UWA invests more in the gorilla tourist industry

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is opening up another tourist destination in the park to ensure that more tourists have a chance to find their way to view some of the 300 of the world’s famous mountain gorillas found in the small national park in southwest Uganda.

The new destination will be at Rushaga in Kisoro District where a gorilla group has already been habituated and is almost ready to start receiving visitors. Habituation is a process which makes the mountain gorillas get accustomed to people through regular exposure.

As in the other three destinations currently running, Buhoma, Ruhija and Nkuringo, at Rushaga it will be possible for eight people to trek the mountain gorillas daily. The Uganda Wildlife Authority has also increased the number of tourists allowed to see the gorillas from six to eight per day. The eight tourists will bring in $4000 (Shs7.9 million) only for the trekking permits, since a single permit costs $500 (Shs990,000), up from last year’s $360.

“The demand for trekking permits is increasing. Gorilla trekking is real green Ugandan gold, that is why we have decided to open for trekking in Rushaga,” the area conservation manager of the park, Charles Tumwesigye told Daily Monitor. “We only have to put in a few basic necessities such as toilets and shelters before we are ready”.

The number of tourists was increased to eight after Rwanda which shares the mountain gorillas with Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo increased theirs to eight and because scientists did not consider that eight tourists have a different effect on the mountain gorillas than six.

“There simply did not exist evidence as to why we should not let eight tourists go, so we support this decision,” Robert Bitariho, a researcher at the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation in Ruhija, Bwindi says.

Tumwesigye however says it is not likely the number will increase from eight to maintain the natural environment for the animals. He says it is hoped it will attract more Ugandans. At present only four to five Ugandans visit the park per month. A trekking permit for at Ugandan citizen costs Shs250,000.

“We do not see that many Ugandans. It shows there is great potential to be explored. Ugandans who can afford to fly to Zanzibar or London have the means to come here too,” Tumwesigye says.

He says it will make our tourism industry more resilient, because sometimes they don’t see the full number of foreigners. To Europeans and Americans, the DRC is close to Bwindi and problems there affect tourism numbers.

Once Rushaga is opened, six out of Bwindi’s 28 mountain gorilla groups would have been opened to tourism. One more has been habituated for scientific purposes.

If all mountain gorilla groups are booked out by foreigners it will earn Uganda $24,000 (Shs.47.6 million) a day only on the trekking permits minus money spent on accommodation, transport and other necessities.
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For more information on mountain gorillas
About Mountain gorillas
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