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Costs and Benefits of Gorilla Tourism in Uganda

The advent discovery of mountain gorillas in 1902 was followed by studious primatologist research studies of the primates by Sigourney weaver and Dian Fossey which allowed the later to quickly discern mountain gorillas from other subspecies of gorillas inhabiting central African rainforests and Fossey became the icon pioneer of gorilla conservation.

Mountain gorillas faced myriad threats such as poaching, habitat loss, human disease transmission and civil wars which led to decline in their numbers to less than 500 and this was one of the compelling reasons for their strong conservation across Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo. Consequently gorilla population is on the rise as estimates stands at 880 individuals.

However, the international gorilla conservation group called upon the 3 countries if they were to ensure the future of gorillas as a prime tourism economic resource, they must engage in joint trans-boundary management of gorillas and their habitats with regard to human disease threats, costs and benefits of allowing tourists to see gorillas and security issues in the region.
Today there are 880 mountain gorillas in the whole world; half of these live in Uganda’s Bwindi impenetrable forest park which mark the southern limit of the Albertine rift valley in southwestern Uganda.

Bwindi impenetrable forest national park covers an area of 331 sq km and is regarded as the most biologically diverse forest in the region with rare afromontane vegetation and high endemism of species was listed among the top 20 critical areas of important global biodiversity by the convention on biological diversity (CBD). The park has 120 species of mammals, 357 birds including 23 Albertine rift endemics, 200 butterflies and over 400 plant species

Because Uganda has half of the world’s last population of mountain gorillas, it makes it the most highly visited park regardless of travel time and distance in comparison to Volcanoes National Park Rwanda. The number of tourists have increased since 1994 from 1,300 to 20,000 tourists currently.

Tourists who come to see gorillas in Bwindi Forest Park make their way to visit other tourist destinations like Queen Elizabeth national park where the rare tree-climbing lions are seen in Ishasha sector or primates in Kibale national park.
Tourists who come for gorilla tracking in Uganda pay US$700 each for a gorilla tracking permit. There are 14 groups of habituated gorillas. Every group of 8 tourists is allowed to see a group of gorillas for only ONE hour per day.

This implies that gorilla tourism is a big contributor to Uganda’s economy. In addition tourists also visit communities as well as stay in accommodations which add up another chunk of revenues through the demand of other local products and services.

Gorilla trekking officially started in 1994 in Uganda’s Bwindi national park with the view that gorilla tourism, if managed effectively would bring countless benefits such as employment and income opportunities and foreign exchange to communities around and Uganda at large.

Gorilla trekking is based on ecotourism which is a strategy to influence sustainable community development and conservation. Bwindi forest as an ecotourism destination for foreigners must at all costs alleviate poverty of locals rather than external funding and dependency on international conservation aid.

However, to achieve that it would involve many tradeoffs between environment and the livelihoods of people living near Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. Bwindi and Mgahinga national parks are surrounded by heavy human population meaning that gorilla tourism must fund conservation of gorillas; develop communities with alternative sources of income so that competition over the Bwindi forests is reduced.
With the new conservation policies restricting locals from accessing resources at the expense of gorillas, the park faced upsurge opposition from communities resulting into human wildlife conflicts.

This promoted Uganda Wildlife Authority to recognize the failing conservation polices in protecting gorillas and other wildlife, Uganda wildlife Authority along with other conservation organizations established initiates to make locals own the park through revenue sharing schemes where 20 % of the gorilla permits fees go to communities.
The revenues have improved lives of people though projects like building health care centers, schools, clean water and sustainable agriculture education.
In addition local communities around Bwindi have been encouraged to tap the market for tourists through selling crafts, food stuffs, honey including other tourist related services like transport and accommodation which has partly increased benefits of gorilla conservation and tourism.

While the parks remain completely out of bounds for local communities, on the other hand locals have been employed as guides, porters, community conservation leaders and rangers. Employment benefits coupled with community based projects are a means to change the negative attitude of people have towards gorillas. Hence people can co-exist with gorillas.

Gorilla tourism as an integrated part of ecotourism linking conservation of mountain gorillas and livelihoods of local people generate foreign exchange and increase earnings of local communities.
Mean while putting the benefits of gorilla tourism to local communities aside, Bwindi impenetrable forest national park is highly marketed for mountain gorillas as well as an important area of biodiversity which has attracted thousands of foreign tourists to spend a fortune and see gorillas.

Although tourist numbers have increased with revenues as mentioned above, tourist visits to habituated gorilla families are associated with negative impacts such risk of disease transmission because gorilla are susceptible human respiratory and infectious diseases like colds, diarrhea because gorillas share 95% of their genes with humans.

Gorilla trekking is highly restricted and tourists are encouraged to be environmentally responsible by not exploiting local cultures. While gorillas are increasingly being accustomed to people, it has also increased gorilla escapes to raid people’s crops and farms yet leading loss of food crops. This means that much more needs to be done to compensate local farmers rather than general benefits of gorilla tourism.
Ecotourism in Bwindi must therefore control the rate of creating trails in the forest for tourists to access gorillas and minimize gorilla interaction with tourists as well as regulate pressure exerted by foreign NGO’s on locals through foreign aid and donations.

The economic benefits of gorilla tourism and protected area management must regulate practices that are not compatible with the natural and traditional state of Bwindi forest. For instance modern building, use of chemicals for farming including the actions of non-governmental organizations that do not give back to the communities.
Uganda wildlife authority is diversifying local tourist products besides gorillas such as guided tours, hiking, festivals, Batwa cultural trails, community walks, biking and quality souvenirs which all add to the experience of gorilla trekking. UWA is also building capacity to meet demands of visitors through working together with tour operators in marketing and selling local tourist products and services.

Gorilla trekking permits cost a fee of $ 600 per person, the activity is done all year round but the dry season between July to September and December to February is preferred because of trekking conditions get quite easier while the wet season for the months of April, May and November has its benefits of discounted permits sales at $ 450 per person.

Discounted Gorilla Permits in Uganda

Huge reductions of up to 50% on all gorilla trekking safaris to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Discounted gorilla permits have lead to a hug cut of all Uganda gorilla tours for the month of April, May and November. Finding your low cost gorilla trekking holiday wasn’t easy before in Uganda but now it’s the only travel destination travelers are eyeing every year in Africa. Get cheap flights for your holiday and also get the best budget tour adventure you have always dreamt of in the Pearl of Africa. If you looking for budget gorilla trekking tours in Africa, then look no further but Uganda is a pocket friendly adventurous primate capital that never disappoints.

Mgahinga National Park

You could easily spend your whole Uganda holiday in the Mgahinga national park trekking gorillas, golden monkeys, chilling under warm weather, hiking volcanoes or by the nearby lake on Lake Bunyonyi Island the most famous leisure island for weekend gateways and honeymoon. One of its star attractions is Mountain gorillas which involve an incredible forest hike in search of the beautiful primates. Excited tourists usually spend the next day hiking the unique Mgahinga volcanoes that cross miles to Rwanda a great experience you can only find in Uganda. But if all park activities are done, you can always head to the uncrowded island for leisure, boat cruise, swimming and island exploration. Here nature and landscape simply control lives giving you a sincere reason to love Uganda and its attractions. Mgahinga gorilla permits are sold cheaper than no any other gorilla trekking destination other than Bwindi forest in the month of April, May and November.

Bwindi Forest National Park

Bwindi forest has a well-merited reputation for fantastic gorilla trekking holidays in Africa. Its very quiet and well conserved meaning you will only be in company with forest habitants especially birds that sing every morning and evening. Its only 3 hours from Kigali Rwanda’s capital and 9hours from Kampala Uganda’s capital. However, for those on luxury flying gorilla tour, it’s just 30 minutes from Entebbe Kajansi airstrip to Kihihi airstrip. The wonderful park situated close to Rwanda and Virunga massif overlooking countless hills and green vegetation is sure to capture imaginations of adventure and nature lovers. Bwindi forest is ideal if you want to track mountain gorillas on budget at any time of the year since Uganda gorilla permits are affordable even in the peak seasons of June-October and December to March. To Visit Bwindi forest, fly to Entebbe international Airport if you want to start your gorilla trekking holiday in Kampala and fly to Kigali international airport if you want to start your trek from Rwanda.

Oh don’t forget the Batwa cultural community around the park who used to live and depend on the forest but only surrendered their ancestor home because of the love they had for our closest relatives ”mountain gorillas”. You’ll never have to leave! But if you do get tired of the endless happiness, with the forest people, the other community adventures like riding a bicycle for a woman are still open for you to engage. And once track gorillas in Bwindi forest; it’s another reason to recommend the great destination to other friends and family.

Uganda Aims to Triple Tourists with the Help of Better Transport

Uganda was ranked among the top 16 travel destinations by CNN Travel in 2016. Such accolades in addition to the public relations and marketing firms that were hired in 2015 to represent Uganda in Europe and North America, the brand “Pearl of Africa” has gained position in the travel market.

Uganda wants to triple the number of tourist arrivals to boost its economy along with other major export sectors such as agriculture. Statistics from ministry of tourism indicate $ 1.35 billion were earned as foreign exchange and UGX 7.3 billion was added to Uganda’s growth domestic product in 2015/2016 financial year.

Uganda received 1.3 million tourists in 2015; we have high ambitions to bring in 4 million tourists by 2021, said the chief executive officer, Uganda Tourism Board, Stephen Asiimwe in an interview last year.

Considering the competition for wildlife based tourism, Uganda has a comparative advantage over Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda has half of the world’s mountain gorilla population and gorilla safaris in Bwindi remain number one wildlife encounter in Africa.

Besides the mountain gorillas, Uganda has several unique wonders that include river Nile, the longest in the world, Lake Victoria, Mount Rwenzori, the 3rd tallest range in Africa, diverse wildlife and unique culture.

Despite tourism being a lucrative industry for Uganda as a top tourist destination, poor infrastructure remains a big challenge leading to low tourist access and flow to some of tourist sites and attractions within. Developing infrastructure such as car/bus stations, ferry ports, airport terminals and road networks connecting to remote national parks would create access and ease flow of travelers on Uganda safaris.

At the end of 2015, a group of 38 tourists from Germany were disappointed and cancelled their trip to Kalangala islands upon finding a Kalangala MV anchored by stones and rotten wood in water. The incident led to loss of dollars and created bad image for Ssesse Island as a leisure destination.

The incident was an eye opener for the government to improve tourist infrastructure and roads to take advantage of marketing efforts such as participation in international tourism exhibitions such as INDABA South Africa, ITB-Berlin, WTM-London, if tourist numbers were to be tripled by 2021.
Priority allocations are being made to energize road and air connectivity which is still a challenge. Recently a number of roads were constructed including 143 km Kamwengye-Nyakita which link Kibale forest national park to Bigodi wetland sanctuary.

The government has unveiled plans to construct new roads in northern Uganda, as well new aerodrome in Kasese while improving those that are available such as Pakuba near Murchison Falls National Park. Meanwhile according to the civil aviation Uganda, Entebbe airport is set for rehabilitation including new passenger terminals, arrival halls, and aircraft parking lot. Currently, Entebbe airport is faced with capacity, having experienced increase in passenger traffic from 781400 passengers in 2007 to 1.2 million passengers.

Gorilla Trekking Uganda or Rwanda or Congo

When it comes to mountain gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Uganda tend to be more popular destinations than Democratic Republic of Congo based on a number of factors that influence trip planners who select a gorilla expedition depending on a given location of the parks where gorillas can be found.

Travel time distance and what to see on your way to the Gorillas

The advantage of tracking gorillas in Rwanda is that the close proximity of Volcanoes National park to Kigali Rwanda’s capital city enables visitors to reach gorillas within a short period of time but with few en route attractions. For time bound trekkers volcanoes can be quickly accessed and track gorillas within the same day and be able to return back to Kigali. The rain forests of volcanoes are not thick due to the extensive tracks of bamboo forests thus gorillas can be easily found within short hikes than Uganda and DRC.

In contrast to Uganda, the long distance from Kampala to Bwindi forest national park and Mgahinga national park attach additional costs of traveling either by road or flight from Entebbe International Airport which rather gives Rwanda an advantage to be preferred by time bound trekkers. However the longer distance offers an opportunity to enjoy variety of attractions including other big game wildlife encounters. Visitors can make different stopovers at the equator line in Masaka, through Lake Mburo or Queen Elizabeth National parks and the magical Ugandan rural setting of terraced hills of kabale and Kisoro rather reward with breathtaking scenic views that make the long journey pleasurable. Gorillas in Bwindi and Mgahinga tend to difficult to trek due to the impenetrable thick under covers that make hikes more tiring than in Rwanda.

Trekking for gorillas in Congo on the other had requires visitors to cross to Goma via Gisenyi Rwanda then Virunga national park. Its should be noted its quite safe to cross into Congo and back into Rwanda the following day after the trek.

The Cost of Gorilla Permits
Uganda takes advantage of the relatively low priced gorilla permits at US $600 per person per permit. In Uganda gorilla trekking permits can be purchased from Uganda Wildlife Authority directly from their offices or indirectly via their email. Alternatively local tour operators also sell permits though you might incur additional costs. During low seasons, permits in bwindi and Mgahinga parks tend to be reduced from 600 to 350 US $ per person.
While in Rwanda a gorilla permit is expensive at US$ 750 per person and it can be purchased through the Rwanda Development Board. In Democratic Republic of Congo Virunga National park permits are cheaper a US$ 450 which is the cheapest alternative.

Trekking experience in Congo – Since many visitors prefer visiting Rwanda and Uganda, for visitors who choose to trek gorillas on the Congo side usually trek few – about 3 – 4 people trekking a single gorilla family hence visitors are less crowded. You have a chance to observe your group closely.

In terms of travel safety, Uganda is more stable and politically safe for tourists traveling within the country and this explains why Uganda has dominated gorilla tracking expeditions. Uganda is also well known for its friendly people who give a blend of traditional cuisines while staying in one of the accommodations near the Bwindi or Mgahinga national parks.

Rwanda has also stabilized since the end of the 1994 genocide, thus volcanoes national park can be visited safely and there is no any threat posed to tourists for the last two decades. This is because of the efficient Rwanda a park management ranger who regularly monitor the gorillas to ensure continuity of gorilla tracking.
Although many people fear Congo could be unstable, the conflicts in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has long stopped and today Goma is a city picking up from the long period of instabilities. Visitors have been traveling into Congo entering via Goma into Virunga to see gorillas in Congo and hike the famous lava mount Nyiragongo Volcano.

Gorilla Trekking tips and Park Regulations

Gorilla tracking is a highly restricted eco-tourism activity where a group of 8 people maximum can be allowed to hike in search for a single gorilla group order to protect mountain gorillas healthy and safe. Gorillas are very vulnerable to human diseases therefore a maximum number of 8 people can only visit gorillas.

Once gorillas have been found, you can only interact with gorillas for only one hour in order to reduce trouble and risk of human diseases that might be transmitted to gorillas.
Before you start off on your gorilla safari, its very important that all participants are healthy and free from cold and other infectious diseases

Human waste must be buried in the ground about 30 cm

When you with the gorillas, a 7 meter distance away from the gorillas must be maintained and incase gorillas come close, you are advised to stay in one place and never touch a gorilla.

Eating and smoking while with gorillas is strictly prohibited and flash photography is not allowed so make sure to switch off flash lights.

Visitors are advised to cover the mouth or turn your face from gorillas whenever you want to sneeze since they are vulnerable to catch colds and coughs from humans.

Gorilla trekking is not easy given the nature of the rain forests and the fact that you are never guaranteed to see them, visitors should be prepared with hiking gears in order to get the most out of tracking;-

Trekkers must have solid walking shoes, long pants, walking sticks, warm clothing that include waterproof jackets, gloves to protect you from stinging nettles. This shall enable to cope with wet and sometimes rainy conditions given the high altitude.

Visitors must carry packed foods or snacks or enough drinking water to keep hydrated and energized along the hikes. Porters are always present at the starting point of trekking that can be hired to carry that backpack and give you a push as you might get tired.

Hikers should be practically fit to walk through steep ridges, wet grounds which are slippery and challenging by the time you get to the gorillas, walking sticks are highly recommended.

Mountain gorilla trekking still remains one of the life changing experiences on earth.