Mountain Gorilla Safari Tours including Gorilla Tr

Half of the world’s remaining 700 mountain gorillas is found in the Virungas which is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The Virungas contains two large national parks: Volcanoes national park in Rwanda and Virunga national park which is the oldest national park in Africa found the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of the mountain gorillas can at times be found in Mgahinga national in Uganda, however, they often stray back across the border into the Volcanoes or Virunga national park.

The remaining half of the mountain gorillas is found in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park found in the south west of the region just close to the Virungas.

Mountain gorilla tourism is the largest source of foreign exchange earning for the countries of Uganda and Rwanda. In Rwanda a gorilla trekking permit costs a staggering $750 for each tourist wishing to visit the gorillas in Rwanda. For a visit to Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park one pays $500 dollars for a Uganda gorilla tour.

Mountain gorilla safari in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not so expensive as the civil unrest in the recent past has deterred tourists from visiting the region. However, the Virunga national park has very many tour attractions for tourists visiting the region. In addition to the mountain gorillas, the Nyirangongo Volcanoes which is an active volcanoes is a favorite for tourists visit the DRC.

The killing of a baby mountain gorilla in the Virungas has led to the formation of a joint anti-poaching team by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

According to a conservationist in Volcanoes national park Mr. U. Prosper, the death of the baby mountain gorilla led to the joint anti-poaching unit with the aim of curbing the vice in the Virungas.

The joint anti-poaching team has so far removed so many snares from the national parks and averted several poaching attempts by the poachers who encroach into the parks to setup traps for animals like bushbucks and other lesser antelopes found in the jungles.

Poaching and the destruction of the mountain gorilla habitat remains the largest danger to these gentle giants.

Posted by: Rwanda gorilla safari

Mountain gorillas are highly endangered and number only about 700 in the wild. Half of them are found in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest national park which is found in Uganda. The other half is found in the Virunga mountainous region.

In the Virunga’s there are two major national parks all of which have mountain gorillas. Volcanoes national park in Rwanda and Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The death of a baby mountain gorilla in the Virunga’s has led to the formation of anti-poaching team between the two Countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Mountain gorillas live in family units and are very social creatures. Some of these families have been habituated and opened up for mountain gorilla safari trips so as to help raise funds for the conservation efforts as well as awareness about their plight.

In Congo the civil unrest has dealt such a blow to the conservation efforts of mountain gorillas in the Country. Many of the rangers in the Virunga national park have been killed by rebels living the mountain gorillas without protection. However, the recent peace in the area coupled with the tireless conservation efforts of International Conservation bodies such as International Gorilla Conservaton Program and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund have enabled the number of mountain gorillas to increase.

A Rwanda gorilla safari is probably the most expensive given the increase in the number of gorilla permits from $500 to $750 effective June 1st.  In Uganda, the gorilla permits has remained at $500 per foreign tourist visiting the national park.

The recent increase in the mountain gorilla tour permit fees has sparked a lot of debated with fierce opposition from Rwanda Safari operators. Mr. Edwin Sabuhoro who is the chairman of the Tourism Chamber said the price increase was very insensitive to the current global economic situation given the fact that tourists visiting Rwanda and other countries in the region are spending much less than they used given the global economic crisis.

The Rwanda Development Board announced in January that the price of mountain gorilla trekking permits would be increased by 50%. This development was welcomed by the districts around Volcanoes national park where the mountain gorillas are located as the RDB has a revenue sharing program in which the communities are the tourist attractions take 5% of the revenue generated by any of the tour attractions.

Districts like Nyabihu, Burera and Musanze are optimistic that they will reap big from the increase in the gorilla safari fees. This view however, is not shared by the Rwanda safari operators who argue that increasing the gorilla trekking price would only serve to drive the tourists to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo the only other Countries where these gentle giants can still be found.

In Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo the gorilla trekking prices have not been increased and the Uganda gorilla permits still cost $500.

The tourism revenue sharing program was introduced by the Rwanda Development Board in 2010 and so far there’s over 113m Rwanda Francs that the districts neighboring the tour attractions and parks are to share.

This revenue is shared by the local governments, community organizations some who include widows, those that have given up poaching as well as other Non Government Organizations. The funds are used to carry out projects such as building community centers and halls, construct roads, build classrooms, construct teachers’ housing units etc.

According to the community leaders, this is a very welcome program and benefits the locals around the national parks. One local resident said it was very incredible to see the developments that the tourism revenue is bringing to the district of Musanze. This is a way for money got from tourism to trick back into the local communities.

The revenue sharing scheme has helped in ensuring that locals take an interest in the conservation of the parks as well as the flora and fauna as it benefits them directly. The Revenue sharing scheme has helped in changing the perception of the poachers who now view the wildlife as something that they too can benefit from directly if conserved.

According to the Chief Park Warden of Volcanoes national park Mr. Prosper Uwingeli, the 5% revenue from tourism that is ploughed back into the community has helped in promoting sustainable tourism in the Volcanoes national park.

The Rwanda Development Board has also introduced a new gorilla safari packages for VIP groups in which a group of tourists can exclusively book a whole mountain gorilla group (Family) and are provided with customized services at a cost of $10,000 per group.

Rwanda mountain gorilla tracking has become such a must for tourists visiting Africa that the number of tourists visiting Parc Des Volcans has forced the Rwanda Development Board – RDB to raise the price of gorilla permits for Rwanda.

The prices of gorilla tracking permits to see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, has been hiked from $500 to $750 per person per day effective 1^st June 2012.

According to a Study that was published in PLUS ONE, Rwanda raised about $8 million in the 2008 for gorilla conservation. The Rwanda Development Board says it was necessary to raise the gorilla trekking fee in order to raise more money for the conservation of these endangered species.

In the same year – 2008 about twenty thousand – 20,000 tourists did Rwanda gorilla safaris and this is a high number that could adversely affect the the conservation of these gentle giants. The number of people doing a gorilla safari has thus been limited daily to a certain number – 8 people per family so as not to affect the mountain gorillas.

In 2010 due to this effective and concerted effort by the Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, the number of mountain gorillas has greatly increased to about 790 in the wild.

Mountain gorillas which were once highly endangered are now seeing a steady increase in their population with an annual growth of about 3.7% in the population.

This trend however is not the same with the lowland gorillas of the Congo basin which have seen a steady decline in number due to poaching, loss of habitat due to the felling of trees and the outbreak of diseases.

Rwanda increase gorilla trekking fees

The number of mountain gorillas in the Countries of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is steadily increasing due to the increased conservation efforts being put in by the three Countries as well as International Conservation bodies.

The effort by tour operators can not also go unnoticed as they are help raise  awareness about the plight of these beautiful creatures that millions of tourists come to see annually. To visit gorillas in Uganda or Rwanda once has to pay the mandatory $500 dollars as gorilla trekking permit fees. This money is for the park entrance fees, the park ranger fees as well as conserving the mountain gorillas and the communities in which these endangered mountain gorillas are found.

To gauge the success of the conservation efforts of the different bodies and governments, there has been a census of the mountain gorilla families to ascertain their numbers. The last census was carried in 2006 and the number of mountain gorillas then was 720 both wild and habituated. This last census was carried out in the latter part of 2011 and the results are yet to be published by the researchers.

From the projections of the 2006 census the number of mountain gorillas in expected to increase in this recent census. Mountain gorillas are faced with a high number of dangers. For one, they are closely related to humans with 97% DNA similar to that of humans. This makes mountain gorillas very susceptible to human disease from which they have no immediate treatment like humans. It is very easy for a person to quickly recover from a bout of flu with a few shorts from the doctor but with mountain gorillas this would be fatal to the entire family to which the gorilla belongs.

It is therefore incumbent upon us all to ensure that these gentle giants are protected and that encroachment on their habitat as well as poaching are curbed before we lose these great apes.

Mountain gorilla families in all the three Countries have been opened for gorilla tracking to tourists. However due to the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, mountain gorilla safari is carried mainly in Uganda and Rwanda. A gorilla trekking safari in Uganda is done in Bwindi impenetrable forest as well as Mgahinga national park.

A Rwanda gorilla safari is done in Parc Des Volcans in different regions which is part of the Virunga massif. These gorilla safari bookings are important in raising funds for the conservation as well as awareness about the plight of these gentle giants.

The highly endangered Mountain gorillas can only be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Numbering only about 800 in the wild as per projections from the 2006 population census,  mountain gorillas are highly endangered. In October this year, the three Countries together with International Conservation agencies embarked on a census of these gentles giants. Mountain gorillas in Uganda can be found in Mgahinga gorilla national park as well as in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. The number of Bwindi gorillas is about half of all the mountain gorillas found in the wild.

In Rwanda gorillas can be found in Parc Des Volcans and offers some of the best mountain gorilla trekking opportunities. The Rwanda government has put a lot of emphasis on tourism with mountain gorilla safari packages as the flagship product of its tourism. It is no wonder that although the Country was once only an added destination for tourists visiting Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; it has now become a tourism destination in its own right.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, mountain gorillas are found in the Virunga national park. However due to the insecurity in the region, the tourism potential afforded by the mountain gorillas in the region has not been fully tapped into. However, the virungas offer great tourism potential for tourists.

Mountain gorillas live in family groups with a dorminant male – silverback gorilla as the head of the family. It is only the silverback that mates with all the females in the family. He is also the one responsible for defending the family against attack from wild animals as well as poachers.

In June 2011, a couple of poachers who had entered Bwindi impenetrable forest national park killed Mizano, a black-back (a juvenile male mountain gorilla) mountain gorilla. Mizano was the only black-back in the Habinyanja mountain gorilla family meaning the group has been striped of an heir when the current dominate male passes on.

The culprits Fideli Begumisa, Amos Kazongo and Ronald Byamugisha were caught immediately after the incident. However a judge in Kanungu District after having found them guilty only fined them Shs. 50,000 (approximately $20). This is nothing considering that each tourist going for a mountain gorilla tour pays $500 dollars as the gorilla permit fee per day so as to be able to do a gorilla tracking.

Mountain gorillas safari packages are the greatest contributors to the tourism in Uganda making one of the top 3 foreign exchange earners for the Country.

Mountain gorillas can only be found in the border region of the 3 Countries of Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda and are listed as highly endangered with a population of approximately 800 only living in the wild mountainous rain forest regions of these border regions.

Poaching especially in Uganda has become such a great threat to Uganda’s wildlife although this is not known. In June during a trip to Murchison falls national park, I was able to interact with the locals in the communities surrounding the most popular national park in Uganda. I was surprised to find out it is every easy to get game meat (bush-meat) from the locals surrounding this park which is the most visited in Uganda. I found out that there are a couple of code-names that one can use to get any type of bush meat. For instance to get hippo meat all one has to do is ask for “Macha” meaning charcoal and you would be available the bush-meat.

For your gorilla safari or gorilla tours in Uganda visit www.gorilla-safari.org and another place to do a Rwanda gorilla trekking safari visit www.gorillatrekkingrwanda.com

Mountain Elgon in Eastern Uganda has been faced with a lot of encroachment from the locals living around the region. The mountain and its foothills have been experiencing a lot of landslides due to the increased misuse of the land and deforestation which is removing the trees and plantations that prevent landslides.

The President of Uganda of Uganda has now issued a directive to the Prime Minister Dr. Apollo Nsibambi to de-gazette part of the Mountain Elgon National park – the London portion to resettle some of the Benet families – a total of 400 families in all. There are cracks that are developing along the slopes of the mountain threatening another catastrophe like that of the 2010 in which many people lost their lives. The previous landslide caused a huge number of people to be transferred to Western part of the Country to a completely different region. According to authorities the cracks are now over 30 cm deep and increasing in depth rapidly.

The Benet were a forest dwelling community from the Sabiny tribe and are a minority group faced with the threat of losing their culture and identity. They originally lived in the Mountain forest region of Mountain Elgon, however with the gazzetting of the forest into a central forest reserve and national park in 1938 and between 1993 and 1994 respectively the Benet where driven out of the forest denying the opportunity to carry out their mushroom gathering and hunting in the forest of Mt. Elgon and its Moorland.

On March 5^th President Museveni wrote to the Prime Minister stating how the over 400 Benet families that had been displaced from their cradle land after the allocation of the Mountain Elgon forest into a national park and forest reserve. In the letter the President states how the Benet are living in deplorable conditions in Kisangani in Kween District in Eastern Uganda where they live in rocky regions as well as in Rwanda.

This directive comes at a time  when the Uganda Wildlife Authority the body charged with managing Uganda’s wildlife resources has warned the local encroachers along the slopes of Mountain Elgon in Manafwa district where a long crack about 40km long to relocate from the region.

According to the Area Manager of the Mountain Elgon Area Conservation, Mr. Adonia Bintorwa the destruction of the mountain Elgon Forest cover due to the encroachment as well as poor farming methods has exacerbated the problems on the mountain region as the vegetation which holds the soils together is being depleted. It is was for this same reason that there was a massive landslide in Nametsi in Bududa last year causing massive loss of lives in 2010. Mr. Bintorwa suggests that the government should move the settler to a different area altogether other than allowing them to settle in this region.

In the letter the President directs the NFA – National Forestry Authority to look into the request of the Benet people to graze in the Mountain Elgon park area which the Uganda Wildlife Authority is vehemently opposed. The Uganda Wildlife Authority states that the encroachment of mountain Elgon has and is causing great environmental and catastrophic environmental damage to the whole eastern Uganda region.

Visit www.gorillatrekkingrwanda.com for Rwanda mountain gorilla trekking as well as:

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There is a new Island resort that is being developed in Lake Bunyonyi in Kibale district western Uganda which is going to boost the tourism in the West of Uganda. The proprietor Mr. Jim Bitwire of Kyahugye Island resort, who is the director of Bunyonyi Wildlife Island said the resort is projected to cost 1 billion Uganda shillings is going to boost tourism activities in western Uganda. There has already been 600 million shillings invested in the resort which is going to create a good number of jobs thus generating income for the local community as well as create spinoffs like businesses for the people around. This investment comes at a time when Uganda tourism is registering a growth of 6 – 8 per cent annually. The number of tourists have increased from less than 200,000 in 1998 almost 4 times in the last 10 years to 843,864 tourists in 2008. Uganda safari

In December 26 when the first phase of the project is completed there will be over 49 rooms as well as cottages with the rest of the project expected to be complete mid next year.

In an interview with the Daily Monitor newspaper Mr. Bitwire said they are looking at Lake Bunyonyi as the heart of tourism for Uganda and are therefore trying to create something that is unique to the region. Lake Bunyonyi among other things like fishing and boating, is famous for bird watching in Uganda.

Lake Bunyonyi is the second largest lake in the World and is situated close to the tourist circuit that includes the world famous mountain gorillas that are found in Rwanda and Uganda. In order to beef up the tourism potential of the region there’s also going to be a relocation of wildlife from other national parks like Queen Elizabeth national park and Lake Mburo national parks which are close to the Lake. It is argued that this will also help schools in the region to cut back on the budget spent on transport to other region for tourism purposes as the region will act as an Education and Wildlife research center. Queen Elizabeth national park

This is due to the significant number of tourists Uganda is seeing despite the fact that in 2010 the number of tourists due to the global economic crisis falling to 817,000. The Uganda Tourism Board however said that the amount of foreign exchange earned from tourism increase to about $600 Million dollars.

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