Community tours around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is not only a concentration for the world’s only remaining mountain gorillas but also a bustling destination for the exciting cultures travelers need not to miss out when in Uganda. Community tours in Bwindi are launched to the exciting indigenous homesteads of the people who coexist harmoniously with animals. These communities play a big role in ensuring that the forest is always intact, blooming, and evergreen. It is indeed exciting and more satisfying to embark on a cultural exploration after one has explored the nature and beauty of the park.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park as the host of community tours.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park spans a large primeval forest in the southwest of Uganda in the Kanungu district. It extends up to 331 square kilometers. The park lies in the Albertine Rift in the western arm of the great East African Rift Valley. Bwindi elevates from 1160 to 2607 meters above sea level, an elevation that makes it an ideal habitat for a large scale of biodiversity. It is indeed an exceptional National Park with about 160 species of trees and over 100 species of ferns. The National Park harbors several fauna species, especially primates. Another jewel to be explored in the park is the exciting local communities.
Communities in Bwindi, people, and cultural experiences.
Community tours in Bwindi are launched to communities that are scattered all over the four gorilla trekking regions that is to say Buhoma, Nkuringo, Rushaga, and Ruhija. The communities are usually visited after guests have trekked the gorillas. The sensational entertainment in the form of cultural dances, storytelling about their hunter-gatherer life, and the deep immersion of travelers into what it feels like to be a forest person even makes the trip worthwhile.
Community tours in Bwindi are launched to mainly Batwa people villages. The Batwa people have lived in the forest for the past centuries. They are an interesting pygmoid society, vertically challenged but showcase a high level of intelligence through their commitment to sustainability.
Community tours are conducted in the form of village works for example the Buniga forest walk, the Buhoma community tour, the Nkuringo community tour, the Nkuringo cultural center, and the Rubuguri village walk. The community tours are further intertwined with voluntourism where travelers participate in humanitarian work to help empower the lives of the society. They always pick a subject on which to volunteer ranging from maternity, surgery, caring for diagnostics and counseling HIV/AIDS and TB patients.
Best time to embark on community tours in Bwindi impenetrable National Park.
The community tours in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are always indulged throughout the year since the park is always open. The dry seasons however provide the best experiences since they are associated with limited hindrances. Visitors get to maneuver through the local villages with limited hardships. The dry seasons are usually on from late May to September and early December to early March.
How to access the communities
Travelers need to drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to access the exciting communities. They can be accessed through Kampala – Mbarara – Kisoro road A drive that takes about 10 to 11 hours for the 501.4-kilometer distance.
There’s also an option of flying to the park where visitors can get on board chartered flights from Entebbe International Airport or Kajjansi Airfield to Kisoro airstrip from where they can be received by professional tourist guides for the onward transfer to the park.