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Uganda Uganda forest

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0

88% trees around it and 512 species recorded.

86Forestyas Score

ForestDense canopyWildMountain forestBirds

  • trees within 3 km88%
  • wild within 10 km100%
  • species recorded512
  • Altitude1,625 m

The forest around

88% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 86%Shrubland 5%Grassland 9%Trees 88%Shrubland 5%Grassland 6%Trees 86%Shrubland 6%Grassland 8%Trees 76%Shrubland 11%Grassland 12%Cropland 0%88%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km86%
  • 1–3 km88%
  • 3–6 km86%
  • 6–10 km76%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees88%
  • Shrubland5%
  • Grassland6%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

512 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Antopetitia abyssinicaAntopetitia abyssinica2 records

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

86out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 88%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 100%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 512Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 1,625 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking from June to July and from December to January.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan26°16°87 mm
  2. Feb27°16°91 mm
  3. Mar27°16°147 mm
  4. Apr26°16°136 mm
  5. May26°16°112 mm
  6. Jun26°16°63 mm
  7. Jul27°15°47 mm
  8. Aug27°16°90 mm
  9. Sep27°16°134 mm
  10. Oct26°16°172 mm
  11. Nov24°16°170 mm
  12. Dec25°16°111 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

Forest of Uganda

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a forest in Uganda, 1,625 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 88% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 100% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

512 species have been recorded around it: 1 plants, 0 fungi, 508 birds and 3 mammals.

The best time to walk is from June to July and from December to January.

064 Mountain gorilla climbing a tree at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (crop) Photo by Giles Laurent
Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Guided forest walks and tours near Bwindi Impenetrable ForestGetYourGuideSee prices Cabins and stays near Bwindi Impenetrable ForestBooking.comSee prices Car hire in KampalaDiscover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 1visitor centres within 6 kmUWA Nkuringo Office
  • 5campsites within 10 kmBwindi View Campsite, Buhoma Community Camp, Ruhondeza campsite and 2 more
  • 38places to stay within 10 kmClouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge, Bwindi Backpackers Lodge and 35 more
  • marked trails within 5 km
  • named and notable trees within 6 km
  • picnic sites within 4 km
  • shelters and huts within 6 km
  • viewpoints within 5 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas35 mountains within 25 km
Nteko7.1 kmRusho9.6 kmNyambatabata17 kmGishio18 kmNyaigulu18 kmNyamichuchu24 kmChieshire24 kmRwamunyonyi24 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
Lake MutandaBortle 2 · 21 km
Birdyas1 birding sites within 25 km
Echuya Forest reserve77 species · 19 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

068 Mountain gorilla close-up at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park Photo by Giles Laurent
Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gorila de montaña (Gorilla beringei beringei), parque nacional de la Selva Impenetrable de Bwindi, Uganda, 2024-02-02, DD 80
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park desde el Broadbill Forest Camp 20190925 085152
Josefito123 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Other forests nearby.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Uganda

  • 86Forestyas Score
  • 88%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 512Species

Nyungwe Forest

Rwanda · 169 km

  • 87Forestyas Score
  • 96%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 185Species

See the guide

Gishwati Forest

Rwanda · 84 km

  • 30Forestyas Score
  • 22%Trees
  • 78%Wild
  • 7Species

See the guide

Cyamudongo Forest

Rwanda · 181 km

  • 61Forestyas Score
  • 54%Trees
  • 73%Wild
  • 131Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q5003686) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species32,478 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Darkskyas, Birdyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Coming soonVisit
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Visit birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here