Another gorilla group prepared for tourism

Another gorilla group prepared for tourism Tuesday, 26th January, 2010

Uganda’s Bwindi impenetrable forest national park is home to over half of the 750 mountain gorillas that live in the wild. The Uganda Wildlife Authority in a bid to help sensitize and raise awareness about the plight of the endangered mountain gorillas has helped in habituating some of the mountain gorilla families in order to promote tourism.

The latest group of mountain gorillas being in a bid to help in the promotion of tourism is the Bikingi group of gorillas found in the southern region of Bwindi impenetrable forest which is found in the South Western border region of Uganda. Habituation which is the process of making these mountain gorillas acquitted with human presence is also done for some chimpanzees in the wild. It however, does not involve taming the mountain gorillas as it is necessary for them to maintain their wild nature.

According to Sam Mwandha the director of conservation with Uganda Wildlife Authority, the habituation of the Bikingi mountain gorilla group is expected to take a couple of months before they can be able to accept the presence of human beings in their vicinity.

There is currently a number of mountain gorilla families (34 in all) found in Bwindi impenetrable national park. Of these those that have been habituated are 8 mountain gorilla families. These include Kyaguriro, Rushegura, Nkuringo, Mubare, Bitukura, Habinyanja and one that was habituated recently the Nsongi family. The habituation of these mountain gorillas has taken place over the last 20 years. According to statistics gorilla tracking contributes approximately 40% -50% of the revenue earned from tourism. The habituation of the Bikingi group of mountain gorillas is expected to be the last group to be habituated till 2012.