It takes a day or a few hours to travel to the Bwindi Impenetrable National park and the Virunga massif area, the region for mountain gorillas shared by Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. You know tracking mountain gorillas in Africa has never been easy in one way or the other. Gorilla permits are scarce and costly backed up by steep demand all year in all .However, the effort of saving mountain gorillas in the wild jungle forests has been challenging from back then ever since when conservation started. Apart from insecurity, being wild animals that roam in the jungle in search for eats, it’s very easy to land into traps of poachers’, diseases, ilega gorilla trade and encroachment of forest lands forcing gorillas to constantly migrate (Human conflict) that have been the major threats for the giants apes ever since.
Due to conservation a several threats have been addressed in order to save the mountain gorilla population in Africa. The mountain gorilla census data says over 880 mountain gorillas are found on earth in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and and the Virunga Massif (comprised of Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, and Parc National de Virunga in the Democratic Republic of Congo).Dainy Fossey is one of the famous conservationist who died at work saving forest creatures and her effort is remembered and celebrated in Rwanda gorilla tourism in volcanoes national park. Mountain gorilla tourism is a major income generating project that needs much more a tension and the big thanks goes to all gorilla conservation organizations, governments, communities and tourists who respect the rules and regulations for all gorilla tracking parks.
The Park Communities
However, I think the park communities both within and outside the park have done so much to save the lives of mountain gorillas and without them gorilla tourism would be at stake .Imagine a situation where one surrenders her ancestral home and accept to leave in a new environment (Pygmy people of Bwindi forest).The people living around Volcanoes national park in Rwanda, Bwindi-Mghainga in Uganda and Virunga national park also they sacrificed their source of income for gorilla tourism devised other sources of firewood, food, water and shelter, and medicine. By so doing this the human conflicts activities that could hinder mountain gorilla lives where reduced.
Gorilla Rules and Regulations
The dos and don’ts of gorilla tracking are the other ways mountain gorillas have been able to survive threats like diseases and stress. A limited number of eight tourists per a gorilla group per day, standing in a 5-7 meter distance, no tracking gorillas if you have contagious diseases like flue and cough, no touching gorillas, no eating and drinking in front of gorillas etc this protects them from many human diseases that affect their lives. Above all mountain gorilla parks have lauded the birth of various baby gorillas and celebrations of baby gorilla naming ceremonies which all a result of conservation and other factors.
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