When you talk about gorilla trekking and habituation experience, many people are left confused on which one to choose or if in any case the two activities are different. Well, in one way or the other, the two primate adventures are different but to help you make the best choice on which one is best for you, it all depends on your budget or how long you want to spend with these creatures in the wild. We cannot guarantee that this one is the best and the other is not but we can help you understand which one is right for you the fact that both primate experiences reward travel endeavors with distinct experiences.
Below are some of the differences between gorilla habituation and gorilla trekking.
Although gorilla habituation entirely involves making wild gorillas get used to human presence, on the other hand, gorilla trekking takes visitors through habituated gorilla family. Usually, habituation exercise takes visitors the whole day of following these creatures in the wild unlike the usual treks where you can easily spend at least half an hour to about 8 hours. At end of it all, both adventures are strenuous and demand some physical wellness in you if you are to complete the whole exercise and most importantly, enough drinking water and some energy giving snacks should be a must in your packing list. After long hours of hiking through the jungles and steep slopes, upon getting these creatures, visitors have all the 4 hours to strike their imaginations during habituation experience unlike the usual treks where you have only 1 hour for you to explore more about the general behavior of these rare apes and take as many photos as possible.
Cost of trekking permits
Looking at the cost of gorilla permits, despite the fact that both adventures require a permit for you to participate in any, each of them has its own cost. To be part of gorilla habituation experience, you need $1500 for you to secure your permit and $600 for gorilla trekking. However, to be on a safer side, you must book one as earlier as possible to avoid any regrets.
Gorilla families
Gorilla habituation is only conducted in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and only two groups (Bushaho and Bikingi) are set for this experience making it the rarest experience whereas mountain gorilla trekking is conducted in all the 3 (three) countries (Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo). Besides, the fact that gorilla habituation experience offers you opportunity to track only one of the 2 (two) families, on the other hand, the usual treks comes with many habituated families and in Uganda, there are about 17 of them that have designated for this life time experience, in Rwanda there are 10 habituated families and in the DR Congo, you can trek any of the 8 habituated groups.
Number of trekkers
Unlike gorilla trekking which is limited to 8 (eight) visitors per habituated family, gorilla habituation experience on the other hand is restricted to only 4 visitors. This also means that that for usual treks, 8 permits are always for each habituated gorilla group and for gorilla habituation, only 4 are always available for you to book.
In conclusion, both gorilla habituation and gorilla trekking are equally rewarding travel experiences. Despite this, they are different from each other as it has been discussed above. Most importantly, interested trekkers can even combine the two activities and at the end of it all, you get rewarded with distinct experiences. For booking, simply contact our conservationist and we shall be of great help.
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