How Many Visitors are Allowed to Trek a Gorilla Group?
How Many Visitors are Allowed to Trek a Gorilla Group?
The question of how many visitors are allowed to trek a particular gorilla group is one of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by travelers intending to undertake gorilla safaris in Uganda, Rwanda, or the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is important to know this fact because mountain gorillas are vulnerable and each gorilla family or group is visited/or trekked by a limited number of tourists.
Before anything else, it should be noted that mountain gorillas share 98% of their DNA with mankind, and therefore, many things that affect us also affect them such as flue, cough, and other communicable diseases. And also, their World population currently stands at about 1080 individuals within Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo which makes them endangered and threatened. The Eastern lowland gorillas can be trekked within Kahuzi-Biega National Park of the Democratic Republic of Congo and are also visited by a limited number of tourists.
Back to the question of “how many visitors are allowed to trek a gorilla group”, the answer is only 8 visitors for each habituated gorilla family, applicable to all gorilla trekking destinations across Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo. For this case, the total 21 habituated gorilla groups in Bwindi National Park are visited by a total of 168 visitors each day, 96 tourists for the 12 habituated gorilla groups in Volcanoes National Park, 64 travelers for the 8 habituated gorilla groups in Virunga National Park, only 8 tourists for the one habituated gorilla group in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and about 40 visitors for the total 5 habituated gorilla families in Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
Eight is therefore the magical number when it comes to trekking a fully-habituated gorilla group while only four visitors are allowed to trek a semi-habituated gorilla family during the “Gorilla Habituation Experience” within Bwindi National Park. There are several reasons why the number of visitors allowed to trek a gorilla group is only 8 and these include;
Reduce the spread of human-borne diseases
One of the reasons why the number of tourists trekking a gorilla family is placed at 8 persons is to reduce any risks of exposure to several human-borne diseases such as cough, Tuberculosis, Flu, and even Covid-19. As we now understand that these creatures are our close relatives, they are likely to be affected by communicable diseases that affect us. Even with humans, large crowds are most likely to spread diseases than small numbers of people and because they are genetically connected to us, mountain gorillas need special treatment for their survival.
Minimize behavioral changes towards mountain gorillas
Only 8 visitors are allowed to trek a habituated gorilla family to minimize any possible behavioral changes to the Giant Apes, given the fact that they are easily angered, stressed, and discomforted by huge crowds of people thus chances of aggressiveness are also high. Much as they are habituated to get accustomed to humans, they are and will still remain wild animals, and therefore to maintain their wildness, huge crowds should be avoided at all costs.
Besides the number of visitors allowed to trek gorilla families is limited to 8 persons, there are other rules and regulations to be followed when trekking and spending time with endangered gorillas. One hour is the maximum time provided for spending time with the mountain gorillas, although trekking time varies from 30 minutes to over 6 hours.
Loud noise isn’t allowed when trekking mountain gorillas, so as to sight other creatures in the Parks such as bird species, and dead silence has to be kept when viewing the Giant Apes to reduce possibilities of becoming aggressive or irritated.
Travelers with human communicable diseases such as Covid-19, flu, cough, and Tuberculosis are advised to cancel/postpone gorilla trekking tours to avoid infecting the endangered mountain gorillas since they share 98% DNA with mankind.
In conclusion, mountain gorillas are endangered primates only living in the thick rainforests of East-Central Africa with a World population of only about 1000 individuals and because of this, a number of guidelines were placed to ensure their conservation and survival. One of these important guidelines is limiting the number of visitors to trek gorilla groups to 8 persons for two main reasons-reducing behavioral changes as well as reducing the possible spread of human-borne diseases to the gorillas.
