Uganda is a blessed Africa safari destination for it is home to half of the world’s remaining gorillas; the most sought animal for travelers interested in Uganda safaris.

Uganda is blessed with two mountain gorilla destinations; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Visitors on Uganda gorilla safaris are allocated a particular family to track during their gorilla trekking safaris Uganda.

Gorillas live in groups also known as families. These usually consis of 6-7 individuals and sometimes a group/family can go up to even 35 members.

Just like humans, there is always a leader that heads the family. This is usually a male Silver Back. A family usually consists of usually one leading male, accompanied by several females with their young.

How Do Gorillas Spend Their Day?

A beautiful day in the life of a mountain gorilla always starts at sunrise.

At around 6am, they wake up and begin looking for food, an activity that covers a great part of the morning.

Mountain gorillas spend 30% of their day traveling, 30% feeding, and 40% resting.

In contrast to many primates in Uganda, mountain gorilla lives mainly on the ground. Mountain gorillas travel for about a kilometer per day within their home range of about 20 square kilometers.

Because gorillas are vegetarians, they feed on mainly plants however, they supplement their diet with fruits, ants and other insects.

Their daily meal usually consists of roots, leaves, stems, pith of herbs, vines and shrub, and some fruits. During certain months of the year, mountain gorillas also feed on bamboo shoots.

Feeding is the most important activity of gorillas and a male adult can even eat up to 20 kg per day! Because the gorillas receive a large quantity of water from its diet, they rarely have to drink.

Mountain gorillas spend most of their afternoons resting and playing. This is considered as their last activity of the day and it is equally important in the social life, especially for young gorillas, as it determines their integration into the group.

During your gorilla safari Uganda, you will watch them hug each other, cuddle, bite, hit or wrestle till one is pulled down on the ground.

As the day ends, just before dusk, these mountain gorillas start constructing a nest where they will spend their night.

Every gorilla sleep in its own nest, except for the infants who sleep next to their mothers.

Nests are built on the ground or in trees and are carefully constructed by branches collected from bushes and other plants.

Depending on the interest of a traveler, we usually tailor Uganda gorilla trekking safaris with short Uganda wildlife safaris, water rafting adventures, boat cruise safaris, horse riding safaris, mountaineering safaris Uganda and many more. Don’t hesitate to include any of these activities on your short Uganda safari or Long Uganda safari.