Buniga Forest Trails
Are you looking at executing the challenging Buniga Forest Trails? Bwindi Impenetrable Forest national park is mostly known for gorilla trekking and gorilla habituation yet there are a lot of other activities to be done in the forest like bird watching, wildlife viewing, guided nature walks, biking, hiking, and cultural encounters.
The enchanting Buniga forest can be found in the popular Bwindi impenetrable forest national park in the southwestern part of Uganda, Buniga forest was created by Nkuringo community conservation and development foundation (NCDF) to protect the forest and manage eco-tourism plans that benefit the community.
Buniga forests with some mammal species found in Bwindi national park, primates, different bird species and so much more.
The Buniga forest trail gives you an opportunity to visit the local people known as Batwa or pygmies who were the first people to settle in this forest. The Batwa people were hunters and fruit gatherers who lived in the thick forests of Bwindi national park for more than 100,000 years until they were dismissed when it was established as a national park.
The Batwa group of people used to live in the forest depending on it for medicine, food, and shelter. The Batwa people are now trying to cope up with other ways of living outside the forest and life is really hard for this forest person who now works in Bakiga farms under the scorching sun daily.
When taking the Buniga forest trail in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, the guide will lead you into the forest and showcase how they used to live in the forest by demonstrating how they used to make fire locally, how they hunted, show how some medicinal plants and so much more.
You can also enjoy the local traditional dances and songs while doing a nature walk in Buniga forest. Apart from that, you can learn how to do basket weaving, cook local food and probably support the community by buying some handmade crafts to take back home for remembrance or to your loved ones.
What to do after hiking Buniga Forest Trails
Gorilla trekking
Buniga forest is located in the Nkuringo sector of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, there are habituated mountain gorilla families that you can visit Buniga forest. Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park can take you 1-7 hours depending on the location of the gorilla family and the speed at which you are trekking but once the family is found you can spend a period of one hour observing and taking photos of close relatives.
Gorilla habituation
Mountain gorilla habituation is the process of making mountain gorillas get used to human presence, this experience can only be encountered in the Rushaga sector in the southern part of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. Nkuringo sector where Buniga trail is located is not very far from Rushaga sector. Tourists can join rangers and researchers in their daily work of habituation and spend 4 hours in the presence of mountain gorillas.
Income earned from Buniga forest trail walks and village experience is given back to the Batwa community and this encourages the locals to conserve the forest and protect endangered mountain gorillas. The Buniga forest trails take about 2 hours of exploring the forest flora.
