By air
Kihihi airstrip, ~1 hour from Buhoma; Entebbe is a full day by road
Africa · Uganda
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda
Mountain gorillas in the mist
Getting there
Best time to visit
June to August and December to February for drier trekking; permits are limited all year
Don't miss
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Buhoma
Rushaga
Nkuringo
Lake Mutanda
The Batwa trail
Things to do
Gorilla trekking
Forest walks to waterfalls
Birdwatching
Village visits around Buhoma and Rushaga
Where to eat
Sources: Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to pack
Waterproof hiking boots, gaiters, long sleeves and trousers, gardening gloves for the vines, a rain jacket
A quieter corner
The Batwa trail, where the forest's original inhabitants show how they once lived among the trees
Questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Bwindi Impenetrable Forest?
June to August and December to February for drier trekking; permits are limited all year. What to pack: Waterproof hiking boots, gaiters, long sleeves and trousers, gardening gloves for the vines, a rain jacket.
How do I get to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest?
Fly into Kihihi airstrip, ~1 hour from Buhoma; Entebbe is a full day by road.
What is there to do in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest?
Gorilla trekking, forest walks to waterfalls, birdwatching, village visits around Buhoma and Rushaga. A quieter find: The Batwa trail, where the forest's original inhabitants show how they once lived among the trees.
What should I eat in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest?
Lodge meals, matoke and groundnut sauce, fresh fruit, Ugandan coffee and tea.
About Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
- Forest
- Mountains
Where it is
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a national park in the far southwest of Uganda, on the edge of the Albertine Rift, near the borders with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
History
An ancient rainforest that survived the last ice age, Bwindi was long the home of the Batwa forest people before it was gazetted as a national park in the early 1990s and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It protects roughly half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas, and tracking them with a ranger has become the heart of Ugandan tourism.
People
Bakiga and Bafumbira farmers till the steep hills around the park and many work as porters, guides and rangers; the Batwa, moved out when the park was created, keep their forest knowledge alive through cultural walks.
Known for
- Mountain gorilla trekking
- Ancient rainforest
- Birdlife of the Albertine Rift
- The Batwa people
Did you know?
The forest is called impenetrable for the tangle of vines and undergrowth on its steep slopes, which the trails cut through.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.