As a child in the late ’80s, I remember crying a whole river after watching Gorillas in the Mist, which tells the life story of Dr. Dian Fossey and her fight to save the last remaining mountain gorillas living between Rwanda and what was then Zaire. A fight that ultimately cost her life in an unsolved murder case to this day. Back then, there were only 220 wild mountain gorillas remaining in the area, and the battle to protect them against poachers and the complete destruction of their habitat seemed impossible to win.
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Now, the population has grown to over one thousand gorillas living between Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Likely, even in Dian’s wildest dreams, she wouldn’t have thought this was possible. How, despite all the recent history of conflict in the region, do we now see a thriving population of gorillas?
I was one of the lucky few to experience the unique and expensive opportunity of gorilla tracking. Among the options available today, we chose the mid-range route from the Ugandan side of the Volcanoes National Park. Luxury travelers typically go from Rwanda, where they can stay in five-star lodges, while hardcore backpackers take the cheaper and more challenging route through war-torn DRC. We began in the town of Kisoro in Uganda, staying at the historical Traveler’s Lodge, where Dian Fossey and other pioneers of gorilla research had stayed. The drive up the mountains serves as a reminder of how close we came to completely wiping out the gorilla habitat. It’s a dramatic scene of deforestation from Kisoro all the way to what is now Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. The beautiful, lush forest has given way to unproductive fields on hills too steep to grow anything more than skinny eucalyptus trees.
On the borders of the park, communities now rely on gorilla tracking tourism, from the women who perform traditional dances to welcome tourists, to the handicraft markets selling small carved gorilla statues, to the porters and guides who accompany tourists up the mountains in search of gorilla families that have been habituated to human presence. I remember scenes from the movie where Dian Fossey cuddles with baby gorillas, but my expectations were more in line with other safari experiences—where you get close, but not that close. After one and a half hours of walking through the forests, we met up with the trackers who had located the gorilla family we were assigned to visit. The entire tourist operation is highly organized, with groups of up to eight tourists visiting specific gorilla families that are tracked and protected by rangers.
It’s an emotional experience to spot your first gorilla. We found our family near a river on a hill covered with leafy bushes and young shoots, their favorite food. As we got closer, I was surprised by how the silverback looked at us. It felt like he was granting permission for our human pack to join his family’s lunch break. The rest of the group went about their gorilla business, ignoring us. As we moved closer, we realized how relaxed the gorilla family was in our presence. One of the blackbacks even decided it was a good time for some intimate time with a female, despite the human audience stifling laughter. When they finished, the blackback sat on the hill, watching us with a confident gaze while chewing on a stem. As the ranger explained, although he’s a young blackback, being the silverback’s son grants him the freedom to mate without being challenged by the dominant male.
It’s a surreal experience. Though they could easily break a human’s neck with one charge, it seems as though the gorillas understand that letting humans observe them for an hour a day is the price they pay to live free in their mountain kingdom. Not even the cleverest human general could have conceived and executed such a genius plan. As they were hunted down to the brink of extinction in the ’80s, their natural instincts seemed to tell them that allowing non-threatening humans to get close was smarter than fighting them to the last ape—a path the so-called superior human species would likely have taken.
Now, gorilla tracking is on so many bucket lists that governments and local communities earn more from tourism than they ever did from destroying forests or hunting gorillas. Unlike other animals I’ve seen in the wild, which are large enough to crush a human in seconds, gorillas allow you to get so close that they can look you deep in the eyes, almost as equals. Except for the occasional display by the silverback, reminding us who the boss of the mountain is, or a curious infant approaching to touch a clumsy clothed human, the experience is one of pure presence and tranquility. With battalions of rangers protecting their habitat and governments working to keep tourists and their dollars flowing, the gorillas now simply enjoy their cloud forest and keep making lots of babies. It’s ironic that a species’ survival in the wild depends on humans visiting them, but there’s no doubt that this experience has a far greater impact on wildlife conservation than our old-fashioned zoos.
Dr. Dian’s conservation dream has been realized through tourist dollars. The benefits extend not only to the gorillas but also to all species that share their cloud forest habitat. Conservation miracles seem possible when tourists direct their dollars in the right way. Perhaps, if more of us planned our vacations to experience other ways of existence, whether with our animal cousins or human cultures under threat of massification, tourism could spark regeneration. The challenge, of course, lies in doing this in a balanced and sustainable manner. While the vast majority of tourists still seek instant gratification to escape the human rat race—posting Instagram pictures of some sunny Mediterranean beach with a cocktail—it’s clear that even on Instagram, there’s a shift toward tourists and travelers looking for deeper, more meaningful journeys. Africa has plenty of those to offer.
For a fully immersive educational experience in Uganda, look for the next Small Giants Academy Impact Safari: https://www.smallgiants.com.au/impact-safaris
To travel to Africa with an operator who truly understands regenerative tourism, check out Raw Africa’s offerings: https://rawafricaecotours.com/
Photo credits to Ananda Coutinho
