How gorilla trekking can be a good conservation strategy for Uganda…Rwanda &Congo

Long time ago and up to now, its well known that mountain gorillas in the wild can only be found in the there countries, Uganda, Rwanda and DRC congo the former Zaire , but because of their signs that these apes might come to extinct , some international bodies like WWF, gorilla doctors, GCIP, CTPH and many more, have come up to set up rules and regulations to save the endangered mountain gorillas.these organisations are Non profit making or business oriented firms but rather depends on donations  to pursue its conservation process

Gorilla trekking, means taking / tracking , this is defined differently  into the eyes of many  scientists or adventure travelers, but in simple terms, it means walking on foot for an anticipated distance following the gorillas in their natural habitat  many a traveler the most exciting and memorable part of a safari is seeing Africa’s animals in the wild and getting up-close to mountain gorilla this is the primarily reason why most tourist prefer to go to Bwindi national park in Uganda, volcanoes park in Rwanda and Virunga park in congo.. When it comes to animal encounters (getting up-close) and interactions theres are , often controversial and  ethical questions  that raised but in reality,  its true to set up rules governing the exercise.

Gorilla tracking  has created awareness to the whole world that in reality there are mountain gorillas  remaining on the small part of the world in Africa , by doing so the money raised from the sale of the gorilla permit is used in the conservation process to save mountain gorillas.

Not only that but gorilla trekking has provided local communities employments to work as porters, and these porters were the primarily threat to gorillas as some of them were poachers so by emplying them directly as porters, this has played a big role towards conservation of mountain gorillas in their natural habit

Gorilla trekking as an exercise has called upon international big organization like gorilla doctors, who have at the end taken part in treating  the mountain gorillas and taking good care of them  as some times gorillas fall off from tree branches due to over weight but gorilla doctors treat the wounded and bring them back to life , thus saving them and top of that they also work in conjunction with CTPH this organization gives medical care the domestic animals that lives in areas next to the protected areas thus reducing the threats to mountain gorillas by doing this already it’s a conservation process.

The truth is that  setting  up maxim daily number to 8 individuals per day per group , has  saved to save  mountain gorillas , this has limited the number of people visiting the gorillas and this would have affected the breading patterns  of mountain gorillas as observation from the daily visitors would affect gorillas and the eco system of the natural forest habitat  towards animal encounters are, unfortunately, not always good for the animals or for conservation, which means that you can be selective to who  can see gorillas in a day, this price fix  and number regulation works as conservation measures towards saving mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.

Above all there has been a symbiotic relationship between gorilla trekking and gorilla conservation as one helps the other to be in place with the help of man as the key player towards saving the lives on mountain gorillas.

Organizations behind Gorilla conservation:

Gorillas are becomingly widely known in the world  not only in Africa but all over the Globe.

These ave provided a joint role towards saving the gorillas in their natural habitat as well having in harmony with nature.

.IGCP (INTERNATIONAL GORRILLA CONCERVATTION  PROGRAMME)

This is the major body that  is responsible for all the fundraising that are used in  currying out conservation programmes within the region  especially in Uganda, rwanda and DRC congo

.the body also sets rules governing gorilla activities and tracking policies like setting the daily currying capacity .

ITFC( institute of Tropical forest conservation)this body facilitates the rangers in the process of currying out gorilla habituation  exercise in the great lakes region of Uganda, Rwanda congo.

Not only that they also pray a role in logistic supplies like GPS suplys,back packers and other field gears.

It does research on gorillas and plants in the field /forest with the best way to ensure sustainable conservation in the region

CTPH.(conservation through public health)

This body provides conservation education programmes in the region to ensure public health awareness

It also serves the best role of eliminating the spread of domestic animals diseases so that such diseases are not spread to the protected areas as this might affect gorillas and other animaals that live in such areas of Bwindi impenetrable forest, Mgahinga park, Volcanoes park and Virunga park.

BMCTLbwindi Mgahinga Conservation trust) this body is partly responsible in providing clean and safest water  to the communities around the protected areas as one way of community benefit sharing .it hass provided resettlement programmes to the communities that formelly lived in the forest like the pygmies known as the Batwa tribe by acquiring land for them in the neighbor hood commuuties .

Challenges faced in conservation programmes

The biggest challenge is that gorillas gorillas move away  yet it takes more than 3 years to habituate a group.

Black backs when they become silverback  this creates divisions in the group thus reducing the number of gorilla family individuals in the same group  as the way of them being chessed away from the group.

Natural death is also another strong factor, gorillas live between 45-50 years  so one gorilla dies its a big loss to the gorilla family.

Accidents of gorillas falling off from tree branches, a clear example is that on 18^th /01/2017 Bitukula gorilla familyin Bwindi impenetrable forest  lost one of its Silver back .

Another issue is problem animals like elephants and baboons these break off and eat crops of the communities around thus making communites have complaints

Fire out breaks within the protected areas , these are narmal threats that cause issues to the communities.