How Many Gorilla Permits are Available in Uganda

There are 160 gorilla permits available for booking in Uganda daily. There are 20 gorilla families in Uganda and each family is allocated 8 permits per day. When you multiply 20 x 8, you get 160 gorilla trekking permits from the two Uganda gorilla parks combined. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has 19 habituated gorilla groups spread across its four gorilla trekking sectors. These include Buhoma sector in the north of Bwindi, Ruhija sector in the east plus  Nkuringo and Rushaga sectors in the southern segment of the park. These 4 gorilla sectors of Bwindi forest have varying numbers of gorilla families. On the day of gorilla trekking, each region of Bwindi has its own offices where visitors gather for gorilla trekking briefing before dispersing to their respective allocated groups for trekking.

On the other hand, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park has only one gorilla family called the Nyakagezi group available for trekking. And this also has 8 gorilla permits allocated to it. Most of the times, people go to see gorillas in Mgahinga forest following the shortages in Bwindi. But there are those tourists who out rightly ask for Mgahinga gorilla trekking without considering Bwindi as a first option.

How to get any of these gorilla permits?

All the gorilla permits in Uganda are issued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), which manages all national parks and wildlife reserves in the country. Gorilla permit booking can be made through your selected tour operator like Speedway Safaris or any other gorilla tour company. Gorilla permits are issued for a given sector of Bwindi. A region’s issued permit determines the accommodation where a visitor would stay prior or after trekking gorillas. Once you book a permit with us, we issue a receipt for you and confirm your gorilla trip with us.

How much are Gorilla Permits in Uganda?

In Uganda, a gorilla permit for trekking the endangered primate in Bwindi and Mgahinga goes for USD 700. While that of gorilla habituation experience is at USD 1500. With this experience, visitors spend 4 hours with mountain gorillas in the wild as they study their traits and conduct.