Hi,
We are heading to Uganda in October. We have our own transport and want to find out how we buy Gorilla trekking permits for Bwindi without going through a tour operator?? Anyone have any ideas?
I have tried going on to the Uganda Wildlife website but not working...
Can this be done from outside country or can you only buy when you arrive in Kampala??
Any help would be great!
A
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Hi,
I bought the permit in Kampala from the Backpacker's. However, I had to pay US$50 more.
Another option:
While I was in Kisoro (I spent 5 days there, so I saw pretty much how it worked), some guys were trying to sell permits for both Bwindi and Mgahinga for only US$400. Always for the next day. I heard that whenever there was a cancellation and nobody on the waiting list wanted to buy, they tried to sell the tickets through local agencies. And cheaper!! It's a risk, though.
"for only US$400 " .... hmmmm I hope it's legal.
adrianicky, you can pre-book your permit from outside Uganda, and just pick it up when you get there - here is the whole process at African Safari Journals
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I don't know wether it was legal and I don't know if it was a real permit since I had already booked mine, but I saw them trying to sell the permits. Keep in mind it was the day before but the guys were honest with me with other transactions.
You can gamble like we did and just show up. We had to wait for 3 days but small price i think.
The $400 sounds right as the permits used to be $350. Plus a bit of commison.
Try calling them. The number is in the LP. I actually found the guys in the UWA really helpful.