Reserving Uganda gorilla permits online system is a new technology system introduced by the Uganda Wildlife authority (UWA) to overcome the challenges of booking gorilla trekking permits by clients for Mgahinga and Bwindi National Parks. Gorilla permits are official cards given by the Uganda wildlife authority to allow individuals or groups to trek and see gorillas that are fully habituated in Mgahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. However, there is also a gorilla habituation permit that allows individuals to spend 4 hours seeing the gorillas especially those gorillas that are still being trained to get used to human beings. The gorilla habituation permits are only booked for Rushaga and Nkuringo strictly where this activity takes place.

Why reserving Uganda gorilla permits on the UWA system online was introduced.

It is important to note that gorilla trekking started in Uganda in 1993 when the individuals and companies that they would book the gorilla trekking permit by a physical appearance on the UWA headquarters or through that physical presence in Bwindi impenetrable forest National Park where gorilla trekking first started. However, when the demand for gorilla trekking increased as the result of more habituated gorilla families being habituated in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, then the now this created completion for the endangered mountain gorilla permits and congestion at Uganda Wildlife Offices of the people who were interested in Gorilla tracking.

Now before the gorilla permits are booked, each person or tour company involved in booking and securing the gorilla trekking permit must first and foremost check for the availability of the gorilla permit on specified dates, months, or the year as per client requested. However, this became very hard to check for the availability of the gorilla trekking permit at UWA because there were some delays by the reservation department as people would call and sometimes they fail or delay to pick the phone and for the Authority to address this challenge and complaints from the clients and they first solved this by recruiting more staff in the department to attend to an overgrowing number of individuals and tour operators who would come to check the availability of the gorilla trekking permits. Yes, this solved the problem halfway but still, people had to wait for some time to reserve and book for the gorilla trekking permits and this involved having cash as you book the gorilla trekking permits. There was no room for holding permits for some time to enable for example people to make payment at a later stage and this resulted in the introduction of the UWA online system where tour companies can access the system and check for availability and I’m glad to inform you that Africa Adventure Vacations is one of the blessed tour company to have access to the Uganda Wildlife Authority Online system for checking the availability of Gorilla trekking permits.

Advantages of reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA system online

Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on the UWA system online has created many opportunities and advantages for the individuals and tour operators booking the gorillas trekking permits for Mgahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. The system was introduced in 2017 whereby a different member of the Association of Uganda tour operators associations was called and trained basically how the system works and thus several advantages were registered which among others include the following;

The introduction of the UWA online system has reduced the congestion of clients at Uganda Wildlife Authority. The fact that the demand for gorilla trekking and gorilla permits in Uganda is increasing day to day then it would be very hard for the UWA reservation system to handle all the bookings without the introduction of the UWA online system because the gorilla trekking permits are demanded by clientele including tourists, individual and the tour operators. With UWA online system. Registered tour operators can check for the availability of the gorilla trekking permit online without necessarily going to UWA head offices physically and now one can book and get the gorilla trekking permit within 7 days which was not the case with the old manual system.

Having the UWA system online means that the regarded tour operators in Uganda can check, view, reserve, and book Bwindi and Mgahinga gorilla permits online throughout the year. Traditionally, one would book gorilla trekking permits only on working days and not during the weekend bit with this system, registered tour operators can even book the gorilla trekking permits for Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park during the night and at any time. This enabled timely checking of the availability of the gorilla permits in time against the time of the gorilla trekking.

Booking and reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA online system enables the registered tour operators to hold the gorilla permits for a week and this has proved to increase sales and trust as well as confidence between clients, tour operators, and UWA as an authority. Within a week allowed, clients or tour operators, are allowed to pay for the permits and secure them without any pressure that he/she can lose the sport for gorilla trekking in either Bwindi or Mgahinga National Parks.

Problems for Reserving Uganda gorilla permits on UWA online system

Like any other innovation and venture, there have been some cited challenges especially when reserving the gorilla trekking permits using the UWA Online system and one of the problems is that sometimes the system is slow or being off completely and this leads to delays in the booking process. This problem is caused by congestion and slow internet connection however once this happens the tour operators resort to calling the head office for checking permit availability. As I told you earlier, Africa Adventure Vacations is one of the few tour companies in Uganda that have access to the UWA Online system all the time and all the day through and this means that we can be able to book for you the gorilla trekking permit by checking directly on the system to confirm the availability, all our staff were trained by the Uganda wildlife system team when it comes to using the system effectively. And thus what you need is just to contact us and tell us of the dates you intend to travel and then we go directly into the system and then we check for you the availability of the gorilla trekking permit for either Mgahinga national park or Bwindi Impenetrable Forest national park and thus don’t shy away just contact Africa Adventure Vacations for booking your gorilla trekking permit.