Tag: Mgahinga Gorilla NP /Uganda/
area: 34 km2/13 mi2
The smallest yet possibly greatest of all the region’s national parks encompasses three Virunga volcanoes: Muhavura (4,127 m/13,540 ft) with a lake at the top, Mount Gahinga (3,474 m/11,398 ft) with a swamp-filled crater, and Sabinyo (3,669 m/11,959 ft) where three countries meet.
If you track mountain gorillas here you are a member of a special club — one habituated gorilla group means only eight visitors per day! The park’s closeness to Kisoro makes it particularly interesting for budget travellers.
For our main Gorilla National Parks page with travel advice please click here.
Our Stories:
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Dawn of Gorilla Tracking as a Tourism Activity
While there were sporadic non-scientific expeditions to mountain gorillas before, real tourism began with the arrival of Walter Baumgartel. Baumgartel was a German who had lived in South Africa, helped the British with reconnaissance photography during World War II, and eventually found an enticing ad in London: they were looking for somebody interested in a…
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The Battle of the Great Apes: Gorillas versus Chimpanzees
When I learned I was going to do an internship in Uganda for six months, I immediately started researching the country and its highlights. Naturally, one of the first things that came up was gorilla tracking. I remember opening the page, scrolling through it and getting excited, until I saw the price tag and realised…
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Mountain Misery
24mm, f/5, 1/200s, ISO500 We’re used to seeing happy travel shots, but sometimes honesty can be refreshing. This image is from a Gorilla Highlands media trip in late 2015, from the third and highest peak of Mt Sabyinyo. We’d gotten the Uganda Wildlife Authority to agree to a special boon: camping on the volcano! That…
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Top of the World
24mm, f/13, 1/250s, ISO100 The purpose of travel photography is often not just to make people wish they were there, but to give them an opportunity to truly picture it. Having a landscape like this helps, of course, and those of you who read my previous posts might recognise a half-hearted adherence to the rule…
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Fresh News from Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Hello, Planet Earth, My name is Moses Turinawe and I am the tourism warden of Uganda’s smallest park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. One of my duties is to inform the world about what Mgahinga offers, so it will be a pleasure to periodically update you on the Gorilla Highlands Experts platform. With my Rwandan colleague…
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Grumpy Silverback
Hi! I’m Marcus Westberg, a longtime Gorilla Highlands collaborator. I’m originally from Sweden, but work as a photojournalist all over the world — though Africa is where my heart is. For the foreseeable future, I’ll be posting a mostly-weekly column focusing on some of my favorite images and experiences from the Gorilla Highlands region, usually…
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What Powerful Simple Thing Do Indigenous People Crave?
Dear reader, allow us to transform your mind into a supersonic airplane and fly you to the remote areas of a continent of your choice: Africa, America or Australia. No matter which one you opt for, sooner or later you will land near a cluster of shanties, makeshift homes or houses that whisper — or…
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Get Your Copy of the New Gorilla Highlands Pocket Guide
Will this be enough to meet the demand? Let’s hope so!
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1 Week of Hiking + Savannah – Jealousy = 29 Shots
Why would somebody opt for hiking through Africa? What is wrong with a good old motorised safari through Rwanda and Uganda? How can a walking safari be an improvement on that? It’s obvious: you get truly close to the nature and people of an area famous for its striking beauty and warm hospitality. The 29…
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