Tourism benefits Uganda mountain gorillas

News of a sick or injured mountain gorilla can worry residents in this mountainous area that’s home to the endangered species.

- BY RODNEY MUHUMUZA

A MOUNTAIN gorilla eats leaves at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

(ONEN PATRICK Associated Press)

That’s partly because most of the gorillas have been given names, allowing rangers and others to humanize the animal’s suffering.

But widespread interest in protecting mountain gorillas also comes from the economic benefits of tourism that have turned poachers into conservationists, married women into porters and rangers into eloquent spokespeople for the great apes.

"If we know there is a gorilla that is sick, you see everyone is concerned. 'Why? Why is the gorilla sick? It’s suffering from what?'" said Joyleen Tugume, a ranger-guide in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. “Even the community people. Everyone is touched.”

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in a remote part of southwestern Uganda, is home to many groups of habituated gorillas that have become comfortable in the presence of humans.

Tourists pay a considerable sum — $800 in permit fees per foreign nonresident — for the right to see gorillas in their natural habitat. An official revenue-sharing policy channels $10 from each permit back to the local community via their elected leaders, who can invest in projects in water provision, healthcare and other issues. Local communities are also entitled to 20% of all park entry fees generated annually.