Uganda habituates over 30 mountain gorillas to boost tourism sector
GORILLA TRACKING CONTRIBUTES HALF OF THE COUNTRY’S
TOURISM REVENUE. EACH TOURIST PAYS U.S. $ 500 DOLLARS
PER DAY TO TRACK THE GORILLAS.
KAMPALA, (Xinhua) -- A total of 34 mountain gorillas have been habituated in western Uganda, a move likely to boost the country’s tourism revenue.
Benjamin Bayenda, an official at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) was quoted by the state-owned New Vision daily as saying on Monday that the group belongs to the Nsongi family in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
He said the gorillas have been going through a habituation process since the beginning of last year.
Habituation is a process through which wild animals get used to human presence without losing their wild character.
"We believe the gorillas are ready for tracking because of the way they are responding," said Bayenda.
He said only six tourists would initially be allowed to track the gorillas, adding that after about a month when they are used to their presence, the number will be increased to eight.
Gorilla tracking contributes half of the country’s tourism revenue.
Each tourist pays 500 U.S. dollars per day to track the gorillas.
Gorillas are endangered species and only 700 live in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to Lillian Nsubuga, UWA’s public relations officer, out of the 28 groups in Bwindi, only six groups have been habituated.
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Uganda’s proceeds from gorilla tourism increase
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SPECIAL REPORT BY XINHUA CORRESPONDENT CHEN JING
KAMPALA, (Xinhua) -- Uganda’s proceeds from gorilla tourism have increased as it has contributed 488 billion Ugandan shillings (about 225 million U.S. dollars) in 2008 to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) from zero in 1990.
This has come as a result of the thriving gorilla tourism in the Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks in southwestern of the East African country of Uganda for two decades, benefiting from being home to more than 380 endangered mountain gorillas.
As the world marks 2009 as "the Year of the Gorilla", Uganda also launched the United Nations "Year of the Gorillas" in Kampala, while celebrating its gains from conserving the gorillas and intending to habituate more groups of gorillas to increase the revenue.
There are currently about 700 surviving mountain gorillas in the world that are threatened by diseases, armed conflict, destruction of their habitat and commercial trade.
In order to create awareness and educating the public globally about the close cousins of mankind, the gorillas, UN has declared 2009 is the Year of the Gorilla.
UWA’s executive director Moses Mapesa was quoted by the Daily Monitor on Monday saying that UWA in 2008 had earned about 225 million dollars from gorilla tourism, accounting for 50.4 percent of revenue generated for the wildlife authority.
"Considering that tourism at national level generated over 450 million dollars (977 billion shillings) in 2008, if we use the same formula as illustrated by earnings for UWA, then gorilla tourism was responsible for 225 million dollars in 2008," said Mapesa.
"The contribution of gorilla tourism in real terms from household to national level is enormous," added Mapesa.
Last year, about 842,000 tourists visited Uganda and brought in about 590 million dollars where with each tourist contributing 700 dollars.
Mapesa said that while only 7.3 percent of the total number of tourists coming to Uganda has a chance to view the gorillas, the figures are bound to rise when the country opens up more gorilla groups for viewing.
"The demand for gorilla tourism is on the rise.
"Therefore gorillas do play a strong catalytic role to Uganda’s tourism industry and play a big role in marketing Uganda as a competitive tourist destination," he said.
Nowadays, foreign tourists are flying thousands of kilometers from Europe, America and Asia and they would gladly pay about 500 dollars for gorilla viewing in Uganda.
However, despite the expanding gorilla tourist industry, Ugandans who are charged a lower fee of 250,000 shillings (about 115 dollars) are still ignorant about the presence of this industry.
Gagawala Wambuzi, the State Minister for Trade, was also quoted by the daily saying that endangered gorilla species will be placed on the pedestal this year in efforts to raise awareness about their plight and threats to their habitat.
"There is lack of a legal frame work and policy to protect the gorilla and this will lessen the number of tourists coming to Uganda as well as reduce the number of the remaining species," he said.
"We must also involve our community in activities related to poverty alleviation which will keep them away from degrading the forest," added the minister.
"In fact our eco-tourism is based on wildlife resource especially primates and mountain gorillas are said to have put Uganda on the international map," he said, noting that gorillas have become the biggest sources of tourism revenue in Uganda.
Meanwhile, gorilla tourism alone employs about 5,000 people in tours and travel while national tourism accounts for 17 per cent of available job opportunities countrywide in Uganda.
The Year of the Gorilla, according to UWA, will help Ugandans appreciate gorilla conservation as the country promotes itself as a premium tourist destination.
The authority also wants to enhance national awareness of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park as a World Heritage site. However, Mapesa noted that UWA would not exploit the gorillas for financial gains.
"UWA is, however, conscious not to end up exploiting the gorillas for money at the expense of their survival and therefore there are restrictions on how many groups can be habituated," said Mapesa.
Habituation is a process where gorillas are taught to be tolerant of people and their presence.
The wild gorillas can be violent to humans.
Currently, there are five groups of gorillas that have been habituated, with four in Mubare, Habinyanja, Rushegura, and Nkuringo Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and one (Nyakagezi) in Mgahinga and a new group will soon be opened up to tourists in Rushaga-Kisoro.
