Visit the Mountain Gorillas before Their Extinction

gorilla tracking uganda

There are two species of gorillas in this world that is eastern and western gorillas and the species are divided into subspecies. The eastern gorillas have the mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas and the western gorillas have the western lowland gorillas and the cross river gorillas.

These gorillas are classified due to the locality they live in. We shall not go deep into other subspecies of gorillas; we are going to concentrate on the mountain gorillas. These kinds of gorillas are called mountain gorillas due to the fact that they live in cool tropical forest ranges/mountains of the eastern region of Africa; that is, at Virunga massif at the border of Uganda, Rwanda and DR. Congo and kigezi highland region of Uganda. The mountain gorillas are very huge and have too much fur on their bodies compared to other gorillas since they live in cooler areas.

The mountain gorillas are endangered species of animals as indicated by the International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN) in red list. There are only about 1000 mountain gorillas left in the world and if not preserved and conserved they will be no more mountain gorillas yet there are very important in the ecosystem and also as an attraction in the tourism world.

Gorilla Trek Uganda and Rwanda

Gorilla Trek Uganda and Rwanda

Different organizations have come up to save these gorillas from getting extinct both government and non-government organization. Some of the notable ones are Diana Fossey Foundation, Gorilla Doctors, International Union of Conservation for Nature and Friend a Gorilla amongst the special ones. These organizations are lobbying efforts in order to save the gorillas. Some of the efforts being put up are training a team to monitor the well being of the gorillas and also to protect them from poachers, they are also sensitizing the locals the importance of the gorillas in the wild.

The main effort that was put up is the mountain gorillas were gazetted and protected in their locale in that they do not compete for shelter with people. Their habitats were gazetted into national parks that are protected by the governments of the countries where the gorillas exist. There are four national parks in the world where mountain gorillas are found and these are; volcanoes national park in Rwanda, Virunga national park in Congo and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga national park in Uganda. These are the place where a person can get a connection with the mountain gorillas to witness how lovely they are. Thousands of people visit one of these national parks to hang out with the mountain gorillas, while others choose a 5-day gorilla safari package to get a chance to visit the gorillas twice in Rwanda and Uganda combined.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

The activity to meet and watch the gorillas in the wild is called gorilla trekking which involves hiking through the tropical forested mountains of the East and Central region of Africa to watch the gorillas in their wild.

It takes 2-6 hours to find the gorillas in their locale. The gorillas are normally found in a group of 10-30 individuals being led by the silverback the head of the family. The gorilla trackers/visitors normally spend a maximum of one hour with the gorillas as they watch the gorillas forage, play, communicate intelligently as though they are real humans. The trackers also take photos of the gorillas in the wild and these pictures are always magnificent to see when you get back home.