Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. Tourism involves travel of people” and staying in different places of there interest. Many people travel to Africa to see mountain Gorillas and gorilla trekking is the major tourism activity in Uganda. As must do for every visitor to Uganda, Rwanda or Congo whether for the first time or not and is the largest generator of revenue from tourism.
Apart from Uganda being home to almost half of the world’s population of the endangered mountain gorillas, there is a lot to see and do in Uganda. There are lots of birds, wildlife, natural scenery, rich culture, mountains and many more. Conservationists in Africa are looking forward to a bright future for the protection of mountain gorillas because according to a census conducted last year, Uganda’s endangered apes have increased in number from 302 to 480 individuals, hence the total number of gorillas in Africa is now at 1000. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the increase proves without uncertainty that Uganda’s conservation efforts are paying off and is testimony to the sound natural resource management policies that are being implemented in the protected areas,”
Both gorilla conservation and gorilla tourism is intertwined! Tourism relies on availability of gorillas yet tourism is also crucial in generating the funds that are used in supporting conservation works within the gorilla habitats.
Gorilla tourism has also helped in getting the local communities on board in protecting the mountain gorillas. By putting some of the revenue into local projects, converting formerly hostile groups into friendly advocates for the gorillas’ survival, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) officials have been able to build successful partnerships with local communities.
The endangered mountain gorillas have their home in two known national parks; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Both national parks are found in the south western part of the country. Mgahinga is the Ugandan part of the Virunga Conseravtion Area that extends into Rwanda as Volcanoes National Park and the Democratic Republic of Congo as Virunga National Park.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site given that it hosted three great apes; chimpanzees, mountain gorillas and humans. A gorilla trek is one of the most interesting adventure activity that can be done in Bwindi Forest. Currently gorilla tourism is highly controlled and the number of visitors tracking the mountain gorillas is limited. There are 17 gorilla groups that have been habituated for gorilla visits. Every group is visited by a maximum of eight visitors.
A gorilla trekking permit goes for USD600 per person in Uganda, USD400 in Virunga National Park of DR Congo and USD1500 in the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda.
Gorillas Increasing in Numbers
According to Mike Cran-field of Gorilla Doctors, “The mountain gorilla is the only non-human great ape that is actually growing in number and the growth of the mountain gorilla population can be attributed to the intensive conservation and collaboration between multiple conservation groups and government authorities.” The increase in population growth was partly due to “extreme conservation” methods such as daily ranger monitoring in the forest, this is according to the conservation group Gorilla Doctors. Think of African Beauty with the Gorillas in their natural habitat.
