Uganda: Gorillas in the Mist

The endangered mountain gorillas live in steep areas of the rainforest that cover a large area in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Mountain gorillas have long since been hunted (as babies) for pets or to go in zoos, and (as adults) as prizes. People would keep the hands, feet, and heads of large silverbacks to have on display (like how places will have the head of a deer or moose on their walls).

Nowadays, people protect the forest and the gorillas from poachers. Even though it's illegal to hunt them, it still happens. To increase security for them, the countries rely on tourism to bring in extra cash. It is very expensive to visit gorillas in the wild ($400 in the DRC, $500 in Uganda, and $750 in Rwanda per person). The hike into the forest is very difficult because it is steep, slippery, hot, and the forest is full of thorny plants and fire ants. You are allowed to hike and get close to a group of gorillas only when they're settled and eating, not when they're moving. So you may have to hike for hours to reach them, or wait for them to stay in one place. Once you see them, you are only allowed to see them for one hour, then you have to leave so they aren't disturbed any more by humans for that day. The group sizes are kept small so they aren't as threatening (8 people plus a guide, 2 guards, and a couple of trackers who find the gorillas).

Uganda, and more specifically, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (where I saw them), is home to about half of the world's mountain gorilla population. Only some groups of gorillas have been habituated (meaning they are used to having people around). You are only allowed to visit habituated groups because other groups wouldn't be safe. They still see humans as hunters, and would either run away or charge.

I was assigned to the Mubare gorilla group which lives close to the Buhoma community just outside the National Park. It is the smallest group of gorillas - only nine - and at this time, disappointingly, it does not have any baby gorillas. It does have a cool story, though.

This is the oldest group of gorillas to be habituated in Bwindi's forest. The current silverback (dominant male gorilla) was a baby when the group became used to people. So he is called "the Gentle Man" because he is very calm around humans and you can get closer to him than any other silverback in the forest. Before starting to hike, we were told to stay 8m away (think 8 meter sticks) from the gorillas, but we were much, much closer. The other interesting thing is that his father (the old silverback) passed away in June, only two months ago. Because the father had been old and weak before he died, he lost many battles between him and other silverbacks of other groups in the forest. When a silverback loses a fight, female gorillas often join the group of the winner because he was seen as stronger and a better leader. So by the time the old silverback died, there were only three gorillas left in the group.

 "Gentle Man" knew he had to do something to increase the size of his group, so he started fighting other silverbacks in the forest. He won many battles, and each time would encourage a female or two to come into his group. The really cool thing is that he tried this and won with the two other gorilla groups that you can visit from Buhoma AND he won battles against gorilla groups that are wild (not habituated to people). So in the short time since his father had died, he had increased the size of the group from 3 to 9! Our guide said that once a wild gorilla joins a habituated group, he or she follows the lead of the other gorillas around him and is not afraid of humans.

So even though the hike was tough, our group was small, and we didn't have babies, it was still a very rewarding experience and I felt good that some of the $500 I spent was going to protecting the forest and the gorillas.

"Gentle Man" showing his strength to his family members

Having a snack gorilla style!

For those of you who were in my class two years ago, you'll remember all the work we did with chimpanzees. We learned that the chimps' habitat was being destroyed because of deforestation (people cut down the forest to use the wood as lumber, and to create farms). I noticed that same thing outside the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. You can see in this picture where the forest stops, and the farmland begins. There's almost a straight line down the hill where the trees stop. To the left of the line are banana plantations.

I hope the communities continue to learn how to make a living without interfering with the gorillas' habitat!