How Mountain Gorilla Conservation is saving local communities

It is very captivating and interesting while spending time in the second largest continent in the world. Africa is the best with its myriad landscapes of dunes and desert, endless beaches, vast golden savannah, steep escarpments, dramatic mountains and lush rainforests never fail to take ones breath away. The fascinating wild life which includes the rare mountain gorilla only found in three East African countries of Uganda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the whole world.  The huge herds of elephants, young and old, and prides of lions prowling the plains, the dazzle of zebra and wildebeest in a frenzied rush to cross croc-infested rivers in search of better pastures. Also, the impalas and warthogs, snakes and vultures are all present in Africa making it magical.

Concerning people and local communities, the four national parks that have mountain gorillas Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National park in Uganda, volcanoes national park in Rwanda and virunga national park in the DRC) are surrounded by several local communities.

With over 1 billion people in 54 countries, Africa’s people have different cultures and beliefs, traditional and cultural ceremonies that are all unique, the Rwandans have the kwita iziina ceremony which is the naming of the baby gorilla and it is so interesting, the batwa in Uganda  among others all give memorable moments to the travelers alongside mountain gorilla trekking.

Gorilla tourism and conservation

In contrast to the belief that mountain gorillas are highly endangered and at a high risk of extinction, the number of mountain gorillas has been increasing since 1963 when gorilla tours were introduced as a conservation income generating mechanism in the virunga by Dian Fossey an American primatologist who sacrificed herself to save the then rare mountain gorillas. At present, there are approximately 880 mountain gorillas split in three East African countries of Uganda, Rwanda and the democratic republic of Congo. The population of gorilla is therefore increasing steadily day by day.

Gorilla tourism is believed to be the most interesting tourism activity, gorillas live in families with each family headed by the dominant silver back who acts like daddy in a family defending the entire family against the external attacks, the female gorillas nurse the young ones as real mothers in human life ,so interesting.

Mountain gorillas are the closest relatives of human beings sharing 98% of the human DNA hence making them so susceptible to human diseases. In order to address this, a maximum of 8 people are allowed to interact with one gorilla family for 1 hour maximum keeping a distance of 7 meters away from the gorillas to avoid close interactions.

Gorilla tourism and local communities

Gorilla tourism is deemed expensive due to quite high charges for the permits as compared to other tourism activities. A gorilla permit in Uganda is sold at 600usd, whereas in Rwanda it is sold at 750usd and 450usd in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 This revenue goes to the respective governments and is used for further development such as rehabilitating roads connecting to the national parks which have these apes. The roads and other facilities such as hospitals and schools are so important to the surrounding local people; this is an indirect benefit of gorilla conservation and tourism to the local communities.

For the nearest local communities to the gorilla national parks such as Musanze in Rwanda and Buhoma in Uganda among others, 20% of the total revenues earned from tourism are given to the local people. This money is used to by locals to support their families and improve their standards of living.

Concerning employment opportunities, gorilla conservation and tourism in Africa has done a great job in providing employment to the local people. Although most locals still lack qualifications and skills to serve as international guides, they have been hired as local guides, porters, mobilizers among others which has resolved natural resource conflicts between local people and managements of gorilla national perks over participation.

In Uganda, the batwa cultural trail in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest national park is of great help to the batwa. These people had their permanent settlements in the forest before it was garzeted into the national park. They tell stories of how they lived peacefully in the forest, demonstrate their traditions all which are interesting to the travelers who end up supporting these people through charity and donations.

In Rwanda, there is the iby’iwacu Cultural Village which has improved the lives of reformed poachers and communities around Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. This has been done through the provision of conservation incentives, supporting community enterprise development and livelihood based projects. Travelers to this village help in promoting education facilitation, agricultural support, healthy advisory, clean water and providing market for the local arts, crafts and baskets for the local people. This in turn improves the standards of living for the local community people.

In both countries, there are local community based projects that provide accommodation facilities to the travelers, and are mostly funded by gorilla conservation forums in the respective countries. Therefore in the whole of Africa, local communities have been great beneficiaries from gorilla conservation programs, sensitization, education and support that have improved livelihoods of the local people in areas with mountain gorillas.