Chartered flights to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by definition are an unscheduled flights that are not part of the regular airline routine. We glad to let you know that its very possible to do chartered flights Bwindi impenetrable National park and since Bwindi is served by the three airports where chartered flights can domestically land in and these include the Kihihi airstrip and Kayonza airstrip serving those heading to the Northern part which is Buhoma region and the Eastern part which is Ruhija region and Kisoro ( Nyakabanda) airstrip serving those going in the Southern part of Bwindi( Rushaga and Nkuringo region). The advantage of using chartered flights is that they are available any time and can be booked whenever one wishes to use the. Chartered flights also can land in a small area that is close to your place of stay of the destination. Chartered flights are in most cases used by those people who want privacy, have less time and those who don’t want to spend more hours travelling by road which is roughly 10hours drive. Remember if you fly to Bwindi it will take you roughly 1½ hours to get to the domestic airfield. Chartered flights are in the packages of the fly in safaris to Bwindi.
Chartered flights to Bwindi impenetrable National park
Bwindi impenetrable National park is a 321square kilometer that was gazeted in 1991 and made a UNESCO World Heritage in the 1994 due to is rich in the biodiverse. Bwindi is located In the South Western part of Uganda in Kanungu district and It’s a rainforest with both lowland and Afromontane forests. Bwindi is a renowned destination for mountain gorilla trekking since it has over 400 mountain gorillas in its habitants thus having more than of the remaining gorillas population. This makes Bwindi’s star attraction as the gorillas. Apart from the many gorillas, Bwindi also harbors 11 primate species, over 300bird species, 120 mammals, 200butterfly species, over 300 tree species, 1000plant species. Therefore Bwindi is an exciting place to visit.
Chartered flights to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Chartered flights are available with the local operating airlines and these can be booked from either Entebbe international airport or the domestic Kajjansi airport. There are three domestic operating airlines that offer flights to Bwindi and these are Aero link Uganda, Fly Uganda and BAR which is the newest. These companies provide both scheduled and chartered flights to Bwindi. These airlines charge accordingly to the nature of the route that’s to say one way or Return. Aero link Uganda, this operates everyday depending on the weather conditions. This airline departs from Entebbe to Kisoro at 7am and arrives Kisoro at 8:10am then departs Kisoro at 8:25am and arrives at Entebbe at 11:25am. Then departs Entebbe to Kihihi at 7am and arrives Kihihi at 8:45am, departs at 10:15am and arrives 11:25am, departs at exactly mid day and arrives 2:45pm. Aero link will charge you according to your journey if it’s a one way then it will cost you 283dollars and if it’s a Return then 543 dollars. Below is the table of flights conducted by the Aero link
Airline From To Dep Arr
Aero link Ebb Kihihi 07:00am 08:45
Kihihi Ebb 08:45am 11:25am
Ebb Kihihi 12:00pm 02:00pm
Kihihi Ebb 02:45pm 04:15pm
Ebb Kisoro 07:00am 08:15am
Kisoro Ebb 08:45am 11:25am
BAR Aviation will Al’s charge accordingly to the nature of the route that is if it’s a one way from Entebbe to Kihihi an adult will pay 250dollars and a child 175dollar for a Return it will cost an adult 430dollars and a child 301 dollars. A route from Entebbe to Kisoro will cost an adult 250dollars and a child 175 dollars on a One way and a Return I’ll b 430 dollars and a child 301 dollars.
At Journeys Uganda we can organise you a flying safari to Bwindi using a chartered flight for those customers who don’t want to spend most of the time travelling and those who desire for privacy. A chartered flight to Bwindi will take an estimated time of one and a half minutes to reach the domestic landing site. After reaching the domestic airstrip we will have organised a transfer with a professional drive guide to take you to your accommodation in the region of interest. This will include transferring you in a comfortable ride if it’s a luxury range then a 4×4 land cruiser will be used, if it’s a mid range then 4×4 super custom and a budget one we will use a 4×4 tourist van.
Chartered flight to Bwindi involves flying to Bwindi in a domestic Airstrip depending on the areas one intends to visit. There I’ll be road transfers till you reach the destination. That is to say if one is intending to go to the Southern part is Bwindi which Rushaga sector and Nkuringo will be landing in Kisoro airstrip and will be picked up by the driver to transfer to final destination and this involves in a 1½ hours drive to get there while for those going to Buhoma and Ruhija sectors will land in Kihihi or Kayonza then will be transferred by road therefore taking 1½ hours drive to get to Buhoma while to get to Ruhija it will take 2hours drive.
Things to consider when booking a chartered flight to Bwindi.
Booking a gorilla trekking permit. This is the most important thing to consider since one can not do trekking minus having purchased a gorilla trekking permit. This permit is being acquired from the UWA offices and it costs 700dollars to the foreign non residents, 250000shs to the East African citizens and 600dollars to the foreign residents.
Booking a place to stay. Its important to know where to choose a place of stay it being that you will have a night in Bwindi since Bwindi has four trekking sectors. You need to check and book earlier to whether the rooms are available depending on the range of accommodation you would like to choose from. Each sector has places to stay in therefore its always best to book and stay in lodges within the area your going to trek gorillas in because its becomes easy, simple and near to the park headquarters for the early morning briefing.
Consider the pick up transfer from the landing airport to Bwindi. Since there is distance that is worth 1½ hours drive to Bwindi and 2hours drive to Ruhija therefore a tourist will require a comfortable vehicle to transfer him to his place of stay with a professional guide. A4×4 land cruiser will be used, a super custom for amid range an a tourist Van I’ll be used for budget range. But all of these are comfortable vehicles.
Consider when to travel to Bwindi. It would be best if you decided to travel with a chartered flight when the season is dry because the weather conditions will be favorable for both the plane and the tourists. When it comes to the roads they will be passable and dry while during the wet season the park receives rainfall and this kind of contradicts with the flights due to the foggy weather which is not favorable for flying a plane. Chartered flights can be used to Bwindi any time.
Activities to do on chartered flight to Bwindi.
Gorilla trekking. This is the most popular activity in Bwindi and there are four trekking sectors in Bwindi with each having different gorilla families ie Rushaga is found in the southern part of Bwindi and has eight habituated gorilla groups , Ruhija is found in the Eastern part of the park and has four habituated gorilla families, Buhoma sector is the oldest since it was the first sector to be opened up and has the oldest habituated gorilla family. This sector has five fully habituated gorilla families and is found in the Northern part of the park and Nkuringo sectors is found in the Northern part of the park with three fully habituated gorilla families open for gorilla trekking Bwindi has 20 fully habituated gorilla families each group having family members and the leader and these include; Mubare gorilla family, Habinyanja gorilla family, Rushegura gorilla family, Katwe gorilla family, Muyambi gorilla family, Nkuringo gorilla family, Bushaho gorilla family, Christmas gorilla group, Nshongi gorilla family, Bikingi gorilla family, Busingye gorilla family, Kahungye gorilla family, Bweza gorilla family, Mucunguzi gorilla family, Rwigi gorilla family, Mishaya gorilla group, Bitukura gorilla family, Oruzogo gorilla family, Kyaguliro family group and Mukiza gorilla group. Trekking all these gorilla families requires you a trekking permit which costs 700dollars, 600dollars and 250000shs. Trekking starts very early in the morning with a briefing at the park headquarters about the do’s and don’ts and it takes one hour to stay with the gorillas once they have been tracked and a group of eight are allowed to trek a particular gorilla group.
Gorilla Habituation . There are two gorilla families under habituation and these are all found in the Southern part of the park. Rushaga sector has one group that is still under habituation and this is the Kutu family and Nkuringo has the Posho gorilla family. To get involved with this experience one has to get a habituation experience permit from the UWA offices and this costs 1500dollars to the foreign non residents, 1000dollars to the foreign residents and the East African citizens pay 750000shs. There are eight permits available per day and these are grouped into 2 groups since a group of four people is allowed to visit a particular habituation group per day. A period of 4hours are given to the tourists to stay with the gorillas.
Birding. Bwindi has more than 300bird species and 23 of the 24 Albertine Rift Endemics like Cinnamon Chested bee eater, Dwarf honeyguide, Carruthers Cisticola, Common buzzard, Grey throated Barbets among others Birding is done around areas of Mubwindi swamps in Ruhija sector since Ruhija is a birders spot, Bamboo areas and waterfalls area. This can be carried out following the birding trail, waterfall trail an the following birds will be observed Grey bush shrike, Slender billed Greenbul, Strange weaver, Brown chested Alethe, Purple breasted sunbird, Dusky crimson wing, Starred Robin, Handsome Francolin, Black bee eater, Great blue turaco, Ruwenzori Batis, Ruwenzori Turaco, Red faced woodland, White tailed crested flycatcher, African green broadbill, Yellow streaked Greenbul, African paradise flycatcher, Shelly’s Greenbul, Doherty’s bush, Ross turaco, African pygmy kingfisher, African Goshawk, Rwenzori Nightjar, Collared Apalis, Mountain masked Apalis, Stripe breasted Apalis, Grauers warbler, Bar tailed trogon, African Emerald Cuckoo, Blue headed sunbird, Short tailed warbler among others.
Primate and Wildlife viewing. Bwindi is home to 120 mammals including the 11 primate species. Through the game drives one can be able to see animals like giant forest hog, jackals, civet, forest elephants, wild pigs, warthogs, bush bucks, buffaloes, And primates like the Chimpanzees, Baboons, Red tailed monkeys, White and black Colobus monkeys, Vervet, Blue monkeys, L’Hoests among others.
Nature walk. This involves walking through the national park they could either be forest nature walks or village nature walks. The forest nature walk will take you through the different angles of the forest thus observing the different attractions in the forest like birds, animals, waterfalls, hills, different vegetation thus exploring the beauty of the forest and also the Batwa trail experience. An the village walks will take you through the different traditional homesteads of the local thus exploring and learning different lifestyles, cultures and traditions.
Other activities that can be carried out in Bwindi impenetrable national park include Hiking, Camping, boat canoeing on lake Mutanda, community tours and cultural tours.
Accommodation facilities in Bwindi. There are a number of accommodation facilities in Bwindi catering for all kinds and classes of tourists. They are located in the different sectors of the park. So choosing a place to spend a night in would depend on the areas of Bwindi your going to visit. The following are the facilities and these are in forms of cottages, campsites, Bandas and these are Buhoma lodge, Mahogany springs, Chameleon hill lodge, Sanctuary gorilla camp, Trekkers tavern Cottages, Sanctuary gorilla forest camp, Bwindi back packers lodge, Bwindi forest lodge, Bwindj clouds lodge, Ruhija gorilla friends Resort, Ruhija community Rest camp, Nshongi gorilla camp, Lake Mutanda lodge, Mutanda eco community center, Bwindi guest house, Bwindi view Bandas, Bwindi jungle lodge, Agandi lodge, Bakiga lodge, Lake Kitandara Bwindi camp, Lake Muhele gorilla lodge, Buhoma community haven lodge, Cuckoo land tented lodge, Gift of nature lodge, Gorilla mist camp among others.
