What is gorilla trekking?

What is gorilla trekking? Gorilla tracking involves moving up and down in search of gorillas. They start from their previous day’s location. What’s the likelihood of finding them the next morning? While tracking gorillas, we have a team of adverse trackers who are dedicated rangers who consistently move early in the morning in search of different gorilla families.

Gorilla allocation process  

When tracking the gorillas, the Rangers consistently advanced to a location where a family departed the previous day once they reach there, they start following the Coronas worked their way up to a point where they nested for the night. Once the night has passed, they begin to follow the early morning trails, which will guide them to the gorillas’ feeding grounds in the morning.

However, this is not just a matter of following trails; these people have to be observant of a number of signs. One of the signs that truckers look at while tracking the gorillas includes vegetation bending, gorillas are made of trampoline and pull-pull vegetation toward the direction they are heading to, so if we find out that the vegetation is bending downhill, it is a clear indication that the animals went downhill. So, the truckers will have to continue with the downhill trails.

We also look at signs like Narco fingerprints. While moving, mostly during the rainy days and on bare ground, we can easily observe the knuckle fingerprints and where the knacker fingerprints are facing. It is an indication that the animals took that direction.

The other sign that we also look at includes the dang droppings. Gorillas are fond of defecating along their trails as they move. And when I came,  across the dang droppings. It is one of the ways to clearly ascertain is that we are following the gorilla trails.

Then you also look at signs like the food leftovers.Gorillas are 99% vegetarians. But they are quite selective as they feed whereby some of the plants feed on the leaves. The back, the inner parts, and the fruits. So, while feeding, they are fond of living on part of the food that they feed on, and whenever we come across a point where the animals fed from Are you in a position to tell whether the leftovers are for today, this, or this morning?

Yesterday evening, all summer days were gone, and that will enable us to estimate the distance that the animals could have moved. While following all those signs, the trails will definitely need the trackers to a point where the animals are nested for the night. What you need to note is that gorillas do not repeat their previous nightly sleep every night that passes by. They have to make new nightmares. Get the night on their side; truckers do not bypass that area.

They have to do what we call nest counting. Counting of the nests is one of the ways of ascertaining that you’re following the right gorilla family in a manner that the number of nests shall always tally or march with the number of individuals who are aged four years and older, because those are the members who are in a position to care for themselves. As for the babies, they keep sharing their nights with their mothers. So if they count and the numbers are telling, then the truckers will now continue with the alimony. Trails while following similar signs and the trails will definitely lead them to a point where the animals are feeding in the morning.

As I said earlier, gorillas do not repeat sleep from the previous night. You must be imagining that. What are the reasons why they have to keep making new nights? One of the reasons is that these animals are too lazy in the morning when they are waking up. They cannot think of moving aside to defecate, so they end up defeating their nightness, meaning that the smell of the dung and the smell of the poor will push them away, so they have to abandon their previous nights because of the smell of dung.

It’s true that when gorillas wake up from their nightly nest, they start moving in search of food, and they end up moving a little bit far away from where they nested for the previous night, and they find it hard for them to trace their way back to a point where they nested for the previous night. So they end up nesting where the evening finds them.

In a gorilla family, all members make nighttime for themselves with the exception of the infants or babies, who keep sharing their nightness with their mothers, and while nesting, breastfeeding mothers always nest close to the dominant silverback because they feel their babies are much more asexual and well protected. When they are close to their father, gorillas spend their nights mostly on the ground and sometimes up in trees.

While nesting, they make their nest out of the vegetation; they keep folding branches until they make a huge piling so that one can have a comfortable night. Whenever we visit the nightness site, we are in a position to tell whether this nest is for the silverback or for the baby and the mother, this nurse is for the blackback

Gorilla nesting (how gorillas make their nest )

What is gorilla trekking and  nesting: There are various ways that we can tell or differentiate the nests. One of the ways is that we look at the dung size. Gorilla dang sizes can be used to tell whether the nurse is for the Silverback juvenile. An infant with a mother in the manner of the dung of the Silverback is always the biggest in the entire family, as it is estimated to be 7.2 centimeters wide, then we have black box adults, females, and some adult individuals. Dosa, medium size. They are estimated to range from 5.5 centimeters to 7.1 centimeters. Then we have the juveniles juveniles they range from 4 centimeters to 5.4 centimeters. Then we have the infants from one centimeter to 3.9 centimeters, so we can do that estimation very quickly, and we can be in a position to tell that this nurse is in the silverback for the baby and the mother

By observing the size of the nest silverbacks, make the biggest nets compared to the rest of the family members. Then the other thing is that the next one of the silver bars can easily be identified because silverbacks are fond of scratching their backs. When they wake up, they end up leaving their grace far behind in their nightmares, and we can reposition to tell After observing the grapher or the silver hair on their nightness, we can tell that this nurse is for the silver bag. While doing the gorilla trucking experience, the gorilla tracking experience is when tourists come and get involved in the exercise of searching for gorillas so that they can meet their expectations.

No more gorilla tracking experience is done on a daily basis, as we have, for instance, here in the Buhoma sector. We have seven gorilla families that are visited on a daily basis.  Someone will take them through a general briefing. After the general briefing, tourists will be allocated to different gorilla families that they will be tracking. After they are located by different gorilla families, they will then meet their respective ranger guides, who will take them through the entire experience.

 A maximum of eight tourists were allocated. The reason asked was why we allocated a maximum of eight tourists. We look at groups that can easily be managed by one lead guide while moving in the forest. If you have a larger group, it becomes a little bit harder for you to manage that group, so with eight people as the maximum number, it’s quite manageable. So, a gorilla group can be comprised of a team of Army staff Reñas withigans.

The reason we come with Rangers with guns is that we have other wild animals in the forest. For instance, we have forest elephants, which we do meet sometimes while having this experience, and most of the time, whenever we have an encounter with the forest elephants, they tend to be aggressive. The Army staff will have to play a role in making sure that the tourists are positioned to continue with the experience and are safe. So, the Army staff has to shoot up in the air so that we can be positioned to continue with the experience. Then we also have a team of support staff, commonly known as sports people. It has come from the neighboring communities, and we encourage tourists to hire porters for a minimum fee of 20 US dollars.

This is purposely aimed at making the tracking day easy, and it’s also one way of supporting the local community. So once the team is ready, The Late Guide will now start the experience. Some groups start by walking. Right from the office. Some groups may require a drive to the starting point, and all our groups sometimes do. They can take about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the starting point. So once you are at the starting point, you start moving, and the lead guide will keep in touch with the team of the advanced trackers, the Rangers, who are ahead in their search for the gorillas. So the truckers will keep directing the lead guide on possible shortcuts to make sure you connect with them quite easily, because it becomes very hard if you are to move on your own without the directives of the trackers, therefore implying that you may end up moving far away.

And the tourists may end up getting tired, and some of them will fail to make it to where the gorillas are being allocated. So, to avoid disappointments, the advanced team always has to be in front, and they keep directing the team with the lead guide as the lead guide trips on moving. Then, while walking, the lead guide will always create time. And there is a lot of information about the forest, the country, and the gorillas.

We also create room for a question session, whereby tourists are allowed to ask questions, and the lead guide will be positioned to respond to those questions. Also, while having tracking experience, the lead guide will also get time to brief the tourists once they approach the viewing point. Once you get to the viewing point, the lead guide will introduce the team of advanced trackers, the guys who have allocated the gorillas.

Gorilla trekking  rules  & Regulations

After that, the lead guide will also brief the tourists on how to conduct themselves. Viewing gorillas basically he or she will be looking at the gorilla trekking rules among the gorilla.gorilla tracking rules include one. Maintain a 10-meter distance between tourists and the gorillas.

Also, encourage tourists to wear face masks; no one will be allowed to have a view of the mountain gorillas without a face mask. Then we also highly urge tourists to always turn in the opposite direction. In case they must sneeze or cough. Whenever one feels like he needs to sneeze or cough, you are able to turn in the opposite direction, do the smoothing and coughing.

We also encourage tourists to remain calm in case of any charges. We advise you never to think of running; we request that you stand still, look submissive in front of the animal, avoid direct eye contact, and leave the lead guide to make the peaceful grants to come the animal down and always listen to the directives of your preparations. The lead guide will now authorize or allow tourists to start viewing while you are also deviceable.

Tech flash-free photography. We do not allow you to take photos; while your flash is on, you have to turn off the flash and continue with the photo graphing.

What to do after gorilla trekking  

After a successful tracking experience, your lead guide will bring you back up to the Visitors Information Center or from any other point. Once you complete the experience, your lead guide will have to award you the tracking certificates. The certificates are purposely aimed at acting as confirmation that you visited Windy. What is gorilla trekking A remarkable encounter with the mountain gorillas? Then we shall, later on, ask you to use certificates as a marketing tool to encourage more of your colleagues to come and support gorilla conservation here in Uganda.

What to pack for gorilla trekking  

what to wear gorilla trekking in uganda and  Rwanda While tracking here with us. There are a number of items that we ask you to come along with as part of the preparation; among them are good hiking shoes. Windy is a tropical rainforest, so the trail sometimes tends to be slippery, mostly during the rainy season.

That’s why we urge you to have good hiking shoes that can grip the ground to make sure that we avoid cases of one falling down and maybe twisting the ankle. We also urge you to have someone come here with you. Here, the weather may change at any time. So it’s important for one to have a range here just so that you avoid being drenched by rain.

We also urge you to get a face mask. Then we highly recommend you get a minimum of 1.5 liters of drinking water per person, because while moving up and down, you need to keep drinking. We also urge you to have a packed lunch with us.

Experience is one of the most unpredictable activities. Whereby the work can either be a short walk, a medium walk, or a long walk. When I talk of a short walk, a short walk can be between 10 and 45 minutes and work from the Vistas information center up to where the gorillas have been allocated. A medium job ranges from 45 minutes to one and a half hours. Is medium work a long walk that always ranges from 3 hours to 6 hours, or even beyond that? That is what we refer to as a long walk. We add that you have always packed your lunch as part of the preparation.