Bwindi: the Ugandan forest that shelters half the world's mountain gorillas
Reachable only on foot, the World Heritage park on the edge of the Albertine Rift is home to some 400 gorillas and more than 1,000 flowering plants.
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Kabale — In the far south-west of Uganda, along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a forest that can be reached only on foot. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park covers 321 square kilometres of lowland and mountain forest, and it holds about 400 mountain gorillas: half of the world's population of this endangered animal.
Fourteen gorilla groups
Fourteen groups live across the four sectors of Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo, all managed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Gorilla tracking became a tourist activity in April 1993, and the park has been a popular destination ever since.
One of East Africa's richest forests
The gorillas are only part of the story. The park shelters 120 species of mammals, 350 of birds, 310 of butterflies and 27 of frogs, along with chimpanzees, colobus monkeys, hornbills and turacos. It has more than 1,000 flowering plant species, including over 200 kinds of tree. Elevations run from 1,190 to 2,607 metres, and the forest may have been a refuge for species during the ice ages. It is also an important water catchment for the area.
Decades of protection
Two blocks of the forest were first protected in 1932. It became an animal sanctuary in 1964 and a national park in 1991, and it joined the World Heritage List in 1994. The creation of the park came at a cost for the Batwa people, who were evicted and are no longer allowed into the forest or to use its resources.
Background: Wikipedia.
