Many people how engage in gorilla safaris, find it hard and challenging to trek the gorillas in their natural habitat which normally take 3-8 hours looking for these huge primates. Have you ever wondered that there is an easy way of tracking the gorillas just come to Rwanda and engage in soft gorilla trekking?

Many tourists would love to trek the gorillas in the easiest way possible and always ask if there is any family of the gorillas that can be close and therefore easy to visit.  There is also a common misconception that Rwanda gorilla treks are easier than Uganda. The truth is that there are gorilla families that will involve shorter hikes. The difference in terrain also makes hikes in the Volcanoes National Park to be much easier if compared with Bwindi but not every gorilla group in Rwanda can be easy to trek.

For the case of Uganda gorillas, some tourists have been misled to think that in Bwindi Impenetrable National park, there are some gorilla groups that are too hard to trek while others are easier to trek. For instance, there have been circumstances where tourists go for gorilla trekking and find the gorillas within a few minutes. Within this time, tourists are ready to track and interact with the gorillas. They get excited to find the gorilla in the shortest time.

What makes some families easier to be tracked than the others:

It is because gorillas are wild animals and thus you will never tell their movements all the time and their movements do depend on several factors including search for food and shelter and also sometimes they move to protect themselves from the enemies. They have to travel for some long distance among others and a gorilla family that was nearer yesterday might be far away the next day. So you find some gorillas have moved in very inaccessible areas and other just move to somehow accessible areas and this is why we come up with this notion that some gorilla families are easier to trek than the others.

The easiest Gorilla Group has been Rushegura sometimes known as the R- Group and this has been accepted as an easier group due to the fact that the starting is in Buhoma and its territory is in the same region. Tourists in most cases have had to trek it easier than other Gorilla groups but in some seasons, this group can travel very far and comes as hard as any other so called hard gorilla groups thus booking permits for Rushegura does not guarantee that you will have an easier trek. Rushegura being the easiest gorilla  group to trek, other clients book gorilla permit in different region and book accommodation in another region and this will require you to wake up very early to drive so that they reach the starting point of the trekking such gorilla families. Bwindi Impenetrable National park has three regions, namely Buhoma, Rushaga, Nkuringo and Ruhija.

In case you book gorilla permits for gorilla families in Ruhija, you will book your accommodation in that part of the park and this will turn to reduce the drive time so that you do not have to drive at reach the starting point. It is  possible to book accommodation  in Buhoma and trek in Ruhija and the reverse is true, this should be possible because it is possible to be avoided and you will have a memorable trek and you will not complain saying that the group was hard to trek because you hard to drive to reach the starting point.

The National parks of Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla Park host more than 10 gorilla families which are located in different regions of; Buhoma Region which has three gorilla families including Rushegura, Mubare and Habinyanya. This sometimes might have driven to reach the trail head of the group. The Ruhija Region has Bitukura Oruzoga and Kyaguriro which is for research. The Rushaga region has Nshongi, Kuhungye, Mishaya and the new gorilla group which is called Busingye which has just separated from Kahungye group. The Nkuringo area has got one of the family called Nkuringo and therefore as tourists you need to contact any tour company for advice on which accommodation to book depends on the family of gorillas booked. It is also the policy of most tour companies to advise clients about accommodation depending on which gorilla family.

There are questions like why did my tour operator book for me a hard gorilla family to trek. This at all comes back to some of the factors mentioned above but it kindly note that gorilla permits are sold at first come first serve basis and if by the time of the booking your gorilla permit, there was no alternative but to book a group which was told to you that it was hard, then you need to know that the did have a choice. In order to avoid this you will make sure that you acquire your gorilla permit in advance of 5 months to enable you make a choice therefore, Gorilla tracking in Rwanda or Uganda can sometimes be strenuous but certain level of fitness is required in case you have this of fitness and your prime goal is to trek gorillas, then the above complaints should not arise.