PHYSICAL FITNESS FOR GORILLA TREKKING (HOW PHYSICALLY FIT SHOULD ONE BE TO TREK GORILLAS)

Gorilla trekking being a lifetime experience, it attracts huge numbers of world trotters who want to trek into the forest just to hunt for the mighty apes in their natural habitats. This is done in only three blessed African countries of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The fact that trekking the gorillas entirely involves walking through the thick rain forest, hiking up gently steep slopes, having to pave your way out and holding onto tree branches just to support yourself through, to finally meet the impressive apes in their natural habitats.

This hassle, challenge and the cursing while hiking through the slippery trails makes the whole experience so thrilling. However, it is still the same thing that has started intimidating trekkers, asking themselves how fit they are supposed to be to trek the great giants of the forest in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Besides the materialistic requirements that you would need to have a comfortable trek, like the appropriate dress code with long sleeved shirts and trousers, waterproof boots, walking stick, camera and many others, being physically fit is also anther necessity for a successful trek in the African jungle.  

About the general physical fitness, preparation in time is better so that you avoid disappointments during the trek, getting so tired in just the first minutes of the trek. Any trekker should know that gorilla trekking is different from nature walks or park walks, it requires one to keep engaging his body in physical exercises before that exact day.

Most world travelers have taken advantage of the steep slopes and terrains around their home areas to walk, stretch, jog, run around and also attend fitness classes so as to get used to the landscape even before travelling for the trek, don’t expect to gain the fitness on that very day of the trek. Such simple preparations are important if one is to get a lifetime experience with the mountain gorillas.

Still about that, in regards to age, the best age fit to trek Africa’s endangered gorillas in their natural habitats is fifteen years and above. Actually it is even one of the necessities by the wildlife authorities in the gorilla countries that no child below fifteen years is allowed to trek the gorillas. Not only because they are still young, but also because they have not gained the fitness that would match with the challenging gorilla trekking in Africa.

Health wise, it is appropriate for one to trek the mighty giants of the forest when he is fully normal without any infection or disease. Be it what we call the slight diseases like flu, cough or diarrhea, the fact that these apes are so endangered, they are so vulnerable to such infections, and they can easily contradict them. Besides the health of the apes, trekking the gorillas is also not healthy for a person who is not well. The cold weather, steep slopes and the thick forest are all unfavorable to a sick person.

For the lame, elderly and weak persons who would still want to trek the gorillas in their natural habitats, sedan chairs plus porters are very readily available to carry through the trek though at a fair cost. So trekking has no limit on that as long as one can afford paying the local porters.

Questions like “Am I fit enough to trek the gorillas?” should get off your thoughts, if the above are properly considered, then one is very fit to trek the gorillas in Africa.