Two new gorilla groups have been opened for gorilla tourism within Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, the best place to see the endangered mountain gorillas in Africa. As part of the on-going process to promote gorilla tourism within Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has habituated two more groups of mountain gorillas and are readily available for gorilla watching at Rushaga, Kisoro, in Southwestern Uganda.
According to UWA publicist Jossy Muhangi, Bukingi and Bushabo are the two new gorilla groups that have been under the usual habituation process for the last two years. The habituation process involves researchers and guides making several visits to the gorillas in order to get used to human presence without changing their wild character. The opening of the two new groups brings the number of available families for gorilla tracking to a total pf fourteen groups. With each group allowing only 8 visitors a day, 112 gorilla permits are available every day for tourists interested in taking gorilla safaris to Uganda.
The two groups are ready for tourism and the mountain gorillas in both families are nolonger charging at the human visitors. Mountain gorillas are the star attraction to Uganda nad the 2o year -long gorilla tourism contributes more than 60% the country’s earnings from tourism. The revenue raised from gorilla tourism is used by the Uganda Wildlife Authority to protect the mountain gorillas, promote conservation in other parks and some revenue is used to support the local communities that live near the gorilla parks.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a world famous attraction, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage site sitting on over 331-square-kilometers, covered largely by the dense montane and lowland forest. These ancient forests protect a rich diversity in one of Africa’s flora and fauna including nearly half of the world’s total population of the endangered mountain gorillas. The park is also home to over 120 mammals, including several other primate species such as baboons and chimpanzees, over 350 species of birds hosted in this forest, including 23 Albertine Rift endemics. Bwindi is the most visited of Uganda’s national parks visited by tourists who interested in watching the mountain gorillas in the wild. There are many gorilla safaris available from local tour operators ranging from 3 days to longer vacations that are tailored to include visits to other national parks such as Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Kibale Forest and more.