Travel News, African Safari Updates

Scientists who thought they were fighting a loosing battle to protect the gorillas of central a Africa, a report of a rare piece of News came up about these gorillas after new census of western lowland gorillas in the Republic of Congo came out with report saying that more than 125,000 nearly a double what they thought were still living in the Congo and seven surrounding countries.

“A lot of Nests were seen and so the conservation scientists wanted to know the survey and approve this. But we had a sense there that there was something special” said Steven Sanderson, president of the New York-based wildlife Conversation society, which did the census along with the Congolese government.

A total of 73,000 came from the Ntokou-Pikounda region and another 52,000 from the Ndoki-Likouala area including previous unknown population of nearly 6000 gorillas living in an isolated swamp.

The report was released at meeting of the international Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh Scotland. Its authors say they invite other scientists to check their results. The last census in the 1980s estimated that about 100,000 remained and it was thought that since then numbers since then could have halved.

This census date was released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) during the International Primatological Society in Edinburgh, UK.

Which gorillas are Increasing in numbers. Mountain Gorillas or Lowland gorillas
From both fronts the 2 types of gorillas numbers are increasing. The mountain gorillas which are specifically found in the Virunga mountain ranges of Uganda, Rwanda Democratic republic of Congo in the natinal paks of Bwindi, Volcanoes and Kauzi Biega  also have figures indication that they are increasing in numbers. There are now a total of over 380 mountain gorillas in 32 social groups across in Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo confirmed by head counting. However the number is put around 700 in the mountain gorilla zone of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo
By this research that was carried out indicates that t the population of gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park had grown by 26 percent from 300 in 1997 to 380 by 2007.

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is planning and has started  mock tourism on two newly habituated gorilla groups based in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in southwestern Uganda.

This is in a bid to test the gorilla’s readiness to receive tourists to carryout gorilla tours.

Struggling to soak up the ever-growing demand for gorilla tracking permits, in 2006, UWA has passed a resolution allowing for habituation of two new gorilla groups in Bwindi.

The decision to habituate more gorillas was informed by high demand for the permits, the location of the two groups, and loss of tourists to neighbouring DR Congo and the fact that one of the already existing groups could disintegrate among other reasons.

For the last two years now, trackers have followed the gorillas on a daily basis to make them familiar and comfortable with human beings.

Habituation is a process that enables mountain gorillas lose their fear of humans and in the same way cannot be harmful to humans.

The gorillas of Bwindi have been habituated for eco-tourism in the dense Bwindi forest since April of 1993.

The habituation process also involves collecting data on each individual gorilla in the group especially with regard to feeding habits, personality traits, temperament, physical features, general health, grooming and mating habits, and how they react in different situations.

Mock tourism has been carried out over a period of four to six months.

“It is meant to enable the gorillas adapt to seeing people of different colours, dress and smell because the people they see for the whole duration of the habituation process look, dress and smell the same,” said Ms. Eunice Mahoro, the director of tourism and business services at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).

She explained that mock tourism involves the systematic introduction of different people and objects to the gorillas by the trackers as a means of gauging their level of adaptation to having intruders in their space.

“Tourists come dressed in different colours, with different smells and different voices, and they carry all sorts of gadgets such as cameras and recorders, all of which are foreign to the gorillas,” Mahoro said.

“Mock tourism enables the gorillas to get used to such things. It is the final phase of the habituation process.”

The two new groups are called Bitukura (13 members) in Ruhija, Kabale district and Nsongi in Rushaga (28 members), Kisoro district.

These will join Mubare, Rushegura, Habinyanja and Nkuringo to charm the tourists who pay $500 for each gorilla tracking permit. The permits are valid for just one visit.

Launching of the two new gorilla groups will address the problem of chronic shortages of gorilla tracking permits and increase gorilla safaris to Uganda .

Currently, only four gorilla groups are available for tourism in Uganda, and each is allowed only eight visitors per day, which makes a total of 32 permits per day.  As a result, there has been difficulty in meeting the high demand for gorilla tracking permits especially during the heavy tourist seasons that stretch from June to September and from November to February.

With the two new groups, the number of available permits per day will increase to 48.

The local communities in Kabale and Kisoro districts will also greatly benefit from the additional tourism groups through increased access to a larger market for their goods and services such as handcrafts, cultural performances and general entertainment.

The expanded gorilla tourism will also trigger improvements in infrastructure such as roads, health facilities, communications, transport and local business.

Gorilla tourism started in Uganda in 1993, and since then it has captured the hearts of many international tourists especially from Europe and America who are always excited to see the famed primates.

The gorillas have also been the subject of many documentaries and films produced by reputable media and film companies.

A research that was carried out in 2006 discovered that the population of gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park had grown by 12 percent from 300 in 1997 to 340 by 2006.

This represents over half of the total population of mountain gorillas remaining in the world. Gorillas are grossly endangered by poaching, commercial trade, disease and civil wars, and are therefore classified under Appendix 1 of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna (CITES).

By Fred Bukenya

Travel Hemispheres: African Safari Management Company