The particular geography of Uganda, a country nestled between the savannahs of the east and the tropical forests of Central Africa, has allowed an exuberant, often endemic nature to develop on a territory that is extremely morphologically rich and generously supplied with water and humidity. It is no secret that many travellers choose this destination to experience the thrill, unique in the world, of a close encounter with shy mountain gorillas. But the surprises that Uganda’s verdant and diverse scenery holds are endless.
Considered the ‘Pearl of Africa’, Uganda is a true environmental paradise of exceptional biodiversity, home to families of chimpanzees, gorillas, elephants, giraffes, leopards and the sly arboreal lions, as well as an avifauna counting around 1,000 different species, immersed in an explosive nature with numerous endemic varieties.
The main attraction is undoubtedly the treks through the dense forest of the Bwindi Park in the south-west, not without reason called ‘Impenetrable’, and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where about half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas live, with their beautiful silvery backs. With their impressive size and the grey fur on the backs of the dominant males, called ‘Silverbacks’, these wonderful, quiet primates live in families of about 20 or 30 individuals, some of which have been habituated to human presence by a team of rangers and expert biologists. Habitual specimens, they constantly move within a radius of a few kilometres in search of leaves, fruit and bark, supplemented in their diet only by the odd insect. The rangers constantly follow their tracks during the night, so that they can predict where they will be the next morning and lead visitors there as quickly as possible.
The treks start at the edge of the intricate vegetation, leaving behind the tea plantations and penetrating the green labyrinths that literally engulf the hikers. The routes of a few hours are on average demanding, but supervised by expert guides who will not spare participants any help, while giving them directions and strict rules to respect, to avoid damaging an environment as primordial as it is fragile, and to avoid disturbing the gorillas’ peace and quiet, while also protecting them from any diseases that can be transmitted by humans, since they have a DNA almost entirely similar to ours. The effort and the high cost of the expeditions with a limited number of participants will be amply repaid by the emotion of finding oneself immersed in the wildest and most impenetrable nature, just a few metres away from the tame and docile gazes of these incredible animals, with their almost human faces and expressions.
An experience that is definitely worth a trip to Uganda in itself!
But the excitement in the ‘Pearl of Africa’ does not end here and will continue among the primate sanctuaries of Kibale National Park, whose rainforests, interspersed with grasslands and papyrus swamps, are home to one of the highest concentrations of chimpanzees on the African continent, as well as numerous colobuses, guenons and baboons. And in the contiguous Queen Elizabeth National Park, where in the Ishasha Sector, the park’s southern appendage, dominated by expanses of savannahs and acacias, the increasingly rare arboreal lion species has adapted to a life climbing trees to escape poaching by local populations.
How many of our travellers can boast the privilege of having managed to capture in pictures the repose of an entire family of lions sharing the branches of an acacia tree?
A unique spectacle!
