How best to book a safari to Mgahinga National park?  Mgahinga national park is one of the famous national parks in Uganda for harboring endangered mountain gorillas. Mgahinga National Park features a tropical rain forest characterized by bamboo and montane vegetation. Visitors interested in taking a safari to Mgahinga national parks need to do a lot of searches to critically get to know the best out of the Mgahinga Safari experience. There is a lot of information online about Mgahinga Gorilla National Park including where it is located, where to stay, and how best you can reach the park. Africa adventure Vacations will always give you accurate information about how you can effectively book a gorilla safari to Mgahinga National Park.

About Mgahinga National Park as a safari destination

Mgahinga national park is situated in the southwestern part of Uganda in the district of Kisoro in east Africa.  Mgahinga national park is part of the volcanic mountain bock of Congo. Uganda and Rwanda and this block are known for their endangered mountain gorillas. The park is one of the smallest in all the ten national parks in Uganda but is so diversify with biodiversity species and it borders Virunga national park in Congo, Bwindi Forest national park in Uganda, and Volcanoes national park situated in Rwanda. Mgahinga gorilla national park features 3 volcanic mountains which include, Sabinyo, Gahinga, and Muhavura which are part of the 6 volcanoes that make the Virunga Mountains. Mgahinga National Park is home to endangered mountain gorillas and the unique golden monkeys. These primates shrive in the tropical rain forests that comprise low land forests, mountain bamboo, montane rain forests, and evergreen equatorial rain forests. Of all National parks in Uganda, Mgahinga is the smallest t national park but with unique gorillas and the park is well known for gorilla trekking activity as well as golden monkeys. This means that visitors planning a safari to Mgahinga Gorilla National park must obtain gorilla trekking permits to be able to tree and see Nyakagezi the only gorilla family group located in this park.

What to do and see in Mgahinga National Park

However, the park is the smallest but a visit to Mgahinga will keep your eyes so wonderful and catchy with several attractions within the park. The most common and famous activity is gorilla trekking and it is different for tourists to go to Mgahinga and miss seeing the endangered mountain gorillas. The park is home to only one habituated Nyakagezi gorilla family which is only available for trekking. Sometimes gorilla families from Rwanda and Congo are joined by other gorilla families from the neighboring parks of Virunga and volcanoes in the democratic republic of Congo cross and join this group in Mgahinga and later return. Nyakagezi Family has got 14 m3mbers and only 8 tourists are allowed to see it for one hour.

Golden monkey trekking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

Golden monkey tracking is also another important activity that is done in Mgahinga Park after gorilla trekking and like Gorilla trekking, you will need golden monkey trekking permits to track and see these monkeys.  Golden monkey tracking makes Mgahinga one of the unique activities the fact that the rare species have only remained in this park. There are 2 communities of golden monkeys that are habituated and are available for tracking. The golden monkey trekking permit costs United States dollars 100 and the activity starts at 7:00 in the morning with a briefing and after you proceed to the forest to see gorillas. Upon seeing those visitors will be allowed only one hour to see and view the golden monkeys. It is only in Mgahinga and volcanoes national park where golden monkeys are found.

Volcano hiking

Volcanic hiking offers the best adventurous activity to people interesting in hiking safari in Uganda. You can spare time to go to Mgahinga National park for hiking safaris. Volcano climbing in Mgahinga is the best adventure that you have ever heard of. You can decide to hike Sabinyo, Gahinga, and Muhavura mountains.  The mountain is part of the six volcanic mountains in the democratic republic of Congo. Mountain Sabinyo is good for climbing as it stands at 3669 meters and you will spend about 8hours climbing this steep-sided slop up to its peak/summit.

Birding experience

Bird-watching safari is one of the interesting activities that most visitors have done even when they are on the gorilla trekking and golden monkey tracking expedition in Mgahinga national park. there are different bird species that you can sport while in Mgahinga for bird watching and these include Brown-crowned Tchagra, Dusky Turtle Dove, Rwenzori Batis, the Chubb’s Cisticola, Olive Thrush, Regal Sunbird, Cape Robin-chat, Blue-headed Sunbird, Red-faced Woodland Warbler, Black-headed Waxbill, the Chubb’s Cisticola, Streaky Seedeater, Kivu-ground Thrush, Banded Prinia, Dusky Turtle Dove, among others. Birding in Mgahinga National park takes place between Sabinyo Mountain and Gahinga Mountain and visitors can take about 4 hours on the birding trail with the help of a UWA ranger guide. Our company also has got knowledgeable safari guides with birding experience.

Batwa Cultural experience

Culture experience is one of the activities sold alongside gorilla trekking safaris. It is important to note that Mghinga Gorilla national park before gazetted into a national park was occupied by the indigenous communities of the Batwa pygmies who were later relocated to the areas surrounding the park. This was done to ensure that the gorillas and other primates are well conserved. Interacting with Batwa provides worth interesting activity as they narrate to you their traditional ways of life the fact that they were hunters, and food gathers and they used the forest mainly as the center of treatment where they could get herbs to treat themselves. You will as well see where they used to stay in Garamba Cave and learn how best they used resources for their living.

How to book a gorilla trekking permit to Mgahinga National park

All the gorilla trekking permits in Uganda are issued and handled by Uganda Wildlife Authority.  One can trek gorillas in Mgahinga National Park without a valid gorilla trekking permit/card provided by the Uganda wildlife authority and allows you to spend only 1 hour with mountain gorillas. Once you have contacted us at Africa Adventure vacations and let us know of your date that you intend to go for gorilla trekking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, we will check for the availability of permits on that particular date with UWA and after we have confirmed the availability, we shall let you know as we reserve the permits for about seven days waiting for you to make payments and once you have paid then we pay for the permit and send you the scanned copies.

At Africa adventure vacations, we only accept bank transfers and credit card payment, and cash, when you’re physically at our offices, are the only modes of payment that we accept. For those interested in booking for the safari to Mgahinga National Park, a gorilla trekking permit costs $700 for foreign non-residents, $600 for foreign residents, and Uganda Shillings 250,000 for East Africa citizens of Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, and Southern Sudan. It is important that you book your gorilla permit 3 to 4 months in advance for Mgahinga gorilla national park because the permits tend to sell out quickly especially during the dry season deemed as the peak season.

Where to stay in Mgahinga National Park?

There are different accommodating facilities around Mgahinga National Park and it upon you to choose the best accommodation where you would like to stay depending on your budget. The best option will enable you to stay at an accommodation facility that overlooks the Virunga mountain ranges. The accommodation facilities in Mgahinga range from budget up to luxury accommodation facilities. In Mgahinga National park, visitors can stay at Lake Mulele Safari Lodge, Gahinga lodge, and Lake Chahafi resort.  Some visitors can decide to stay at various lodges and hotels in Kisoro and some can even stay at Bwindi lodges especially at Rushaga Gorilla Havens Lodge, gorilla forest camp, Trekkers tavern lodge, Bakiga lodge among others. You need to make you’re booking as early enough to ensure you get a better accommodation facility to stay at during your stay in Mgahinga gorilla National Park.

How to choose the best tour company to take you to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park for gorillas

Yes, you must set a good tour company that will help you in arranging safaris to Mgahinga by booking for you the gorilla permits, accommodation, transportation, and all the activities that you would like to do in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. There some simple criteria that you should use when selecting a tour company in Uganda. One of the ways is to do some search online and find if that company is registered with the Association of Uganda Tour Operators, recognized by Uganda Tourism Board, and see if it has many years in operation.  You can also look at trip adviser and safari bookings and see the company with positive reviews. You can choose a company with positive reviews.

Getting to Mgahinga National Park

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park can be accessed from Entebbe international airport or Kigali international airport in Uganda. Getting to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park via Kigali international airport is so easiest and shortest route as it will take you about 4 to 5 hours to reach the park through Katuna or Cyanika borders between Uganda and Rwanda. Our professional drivers will pick you from Kigali international airport or at the hotel where you slept and traverse with you through the city of Kigali and then start the cross country journey and have your lunch in Kisoro for lunch and a night and then wakeup for gorilla trekking in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. However, visitors can use 8 to 9 hours to arrive from Entebbe international airport to Mgahinga gorilla National Park with good interesting stopovers. You can as well opt to fly from Entebbe international airport/Kajjansi airfield to Kisoro airstrip which is about two hours Aerolink Uganda limited operated flights in addition to other chartered flights such as that land at Kihihi or Kisoro airstrip and then use an airport transfer to your hotel.