The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is thought to be one of the most biologically diverse forests in Africa and one of the oldest dating back to over 25,000 years ago.
On the eastern edge of the Albertine Rift Valley, the rainforest is attractively swathed over steep ridges and valleys rising up to an altitude of 2,600m. The forest used to stretch down to the Virunga Mountains on the Rwandan border but this huge tract of forest was broken up about 500 years ago when agricultural people moved into the area.
Wildlife of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
More than half the world's population of mountain gorilla reside within Bwindi and these are the main focus of visitors. However, there are also healthy populations of chimpanzees, L'Hoest's monkey, red-tailed monkey and colobus as well as 5 species of duiker and bushbuck. A small population of forest elephants also live within the forest and although the animals themselves are rarely seen, the tell-tale signs of their presence are often encountered.
Bwindi is also home to around 350 bird species of which 23 are endemic to the Albertine Rift and at least 14 are found nowhere else in Uganda.
