At an area of only 33.7 square kilometers, this is Uganda's smallest national park. The name "Gahinga" comes from a local nickname for piles of volcanic stones scraped off farmland near the volcanoes' base. The tropical rainforest stretches into neighboring countries, including Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park and the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Parc National des Virungas.
It was founded in 1991 to protect the endangered golden monkey and the rare mountain gorillas who reside in its dense forests. Because of conservation initiatives, it now boasts half of the world's mountain gorilla population.
Because of a habituated transboundary gorilla population that sneaks across the mountains into Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, gorilla tracking is less popular than in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The park also has some challenging yet rewarding climbs, a fascinating cave, and golden-monkey tracking.
There are seldom sightings of the elephants, buffaloes, and serval cats that inhabit there. 115 bird species may be observed fluttering through the treetops, including the Rwenzori turaco and mountain black boo.
Additional things to do include:
- Hikes through the woods
- Mountaineering
- Cultural excursions - The indigenous Batwa pygmies are a hunter-gatherer group who is regarded as the "first people" of the forest, with unrivaled knowledge of its mysteries.
