Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is a detail on how one needs to move through the Ugandan routes to be able to have access for gorilla trekking. Bwindi gorilla trekking national park is the most visited national park in Uganda for gorilla trekking with over 60% of world’s population. It is located in the south western region in Uganda bordering democratic republic of Congo’s Virunga national park and Rwanda’s volcanoes national park. Bwindi impenetrable national park is a UNESCO recognized world heritage site which is 530 kilometers from Kampala City the capital of Uganda.
Primarily u need error free authentic documents that is passport and tickets which are purchased at different airlines for foreigners to access Uganda and also a gorilla trekking permit for any tourist interested in gorilla trekking to enter into Bwindi impenetrable national park.
You can get to Bwindi impenetrable national park by both air and road.
By Air: Air transport is the easiest and quickest way of getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Entebbe international airport is the main gateway in Uganda and it’s a 54 minutes’ drive of 45.4 km from Kampala. By air a tourist can fly from kajjansi airfield to Kisoro airstrip that is Nyakabande. It’s the best choice for tourist intending to do gorilla trekking in bwindi forests regions of Nkuringo, Nshongi and Mishaya (southern region). For tourists trekking in the northern regions kayonza and kihihi are the best airstrips to fly which lasts 1 hr and 30 minutes.
Fly Uganda launched flights for getting to Bwindi impenetrable national park (Kisoro and kihihi) on 2nd November 2018 with 3 flights a week that is Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Flights depart from kajjansi at 08h00 and arrive in Kisoro / kihihi at 09h30. Return flights by fly Uganda depart kihihi at 10h00 and arrive at kajjansi at 11h30. Flight tickets cost USD 236 and it is advisable for a traveler to book their flight 2 days prior to their travelling day.
Aero link operates daily flights to Kisoro and kihihi airstrips departing at 0745hr and arriving at 0930 hr at a cost of USD 70. Air Charter Flights also conducts flights to Kisoro.
By road. Using road is the cheapest way to Bwindi impenetrable national park as buses do operate daily to Bwindi impenetrable national park at a price of 25,000 per person. Bwindi impenetrable national park can be reached from different direction by road including;
- from Kampala – Kisoro it is approximately a 7 hours and 18 minutes’ drive covering 530 kilometers.
- from kabale town to Bwindi it’s a 1-2 hours drive covering 17 km
- from queen Elizabeth national park it’s a 3-5 hours drive
- from mweya its 160 km to Bwindi
- from ishasha its 64km
Getting to Bwindi impenetrable national park by road is very rewarding as you get to see several attractions like climbing lions, monkeys, baboons as you pass ishasha section via Queen Elizabeth national park. The most used route by tourists is the 390 km Kampala via Rukungiri to Buhoma road yet other routes include;
- Kampala-Buhoma route covers 105 km which includes driving from Kampala through masaka, mbarara, kabale, kanungu to buhoma. This route offers a fun journey as you get to see rolling mountains.
- Kampala-buhoma route via Rukungiri to Bwindi impenetrable national park which is the quickest route to the gorilla trekking famous park. You start your journey from Kampala to Ntungamo where you branch off of the highway connecting to Rukungiri then through Kihihi. It covers a total distance of 390 km.
- Kampala via kabale- Ruhija covers 95 km from marram road which takes approximately an 8 hours’ drive to Kabale town where you connect to Ruhija the Eastern part of Bwindi impenetrable national park.
Four wheel drive cars are the most suitable option when getting to Bwindi impenetrable national park because it always does rain and all routes become slippery as most of them are marram. Travelling to Bwindi from Kampala includes a stopover at the equator in Kayabwe which has craft shops around it.
The Ishasha road is sometimes in poor conditions especially in rainy season as some bridges seem to break done due to heavy tracks which go to democratic republic of Congo.
