The advice I see on here tells me to call the UWA to organise a permit three months in advance. Unfortunately I'll be in Uganda in two months and I haven't called.
If I can't get a permit when I call, what are my options? Turn up and hang around Bwindi? Try crossing into Rwanda? Cheers.
I got lucky in August: just showed up at the UWA office in Kampala, and they happened to have had a couple of cancellations for later in the month. I wouldn't count on being lucky, of course, but people do (every once in a while) get gorilla permits and then have to cancel them. I'd keep calling UWA every couple days to see if anything has opened up, and also start working on a Plan B in Rwanda.
There are some companies specializing in gorilla permits that buy them in bulk and that always have extra, even if UWA is soold out. E.g. Gorilla Tours I believe, their names have been posted on thisbranch in the past.
Absolutely DO NOT book any tours or send money to Joseph Kwihangana (Joe Kwiha, kwihaj@yahoo.co.uk, Tel +256787799389 of www.experience-uganda.com (details as of 8/2011). He is a CRIMINAL and a THEIF!! He took our money ($1,100) a month in advance to secure buying our gorills permits and never bought them. The side tour we also booked with him was a complete scam.
Also... Arthur (go.gorillas@gmail.com), the tour guide Joe contracted with, stole and crashed our safari van on our last night so we had to pay for additional transport. Both men had been arrested when we left Kisoro and what remained of the van was at the police station. It was obviously not the first time that Joe had scammed tourists. These two theifs could be operating out of either Kamala and/or Kisoro so be careful. Joe is very easy to identify as he has one leg shorter than the other and wears a special shoe. He also plays himself off as a psuedo-rastafarian. Unfortunatley, Joe has appeared in Lonely Planet recommendations in the past.
Again, DO NOT BOOK with JOE or ARTHUR from KISORO!!