A gorilla permit is a card issued by Wildlife Authorities in Uganda, Rwanda or DRC that allows any individual, above the age of 16 years, to be escorted into the rain-forest jungle to trek mountain gorillas. And when found, the individual is allowed to spend 60 minutes in the presence of the creatures. The gorillas are jealously protected (by government authorities) and without the gorilla permit, you’ll not be allowed anywhere near them or even take a picture of them.
Well, habituating a family of mountain gorillas (10-30 individuals in a single group) for human contact is a massive job that can take up-to three years and thousands of dollars in expenses. Plus gorillas are sensitive to human diseases and are hunted down by gangs of poachers. To keep them safe and healthy requires careful coordination, money and a dedicated team of doctors, researchers, guards, trackers and volunteers. This is all put in place by Government Authorities that and they need your support to keep it going. So, the gorilla permit is the only way!
A gorilla permit costs a hefty amount because of the reasons above. In Uganda the permit for non-residents costs US$600 but this may change in 2020 to US$700 for Foreign non residents, and US$500 to US$600 for Foreign residents, according to UWA (the governing authority).
In Rwanda, the price of the permit doubles that of Uganda at US$1500. Rwanda has various reasons why this is so and one of them is the luxury and ease of access to the creatures.
Rwanda
Travelers can book directly with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB)—reservation@rwandatourism.com or call them +256-705-487-517.
Uganda
In Uganda permits are issued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Call +256312355000
Alternatively
K-Safaris, we process gorilla permits for all our travellers with an all-inclusive African Safari. We’ll go through all the huddles too find any of our travellers a permit to view the gentle giants and nothing can stop us. Talk to our consultants.
Gorilla Trekking Tours
When you’re ready to track gorillas of course. It can’t be that easy, though!. Mountain gorilla permits are very scarce due to high demand by huge numbers of travellers wanting to meet the magnificent creatures. Most East African safaris bound to this small corner come to catch a glimpse of the mountain gorilla and yet the habituated number of gorillas is still low. This makes the gorilla permit so hard to get especially at short notice in high demand seasons (June-Sept).
We recommend you acquire your permit waaaaay before your trip date. About six months before would be really safe for your assurance to meet the gorilla. With that grace gap your tour operator can find all possible ways to find you a permit, even if it means re-purchasing from another traveller.
Watch out for the peak seasons of June, July, August, September, December and February. These are scarce times for the permit but gorilla trekking is guaranteed when you finally acquire a permit.
Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where you find almost half of the 1000 remaining gorillas in the world, has several trail-heads or regions where gorilla trekking starts. This means that if you acquire a permit for one trail-head, you cannot use it at an alternative gorilla section.
So, if you want to track gorillas in Uganda, make sure you have to right permit for your selected trail-head. This will also help you determine which accommodation or safari lodge to book. Bwindi sections include:
Each region has its own gorilla groups or families that a permit allows you to trek. It’s important your tour operator tells you which gorilla section has simple or hard to trek gorilla families considering your physical ability. Otherwise, you may chose the wrong one and spoil the whole adventure with cursing and complaints to the operator.
Let’s borrow from Muzungu’s blog, she exhaustively writes about the requirements of the gorilla permit as follows:
Your gorilla tracking permit will have a unique serial number and your personal details written on it. It is non-transferable.
Remember that you will need to show your passport or some other form of identification at the pre-tracking briefing.
There you have it folks. That’s mostly it about Gorilla Permits. If you have questions about the topic, write to at info@k-safaris.com or tell us what you think in the comments bellow. We would like to hear from you. Better yet, we would like to help you plan your gorilla trip. We have been doing this for while and we think we’ve got the whole planning thing sorted.