Many people use these words, "gorilla tracking" and "gorilla trekking," interchangeably, including travelers and different bloggers; however, many think these words mean the same thing, although these two words mean completely different activities. All have the word "gorillas" in common. Below are the different explanations for these two activities.

 

Gorilla tracking

Gorilla tracking is mostly done by expert ranger guides, researchers, and park staff. Gorilla tracking involves tracking down the location of specific gorilla families based on their last known location, where they slept the previous night, and their feeding zone. Gorilla trackers participate for a variety of reasons, including researchers who do gorilla tracking for research purposes, gorilla censuses, and so on, while expert rangers do gorilla tracking to know gorilla locations so that when tourists come to view these gorillas, they always get a chance to spot them in their natural environment, offering a guaranteed 99% chance of viewing gorillas despite the fact that gorillas move from place to place within their various savannas. Gorilla tracking is the same in different gorilla tracking national parks of Uganda at Bwindi impenetrable forest national park and Mgahinga gorilla national parks, Rwanda at volcanoes national park, and Congo at Virunga national park

 

Gorilla trekking

Gorilla trekking is when tourists go into the thick tropical rain forests of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Volcanoes National Park, and Virunga National Park searching for mountain gorillas with the help of expert rangers and guides. The terrain of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park of Uganda, Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda, and Virunga National Park of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is almost the same; all these national parks are composed of thick tropical rain forests and bamboo, which means that they offer the same experience. The variations in these national parks are very minimal, based on the steepness of some national parks that are mountainous in nature and the hilly nature of the Virunga massif.

 

Gorilla trekking kicks off early in the morning, where guests are expected to have had their early morning breakfast and report to their respective morning briefing points by 7:30 a.m., where trekkers are taught about mountain gorilla trekking dos and don’ts before being allocated to a gorilla group to track, with a maximum of 8 people assigned per gorilla group. The gorilla trekking activity lasts for between 1 and 4 hours before the tourists get to meet the allocated gorilla group. The duration of a gorilla trek is determined by several factors, including the terrain, the strength of the travelers, the movement of the gorilla families, the skill of the park rangers and the guide, and so on. However, gorilla trekking is a thrilling activity when tourists finally meet the mountain gorilla family, no matter how long the trek has taken. Tourists are only accepted for a maximum of one hour to watch and take pictures with the mountain gorillas. During this time, travelers are allowed to ask the park ranger guides any information they would like to know about gentle giant apes. After Mountain Gorilla Trekking, meet your tour guide/driver, who will take you to your lodge for lunch.

 

The difficulty of Gorilla trekking in these national parks

Different tourists have different preferences for how strenuous they want their gorilla trekking to be; some travelers would prefer a long adventure hike through the African thick tropical rain forests, while others prefer shorter hikes of adventure, and still others may be constrained to choose shorter hikes due to age and health conditions. At Devine African Safaris, we do our best to find out exactly what our guests want, right from when they send their inquiry until when they book their gorilla trekking safaris. We help travelers choose the best sector for gorilla trekking based on their preferences. On your trekking day, we can talk to the park wardens and rangers so that you can be assigned to the gorilla group based on your preferences.

 

Booking your gorilla trekking safaris

We offer several Rwanda gorilla trekking safari packages, Uganda gorilla trekking safari packages, and Congo gorilla trekking safaris. Just browse the Divine African Safaris website, select your best preferences regarding gorilla trekking packages, and request a quote. Just in case you need some of our reviews regarding our gorilla trekking with some of our previous clients, please check them out on our TripAdvisor page.