Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park – Kitagata Safaris
Although small—just 321 square kilometers— Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is of crucial importance as home to the world’s largest population of critically endangered mountain gorillas. The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park contains about one-third of the 1,000 or so alive today, with the remainder in the Virunga conservation area shared by Rwanda and Congo.
(For more about the gorillas and the experience of visiting one of Bwindi’s 10 habituated Gorilla groups, see Tracking Gorillas: The Bigger Conservation Picture.) Preserved on the edge of the Rift Valley in southwest Uganda, Bwindi was established in 1991 as part of the conservation effort to save the mountain gorillas.
Three years later, this island of remnant forest—one of Africa’s richest and oldest (dating back about 25,000 years)—was recognized by UNESCO as a Natural World Heritage Site. Beyond the gorillas, Bwindi is full of other life. It is one of the richest ecosystems in Africa, with 120 species of mammals, 350 species of birds (earning it the title of the Best Birding Destination in Africa by Travel Africa magazine), 200 tree species, 310 butterfly species, 88 moth species, 51 reptile species, and 27 frogs, geckos and chameleons.
The humans of Bwindi are also notable. The indigenous Batwa people were exiled from their historic lands when the park was created. They now reside in an adjacent buffer zone, from which they lead tours that teach visitors about their age-old hunting, hut-building, honey-harvesting, agricultural and trapping practices, as well as sharing traditional music and dance.
