Mgahinga National Park

Mgahinga national park, not only is a home to the mountain gorillas, but also several bird species, golden monkey and other wildlife species. Mgahinga national park, is one of the two national parks in Uganda famously known for harbouring habituated gorilla families. The park is among the smallest in Uganda and covers a small land area of 160sqkm, situated in southwestern Uganda along the border of Uganda with Rwanda and the DR. Congo.

Mgahinga national park harbors one habituated gorilla family from which travelers on gorilla trekking, can also take part in. It is the only national park in Uganda where the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys co-exist with each other.

Accessing Mgahinga National Park.

For travelers taking part in doing activities and visiting Mgahinga national park, the park, can be reached through two different entry points either by road trip or  flying from Entebbe airport to and from Kisoro or kihihi airstrip.

Drive time is approximately 8-9hours on road via Mbarara, kabale to Kisoro then to, Mgahinga national park. The journey is along but incase you have a few stop overs. the trip is a bit enjoyable to view some of the scenery a long the country side. For the travelers who do not do long trips can alternatively take the chartered flight from Entebbe airport or Kajjansi to kihihi or Kisoro airstrip where you will be transferred to Mgahinga national park for the start of your safari.

Top things to do and see in Mgahinga National Park

• Gorilla tracking: the park harbors one habituated gorilla family known as Nyakagezi. the family is composed of 14 members living in the bamboo forest of Mgahinga national park.
• Golden Monkey trekking: Mgahinga is the only park in Uganda whereby the monkeys can be visited in their natural habitat. This is much easier to track the monkeys since there is no limited number of people required to track, the permits can be got from the park’s headquarters
• Golden making habituation: Travelers taking this activity, will be allowed to spend four hours with golden monkey families that are still under habituation, not only that, you will also be an active participant in the habituation process.
• Volcano hiking: Volcano hiking is among the top thighs to do and see in Mgahinga national park, travelers can take part in hiking the three of the volcano mountains of Muhavura, Mgahinga and Sabinyo. Hiking any of the tree mountains will require one to three days for full hike.
• Bird watching: Mgahinga is a bird paradise. Birding safaris in Mgahinga national park, are done all year round for the bird watchers. But the best time of the year would be from April to May and from October to November. There are several migratory birds in to the park adding to the existing bird species to be viewed.

Where to stay while in Mgahinga national park

• Mgahinga lodge located just at the parks gate.