03 Jun Best Time to Visit Mountain Gorillas in Uganda

Uganda’s raised topography means a cooler climate than its equatorial setting suggests but if you’re planning a gorilla trek, it’s important to know when to go to Uganda for the easiest trekking conditions. Although it’s regarded as a year-round activity, the best time to visit Uganda for gorilla trekking safaris is during the country’s two dry seasons: January and February and from June to September.

The average temperatures of Uganda are at 21.5 C and 71 F; these also drop at night time to around 54 F which affects the altitude. Rainfall in Uganda ranges between 1000-2000mm every year. However, throughout the year the skies in Uganda are clear which supports most safari vacations. These climate changes have brought about changes in weather patterns hence making it harder to predict the seasons of the tourism year.

With the best months to visit Uganda, many tourists choose to travel from May to September to February since in these months, the amount of rain has reduced and it’s sunny in most of the destinations. December is one of the busiest months of the year in most national parks and it’s advisable to book the accommodation in time to avoid disappointments. During the Christmas season, most Uganda plan to take vacations to national parks so it’s always a peak season in the month of December.

Visiting in low season is okay to many tourists since the gorilla permits are cut from $ 600 to $ 450 to encourage many tourists to travel even though it’s a rainy season. Visiting in this season also means that you will enjoy the jungle with relatively low crowds. It’s also said that February and September are good months for a safari vacation in Uganda since there are less tourists visiting and the lodges are not fully booked as such in the high season.

The rainy season in Uganda affects people’s travels but that doesn’t mean that they don’t completely travel since this season is combined of both rains and sun shine. This means that the sun comes out as soon as it has just rained and most safari activities are able to be carried out without any disturbance. Mountain gorilla trekking as well as chimpanzee trekking goes on even during the rainy season and the national parks are fully in operation.

During the low season of March to May and October to November, most of the lodges reduce their rates to attract more tourists to book with them and this is an added advantage since even the gorilla permits are reduced to attract more tourists to Uganda.