In August 2013,The Uganda Wildlife Authority started issuing Plastic Gorilla Permits to all new buyers.(Tour Operators or Individual Clients). The new plastic chipped Cards are filled in with the clients Bio-Data and Tour Agents information which are inserted into a reader machine in Bwindi Impenetrable forest National Park on the tracking day displaying all the information saved earlier on.
A New plastic Gorilla Permit Card.
Under this new system,Clients or Tour Agents can no-longer buy a Gorilla Permit according to a Gorilla group/family but rather buy according to the Gorilla tracking sections in Bwindi.Example:
- Buhoma Section.
- Ruhija Section
- Nkuringo Section
- Nshongi Section
Under all these sections,there are more than 2,Gorilla Familys where visitors are grouped in the morning for the days adventure trekking.
Advantages of the new plastic card system.
- It enables couples wanting to track together make it.
- Elderly or disabled people can choose to track a less tiresome Gorilla Family in the morning before tracking.
- Able bodied and energetic trekkers can decide in the Morning to trek and hike through the hills for long hrs before they can find the Gorillas.
Disadvantages.
- You need to remind your guide or wake up quite early on the tracking day to request for a Gorilla family you want.
- You need to be careful with the card not to place it near a magnet as the chip might fail to read on the tracking day thus causing a delay or even missing Gorilla tracking.