Visiting Rwanda for gorilla Trekking

A Rwanda tour presents a country as a beautiful country, where poverty and a recent violent history is kept within your thoughts, even though you are greeted by smiling welcoming faces and happy waving children wherever you go. So clean and well maintained too!

The gorilla trekking adventure in Rwanda is nothing short of remarkable. While planning your gorilla tour in Rwanda, you MUST prepare by getting into shape prior to traveling to Rwanda for the trek - while not a strenuous hike, it is up a bit higher in altitude, and a lot of uphill walking, so you might have shortness of breath but don't worry, there are porters to help. As well, your guides take plenty of breaks, but do exercise and do cardio before coming.

Expect to have a one to two hours of challenging hike before you reach the gorilla family. The hike can be slippery and a muddy walk through bamboo forest could test your balance and strength. Be careful of the effects of high altitude; you are hiking at 2500 m above see.

Finally meeting and observing these magnificent animals could be a life changing experience. Every penny and every step of effort is worth it when you look in to the eyes of your first gorilla. You will only get one hour with them, but trust me; this is worth it. Please go visit the gorillas as soon as you can afford to. Don't put it off, don't wish for 'one day', go. Go tomorrow. 

Gorilla hiking tips to note for both parks

•Make sure to take the walking stick that is offered. The stick will be incredibly helpful on the uneven and muddy terrain. 

•Carry gloves as everything will be muddy, wet and slippery in the forest. You will be quite happy to have clean hands when taking photos.
Wear long socks so your able to pull them up over your pants to protect them from army ants that are frequently present in the forest.

•For your trek wear decent weight water resistant pants to protect you from the stinging nettle plants - these can be quite bothersome

• Wear good hiking boots with good soles for gripping. Poor shoes can be disastrous during the hike.

Camera tips to Note for your gorilla trek

• Pack lots of batteries because many lodges in both Bwindi and Volcanoes do not have charging stations in your room, rather there are group-charging stations in the main lodge. This makes charging batteries a challenging yet you have to rest and prepare for gorilla hiking the next day. 

•Go for a comfortable at manual focusing your camera. The mountain gorillas are often partly behind vegetation and the camera inevitably focuses on the vegetation blurring the gorillas. You need to manually focus your camera on the gorillas and blur the vegetation to have very good shots. This can be hard if you have not practiced ahead of time. 

Will Uganda's water Rafting subsist Vs New Proposed plan of the Isimba Hydro Electric Plant ?

The upper river Nile valley where thrilling adventure activities take place including, white water rafting, quad biking, bungee jumping, horseback riding, cross country cycling and a lot other activities attracting a large number of travelers from all over the world is being threatened by a new proposal to maximum the dam height version for the Isimba power plant.

The Nile Rafting project has been running over 20 years, coupled with wildlife and primates safaris - today tourism is a leading revenue earner for the government

Should this proposal be approved by the Ugandan government the Jinja river Nile water rafting and other adventure activities at the Nil will be dead and a major revenue earner for the country lost and worst of all unemployment to zoo many locals and investors losing their livelihood.

A number of concerned individuals have forwarded a petition signed by over 15,000 people to the Ugandan parliament, which will be presented on Monday, drawing the attention of our leaders to the stark facts surrounding the proposed Isimba Hydro Electric Power Plant.

The Nile adventure is one major reason why publication such as Lonely Planet and National Geographic named destination Uganda as one of Africa’s must visit safari destinations, offering travelers a wide range of tourism activities not to mention the popular gorilla tracking, so many other options exist today for tourist visitors to enjoy a holiday to the Pearl of Africa.

The Speaker of Parliament, the Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, is in fact from the wider Jinja area and knows fully well, what is at stake should the dam go up to the maximum, impacting on the economic performance of Jinja and when she receives the petition on Monday, she will no doubt bear in mind the future of her own constituents. Fodder for thought among the powers that be, more so as additional power generating options have of late been proposed, including a new hydroelectric plant further down the river near the Karuma Falls, which could generate as much as 600 MW and reduce the need for Isimba to be at maximum level.

That said, and as outlined in the petition and attached letter, is the reputation of Uganda at stake as a binding commitment was made by government when securing World Bank finance for the Bujagali plant, that this section of the river, together with the Mabira Forest, will be kept intact as offset measures to mitigate the negative impact of Bujagali, which has become only too apparent in recent times too.