How to prepare for Gorilla Trekking

An encounter with the Mountain Gorillas in their natural habitat is a deeply moving and humbling experience! A Gorilla Trekking Safari therefore is an experience that is like no other! How to prepare for Gorilla trekking entails knowing what to pack for the Gorilla Safari, purchasing a Gorilla permit, what to wear for trekking and keeping fit. Please note that the nature of the terrain in which the Gorilla habitat is located, the weather and the nature of the Gorillas dictate the packing list for your Gorilla trekking Safari in Africa. Gorilla trekking is possible in Uganda, Rwanda and Congo.

How to prepare for Gorilla trekking, What to pack and wear

For the best Gorilla trekking experience, make sure that you are in a reasonably good physical and health state. At least do some work out and joggings before the visit. The forest terrain is steep and hilly which may require some level of fitness to conquer it. However, the trek is quite doable and physical fitness should therefore not scare away potential visitors including the elderly as there are special considerations for them besides the porters.
Wear good sturdy hiking shoes for this trek to enable you maneuver through its muddy and steep trails. Also make use of gators to keep your shoes and pant legs dry.
Leave the lodge with some packed food/lunch and snacks plus enough drinking water because the time taken to find the Gorillas can never be predetermined so you can hardly fix a lunch program on the Gorilla trekking day anywhere outside the forest.
Carry with you a rain jacket or any other rain gear at all times. In such rain forests and the high altitudes areas, rains are a usual occurrence.
Wear long sleeved shirts/tops and trousers to protect your body from the stinging nettles and other thorny vegetation in the forest. Remember there are no designated or paved paths to follow when searching for the Gorillas.
Wear a head hat and any other head gear but not a helmet. It (helmet)could have been another good head gear but it may turn out to be too heavy to carry with you up and down a thick forest. Besides Gorillas are not used to people with helmets so they may mistake you for a stranger.
Other important items to have with you are; a camera, binoculars, insect repellents, woolen hand gloves, stockings, long enough to have the trousers tacked in to avoid safari ants getting up into your body.