Mountain gorillas are endangered species which can be located or viewed in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Park or Mgahinga National park, the other gorillas can also be found in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and also in Virunga National park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These species have greatly attracted many tourists to come for gorilla trekking safaris to the country. Responsible tourism is so crucial to the protecting of the mountain gorillas.
Both Uganda and Rwanda’s main attraction are the endangered mountain gorillas that live within the impenetrable forests in both countries. The mountain gorilla is the bulkiest of the living primates, and though it looks tough, it is among the most peaceful creatures. Just staring into the pensive brown eyes of these gentle giants, living primates sharing 95% of the human genes is not only an amazing experience but as well humbling and thrilling!
Did you know that a there are just a few mountain gorillas left in the world? According to the recent Gorilla Census conducted within Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, there are about 880 individuals living in the wild. About 420 mountain gorillas, nearly half of the total population survive in Bwindi impenetrable national park, the best place to see the giants in Uganda. The rest of the population is shared within Volcanoes National Park, Mgahinga National Park and also the Virunga National Park. The mountain gorillas are a backbone to tourism development in both Uganda and Rwanda, and they have greatly attracted many tourists interested in taking gorilla tracking safaris to Uganda and Rwanda.
Gorilla Tourism
Gorilla tourism is a thriving adventure in both Uganda and Rwanda. Though Congo has witnessed several conflicts in the past years most especially in the eastern side where the park belongs, still there are several tourists who travel to this park for gorilla trekking.
Both Uganda and Rwanda have promoted gorilla tourism and the number of tourists realized in both countries is awesome! Today within Uganda, there are ten habituated gorilla troops with nine of these in Bwindi and one in Mgahinga National Park. This means that the gorillas can also be visited by a total of over 80 tourists daily. Uganda is also a home to man’s closest relatives, which are the chimpanzees, a delightful ape whose evocative pant hoot call is a definitive sounds of the African rain forest, Budongo forest and queen Elizabeth National park’s Kyambura Gorge. A community of orphaned chimps , most of which were confiscated from poachers, can be visited on Ngamba Island which lies on Lake Victoria 45 minutes by motor boat from Entebbe.
The monkeys are also exceptionally well represented in Uganda. Indeed, Kibale Forest boasts the greatest primate variety and density in East Africa, with five or six species likely to be observed over the course of one afternoon walk. Elsewhere , Mgahinga National Park also hosts habituated troops of the rare golden monkeys, while Murchison falls is also one of the few east African strongholds for the spindly , plains- dwelling patas monkey. The fossilised20 million year old bones of morotopithesus, the earliest known ancestor of modern apes and the humans, unearthed in the 1960s near Moroto in Eastern Uganda, and are now housed in the national museum in Kampala.
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