Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park can be done by traveling on road and flying with an aircraft since these two options are available.
By road, you can drive from Queen Elizabeth National Park to the Northern part of Bwindi and the distance will take 3 hours drive. From Kampala, the capital city of Uganda through Mbarara and one will drive for 8hours to reach the park. From Kabale town to the southern section it is 2hours. Bwindi forest National Park is approximately 8 hours via Masaka road from Kampala the capital city of Uganda.
Search for a trusted tour operator in Uganda to organize your trip as well as provide the best transport services.
By Air, one can access the park to buy flying to the nearby airstrips. You can drive from Entebbe International Airport to Kajjansi Airfield, where you will fly with aero link to Kisoro, as well as to grass Kayonza airstrips.
Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is made possible because the park is served by 3 airfield stations in Kayonza for the north area to Nyakabande and Kihihi airstrips. Nyakabande is located in Kisoro and is suitable or use by for the mountain Gorilla trekkers in Nkuringo and Rushaga sector because this will be nearer since these are found in the south part.
Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park using the Queen Elizabeth National park route, on your way to the Buhoma sector drive through the Isasha sector of the tree-climbing lion area in Africa. This will take 70km from the Ishasha sector and 170km from Mweya-Queen Elizabeth national park.
Taking the Kampala-Kabale-Kanungu-Buhoma route, you will Drive through the tarmac road to Kabale covering an area of 500km which is about 6hours drive, then route to a murram road which is 200km drive through Kanungu to Kanyantorogo which is a 5 hours drive however you will need a 4WD car.
Going through the Kampala-Ntungamo-Rukungiri-Kihihi-Buhoma route, this route is very convenient from Kampala direct to the tarmac road in Rukungiri which is 400km on a Murram road of Buhoma.
Getting to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park through Kampala-Kabale-Ruhija –Buhoma; Drive for 100km on the murram road which takes 4hours, using a 4WD.
Accessing Bwindi via Kampala-Kabale-Nkuringo; This distance covers 200km from kabala town taking 4hours to get the to Murram road. Option to sleepover in Kabale and then continue with the 80km to Nkuringo which meanders 40km and 6hours.
Bwindi Impenetrable National park is a biodiverse habitat with slopes and lowland forests of 1170 m to Afro-montane vegetation which is above 2700m altitude.
The park is one of the oldest national parks in Uganda with over 18,000 years. It is home to the mountain Gorillas in Africa and other species including mammals, bird species, tree species, vegetation, butterflies, moths, reptiles, primates and many more. The primates include baboons, chimpanzees, L’Hoests, Blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, Mountain Gorillas and many more.
The park has local people the Batwa people who first lived in the forest and the Bafumbira tribe community which holds up to over 400 people.
Bwindi Impenetrable National park trailheads can only be accessed by foot and the roads by vehicles as well. The park is named impenetrable forest because of its dark trailheads that go through the thick vegetation and you will be provided with walking sticks as well for the walk.
Climate and visiting time; The park is a rain forest and thus experiences mostly wet seasons especially in the morning and night hours whereby the temperature of 8°C to 20°C. The months wet season runs from June to July and rainy seasons from March to May as well from September to November which makes a total annual rainfall of 3000mmm.
The rains of March to May are very short however during the seasons of September to November there are heavy rains that rain for long hours and very gentle drizzling.
There are accommodation facilities however this will depend on where you will trek since the park has four sectors including Rushaga, Ruhija, Buhoma, and Nkuringo.
Bwindi Impenetrable National park started as a wildlife reserve in 1943 later on it was regarded as a national park in 1992. After some years in 1994, it was regarded as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.
Rukiga is the main language spoken in the area; the park is a landscape of very steep ridges that are very slippery and high. The terrain is very hard. A gorilla permit can be booked through a trusted tour operator which is registered under the Uganda Tour operators Association, however, book three months pro to your departure.
