried 30 cm deep to keep it away from the animals. These animals just like Humans can catch a cold or coughs because they are similar to man so if you must sneeze of cough Kindly turn away from the animals, in case you have earlier signs of any communicable or infectious disease do not visit the animals.
Gorilla visit numbers have been restricted to 8 people per gorilla family per day, these eight people can only be with the gorillas for one hour, when doing the gorilla trekking, the activity is done once in a day in order to avoid irritating the family members of the gorillas. Flash photography is prohibited as it may trigger gorillas fuming. Children under the age of 15 are not permitted to track mountain gorillas unless they have permission from the Uganda wildlife authority or consent from the parents and that they will keep a close watch on the children during the exercise. Trekkers are always led by an armed game ranger for protection against fuming animals.
It is important to move with your yellow fever vaccination card; this will enable you to have cross borders with ease especially when coming into Uganda, a passport is a must carry when going for the gorilla trekking exercise, it is required during the gorilla briefing by the Uganda wildlife authority team as well as when crossing boundaries from one east African country to another.
Any one intending to take on a gorilla trekking experience should consider a physical fitness and a mental stability, trekking gorillas can be hectic depending on how far the gorilla families have moved, it can be 2 hours of trekking or even the whole day! So it’s really wise to get some exercise prior to the trekking time.in situations of the gorilla coming closer to you please be sure to master the art of being calm before you get break the whole wilderness loose, follow the guidance of the game ranger and everything will be well and ok. In addition to the Gorilla trekking guidelines, there are a few things that a trekker needs to have, in case you feel the need to Hire a porter, drinking water, walking stick, wear comfortable shoes.