Domestic flights to Bwindi impenetrable National park : Bwindi impenetrable National park covers an area of about 321square kilometre, gazetted in 1991 and made a UNESCO World Heritage in the 1994 due to is rich in the biodiverse. Bwindi forest is located In the South Western part of Uganda in Kanungu district and it is a rainforest with both lowland and Afro-montane forests. Bwindi forest is a renowned destination for mountain gorilla trekking since it has over 400 mountain gorillas in its habitants thus having more than of the remaining gorillas population. This makes Bwindi’s star attraction as the gorillas. Apart from the many gorillas, Bwindi forest also harbours 11 primate species, over 300bird species, 120 mammals, 200 butterfly species, over 300 tree species, 1,000 plant species.
Chartered flights are available with the local operating airlines and these can be booked from either Entebbe international airport or the domestic Kajjansi airport. There are three domestic operating airlines that offer flights to Bwindi national park and these are Aero link Uganda, Fly Uganda and BAR aviation. These companies provide both scheduled and chartered flights to Bwindi national park. These airlines charge accordingly to the nature of the route that is to say one way or Return. They operate daily flights depending on the weather conditions. Below is the table of flights conducted by the Bar Aviation Limited
Airline From To Departure Arrival
Bar Aviation Ebb Kihihi 07:00am 08:45
Kihihi Ebb 08:45am 11:25am
Ebb Kihihi 12:00pm 02:00pm
Kihihi Ebb 02:45pm 04:15pm
Ebb Kisoro 07:00am 08:15am
Kisoro Ebb 08:45am 11:25am
Domestic flight to Bwindi national park involves flying to Bwindi forest in a domestic Airstrip depending on the areas one intends to visit. Then transfer by road to reach the destination. For example, if one is intending to go to the Southern part is Bwindi forest which Rushaga or Nkuringo sector, they will land in Kisoro airstrip and will be picked up by the driver to transfer to final destination taking about 2 hours’ drive. While for those going to Buhoma or Ruhija sectors, will land in Kihihi airstrip then transfer by road for about 2 hours’ drive to your sector.
Things to consider when booking a domestic flight to Bwindi impenetrable national park
Booking a gorilla trekking permit.
This is the most important thing to consider since one cannot do trekking minus having purchased a gorilla trekking permit. Permit are acquired from the Uganda Wildlife Authority offices and it costs 700 USD to the foreign non-residents, 250,000 UGX to the East African citizens and 600 USD to the foreign residents.
Booking accommodation
It is important to know where to choose a place of stay it being that you will have a night in Bwindi national park since it has four trekking sectors. You need to check and book earlier to whether the rooms are available depending on the range of accommodation you would like to choose. Each sector has places to stay in therefore its always best to book and stay in lodges within the area gorilla trekking for easy, simple access to the park headquarters for the early morning briefing.
Airport pick up from the airstrip to Bwindi forest
Since there is distance of about 2 hours’ drive to Bwindi forest in each sector, you will require a comfortable vehicle to transfer to your place of stay with a professional guide. A 4×4 land cruiser or a super custom for a mid-range or a tourist Van for budget can be used.
Consider when to travel to Bwindi national park
It would be best if you decided to travel with a chartered flight when the season is dry because the weather conditions will be favourable for both the plane and the tourists. When it comes to the roads, they will be passable and dry while during the wet season the park receives rainfall and this kind of contradicts with the flights due to the foggy weather which is not favourable for flying a plane. Chartered flights can be used to Bwindi any time.
Activities to do on chartered flight to Bwindi.
Gorilla trekking experience
Bwindi forest national park has four trekking sectors in Bwindi with each having different gorilla families. Rushaga sector found in the southern part of Bwindi, Ruhija is found in the Eastern part of the park and has four habituated gorilla families, Buhoma sector is the oldest since it was the first sector to be opened up and has the oldest habituated gorilla family. Nkuringo sectors is found in the northern part of the park. Gorilla trekking all these gorilla families requires you a trekking permit which costs 700 USD, 600 USD and 250000shs. Trekking starts very early in the morning with a briefing at the park headquarters about the do’s and don’ts and it takes one hour to stay with the gorillas once they have been tracked and a group of eight are allowed to trek a particular gorilla group.
Gorilla Habituation
There are two gorilla families under habituation and these are all found in the Southern part of the park. Rushaga sector has one group that is still under habituation, the Kutu family and Nkuringo has the Posho gorilla family. To get involved with this experience, one has to get a habituation experience permit from the UWA offices, this costs 1,500 USD for foreign Non-residents, 1,000 USD for foreign residents and the East African citizens pay 750,000 UGX. There are eight permits available per day and these are grouped into 2 groups since a group of four people is allowed to visit a particular habituation group per day. A period of 4 hours is given to the tourists to stay with the gorillas, Domestic flights to Bwindi impenetrable National park
Birding
Bwindi impenetrable national park has more than 300 bird species and 23 of the 24 Albertine Rift Endemics. Other birding exercises are done around areas of Mubwindi swamps in Ruhija sector since Ruhija is a birders spot, Bamboo areas and waterfalls area in Bwindi Impenetrable national park.
Nature walk
Nature walks involve walking through the national park. This could be forest nature walks or village nature walks. The forest nature walk will take you through the different angles of the forest thus observing the different attractions in the forest like birds, animals, waterfalls, hills, different vegetation thus exploring the beauty of the forest and the Batwa trail experience. The village walks will take you through the different traditional homesteads of the local thus exploring and learning different lifestyles, cultures and traditions.
