BWINDI IMPENETRABLE FOREST NATIONAL PARK

 

For a park to be ranked among the UNESCO world heritage sites, it must be extraordinary in more than one way! And that’s what makes Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a National Park with a large variation of altitude and habitat types is. It is a tropical rainforest attraction estimated to be over 25,000 years. It is found in Southwestern Uganda on the edge of the Albertine rift. Bwindi credits its popularity to protecting over 460 mountain gorillas—half of the world’s population.

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The park deserves a special place in every birder’s bucket list as it boasts of over 400 bird species. Oh, and these include 23 that are endemic to the Albertine rift like the African Green Broadbill. March and September are the best as one stands higher chances of seeing them with ease. If you are keener on migrant birds like cinnamon-chested bee-eater, the months from April to November don’t disappointment.

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For easy management, the Park which spreads across 321 km2 is split into different wings such as Ruhijja, Buhoma, Rushaga and Nkuringo, from which tourists can track gorillas. Each area has different gorilla families.

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Ruhija wing

 

Why Ruhija stands out among the five wings of tracking gorillas ?

Buhoma used to be ranked as the most visited arena for tracking gorillas as it was the first to be developed for tourism purposes. However, things are taking a new twist. More tourists are developing a preference for Ruhija over Buhoma especially for four broad reasons. For starters, it offers unobstructed views of Virunga, Africa’s oldest park and its active volcanoes. Standing atop its highly elevated hills, you can also catch sight of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park and Lake Albert, a bird watching paradise in the Albertine Rift Valley.

Secondly, Ruhija is much closer to Kabale, the main access point of the park by road. While it takes roughly an hour to get to it, it takes roughly three hours to reach Buhoma. This is partly because the earth road that leads to it (Buhoma) is usually in an impassable state due to the heavy traffic of cars it receives. Secondly, one stands high chances of encountering forest elephants in Ruhija than any other wing of the park.

Lastly, the gorillas in Buhoma are quite tamed as they are used to seeing endless numbers of tourists all year. On the other hand, the ones in Ruhija exhibit an utterly wild behaviour as their locality is still virgin.

Below are some examples of gorilla families in Ruhija ;

Bitukura
It is so unusual for a gorilla family to have more than two silverbacks, and that’s one of the reasons why this group stands out. It is one of the two families in Uganda that has three silverbacks. Needless to say, it is also one of the latest groups to be habituated. That aside, it comprises of members in different age brackets with the youngest at five months and the oldest at 32 years. This makes it possible for tourists to compare how gorillas of different age brackets behave. In total, it has 11 members; two infants, two juveniles, two black backs, two adult females and three silverbacks.

Oruzogo
Many tourists especially those who love trekking love this group immensely as it is found deep in the forest. As such, one is assured of encountering so many sights and sounds of the forest as they journey to meet Oruzogo.
They spend much of their time on ground, at a secondary forest in the park. This makes it easy to observe their behaviour and features in detail. It also enables one take excellent pictures without trying so hard. If you have a thing for selfies, they will rock your experience. It comprises of 12 members.
Unlike most gorilla species in Bwindi, their favourite delicacy is Oruzogoto, a soft plant whose sheath has a strong taste. That’s how they came to be called Oruzogo.

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The Batwa

They say you can take a wild animal out of the jungle but you can’t take the wild side out of them. That might be hard to believe for now, but it won’t anymore after you visit the Batwa community in the villages around Bwindi National Park where they live now like Ruhija. While it is over a decade now since this tribe of pigmies was evicted from Bwindi, they still hold a very strong attachment to it. Day in day out, they exhibit the ways of life they used to live while still residents in the forest. Such include how they used to hunt wildlife, harvest wild fruits, and conduct marriages among others. The experience is enriched and authentic, a good reason most tourists cannot imagine leaving Bwindi before experiencing it.

Though there are no standard rates or fee for this activity, visitors are urged to render what they can afford. The Batwa don’t have any other reliable source of livelihood. They survive on handouts.​

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