Looking forward to having a Uganda gorilla trekking safari? A Uganda safari will expose you to the best gorilla trekking tour Uganda destinations; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Uganda & Mgahinga Gorilla National Park Uganda. During your gorilla trekking safari in Uganda, you will be assigned a gorilla family to trek in a group of 8. Each gorilla family in the wild is dominated by a silverback mountain gorilla. A silverback mountain gorilla is an adult male and in most cases, each family has a silverback that protects the family.

Mountain Gorilla trekking is no doubt becoming a top Africa safari activity undertaken by many travellers. Uganda gorilla trekking safaris are guided by many rules and for the rules or personal reasons, a traveller may need to cancel the permit booking. Here we bring you the Uganda gorilla trekking permit cancellation policy;

Uganda Gorilla Trekking Permit Cancellation Policy

Uganda gorilla trekking tour permits are sold by the Uganda Wildlife Authority and refund on cancellation is as follows;

• If cancellation is made 0 – 8 days to the trekking date, no refund is made by the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
• If cancellation is made 9 – 45 days to the trekking date, a 25% refund is made by the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
• If cancellation is made 46-90 days to the trekking date, 50% refund is made by the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
• If cancellation is made 91 days and above to the trekking date, 75% refund is made by the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

In case the tourist fails to undertake their gorilla trekking safari in Uganda because of illness, 50% trekking permit fee shall be refunded by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. This will be a recommendation of the Warden in Charge.

Of recent, it is almost impossible to trek and fail to see mountain gorillas than it was before with Mgahinga Gorilla National Park when the Nyakagezi gorilla family could move to the neighbouring countries.

NOTE: Refunding is only done for those tourists who cancel after paying the full cost of a gorilla permit (USD 600).

The above-stated cancellation policy is only effected by the Uganda Wildlife Authority and not applicable to gorilla safari tour operators. Wild Gorilla Safaris has its own cancellation policy and this is stated here

90-60 days before starting 70% refund (30% will be charged)

60-30 days before starting 50% refund (50% will be charged)

30-1 days before starting 0% refund (100% will be charged)

Inclusions on a Uganda Gorilla trekking Permit Cost

• A Gorilla trekking experience in Uganda

To have a gorilla trekking tour in Uganda experience, you need to have a permit purchased at USD 600 per person per trek. On the cost of your permit, you will have about 4-6 memorable hours in the jungle with the company of armed park rangers and gorilla trekking stick is provided to ease movement within the forest. On getting the gorillas, you spend a maximum of 1 hour in the presence of the gorillas and you are allowed to take as many photos as possible with your flash free camera, capture all possible videos and ask all kinds of questions.

• Park entrance fee

In all of the Uganda national parks, you need to pay park entrance fees but for either Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, your permit fees work as the park entrance fees.

• Rangers

On the actual day of gorilla trekking, travellers are assigned park rangers to guide and escort them through the jungle. The rangers are fully hired and paid by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Their salary is wholly extracted from revenues collected from the sale of gorilla permits. Good enough, park rangers are equipped with guns to scare away wild animals hence assuring travellers of their safety in the jungle.

• Trackers

Besides, park rangers, gorilla national parks employ trackers who hike into the jungle early before the start of the actual trekking to check out the whereabouts of mountain gorillas. After finding the gorillas, trackers call back at the headquarters to inform rangers on which directions so as to avoid off tracking saving travellers time and energy. These trackers keep following the gorillas until rangers and travellers find them. Just like rangers, governments through park managers pay trackers and their salary is part of the gorilla permit cost. Interestingly, rangers and trackers go under training in defence and conservation, which ensure the safety of travellers and mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.

• Security/tourism police

There is tourism police in all gorilla national parks in Uganda. The police patrols in the forest day and night to check for any threats and therefore this gives travellers assurance of peaceful and safe trekking.

The gorilla trekking activity is one that involves close contact with the habitat and therefore need for great conservation since the species are susceptible to disease. It is expensive to keep the habitat safe and threat free therefore making the activity expensive.

The cancellation policy is only applicable to Uganda and Wild Gorilla Safaris. For a Congo gorilla trekking safari to Virunga National Park or Kahuzi Biega National Park, you need to read and understand the cancellation policy of Congo. On the other hand, the Rwanda gorilla trekking safari permit to Volcanoes National Park is liable to the cancellation policy of Rwanda.