The Unexpected Savior of Uganda’s Endangered Mountain Gorillas

An inspiring collaboration is emerging in Uganda: paying tourists are supporting the monitoring and protection of local mountain gorillas, while providing economic alternatives that benefit local people, as AP reports.

In Uganda, these primates are concentrated in the Virunga mountains along the Rwanda-Uganda border, and at Bwindi Impenetrable national park, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo both in southwestern Uganda. The tourism industry that revolves around them is transforming communities, including some former poachers, into partners that work to safeguard these endangered animals.

Tourism is Driving Gorilla Conservation
The visitors to Uganda, who come eager to catch a glimpse of local gorillas, are directly helping these local apes thrive as they enable locals to monetize their living heritage. And tourists are prepared to shell out for the privilege. At Bwindi Impenetrable national park, each foreign tourist pays US$800 in permit fees for an hour’s access to gorillas in their natural habitats. As the Guardian explains, these are “habituated” apes; primate families that are not tame but are used to being around humans as they feed and socialize, and crucially, researchers too.

This fee is a lifeline. It is helping fund local conservation. For instance, it financially supports park management and habitat protection, through the creation of buffer zones, for example.

Overall, tourism has been critical in reversing the decline of mountain gorillas, leading to population increases, and their removal from the critically endangered to endangered list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUUN) as Endangered Species International details.

According to the senior warden of the southern section of Bwindi Impenetrable national park in Uganda, Chemonges Amusa, the money from the more than 40,000 tourists who visited Bwindi in 2024 raised enough to fund the whole of Uganda’s national park system for a year, the Guardian reveals.

At the last count, in 2018, as Money Control reports, the mountain gorilla population exceeded 1,000 primates (compared to barely 250 in the 1970s and 1980s,)  indicating that they came back from the brink of extinction which they faced in the last century. Next year, an updated count is expected to show another increase.

Even so, some concerns remain about the vulnerability of mountain gorillas to human respiratory diseases, and even about the possibility of there not being enough room for a significant gorilla population increase.
A significant proportion of these swelled tourism revenues are channelled back to boost the welfare of local communities, and are being allocated to development initiatives around schools, healthcare and water.

From Poachers to Protectors
In a moving turnaround, many reformed poachers who once set traps in the forest, now patrol these same forests as community watchdogs to report illegal activities, as part of their gorilla protection duties.

Today, they guard the animals they once hunted, working as porters, trackers, or guides that grasp the economic value and spiritual significance of the animals.

This attachment is reflected in the fact that gorillas have been given names, allowing rangers and other locals to humanize the animals, while several reformed individuals have become passionate spokespeople for these great apes.

Philemon Mujuni, is one of them. A poacher until five years ago, he tells AP that he once viewed gorillas as hostile animals to be killed before they killed him. But in 2020, when poachers killed a cherished gorilla, Rafiki, he helped create an organization of former poachers who now deem these primates more important than any other animal.
As well as work for guides of various sorts, “gorilla tourism” also takes in local craft, food and hospitality enterprises, offering lucrative alternatives to poaching.

A reported tangible shift in attitudes to gorillas is apparent in a sense of community ownership of the local gorilla heritage. A more widespread interest in gorilla health and protection is emerging as communities view themselves as stakeholders in successful conservation.

“If we know there is a gorilla that is sick, you see everyone is concerned. ‘Why? Why is the gorilla sick? It’s suffering from what?” ranger-guide Joyleen Tugume, working in the  Bwindi Impenetrable national park, tells AP. “Even the community people. Everyone is touched.“

Tugume also shares that poaching in this park is increasingly rare as all are working together to ensure conservation thrives as this is a common goal.

“The value of the gorilla money is very critical,” says Gessa Simplicious, a conservationist with the Uganda Tourism Board. “It helps with building trust, but it also helps in the awareness of the need to conserve.”