How Africa is winning the battle to save its mountain gorillas – and where to see the great apes

A recent survey of the critically endangered mountain gorilla has revealed that it is the only great ape in the world whose population is rising.

The census puts the wild population of mountain gorillas at 1,004 – a 25 per cent increase since 2010.

Mountain gorillas are found in only two locations in the world: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda and the Virunga Massif, which straddles the border between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The latest survey took place in the Virunga Massif, where the gorilla population is believed to have risen from 480 in 2010 to 604 in 2018. Add that to the 400 great apes living in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and you have a wild population of just over 1,000.

Mountain gorillas have been the focus of concerted conservation efforts in recent decades; those endeavours appear to have been vindicated by the latest figures.  

Sir David Attenborough, who famously filmed the great apes for the BBC in the 1970s, said: “When I first visited the mountain gorillas in 1979, the situation was dire; the number of these remarkable animals was dreadfully small.

“It is incredibly heartening therefore to see how the efforts of so many different groups – communities, governments, NGOs – have paid off. Now the challenge must be to ensure that these achievements are sustained long into the future.”

Despite the good news, conservationists have warned that this is no time for complacency. While partaking in the Virunga Massif survey, teams found and destroyed more than 380 snares, which are set for antelope but often kill or maim mountain gorillas. Indeed, one of the primates was found dead in a snare.

Climate change, oil exploration and infrastructure development also pose a major threat to the apes, which, according to conservationists, face an increased risk of catching human-borne diseases.  

“Today, mountain gorilla numbers are looking much healthier, but this is no time for complacency,” said Alison Mollon, Director of Operations for Africa at Fauna & Flora International (FFI). “We need to remain extremely vigilant, particularly in light of the ever-present and growing threat posed by the transmission of human-borne diseases that are relatively innocuous for us, but potentially fatal to other primates.”

Dian Fossey | A pioneer of gorilla conservation

Where to see mountain gorillas

Uganda

There are two locations where mountain gorillas can be spotted in Uganda: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, which occupies the Ugandan portion of the Virunga Massif.

Uganda is arguably the most accessible place to see mountain gorillas: permit start from around $600 per person, compared to $1,500 in neighbouring Rwanda.

Rwanda

Though permits are expensive in Rwanda, the country lays claim to being a pioneer in gorilla conservation. For it was in Volcanoes National Park – the Rwandan portion of the Virunga Massif – that Dian Fossey kickstarted her groundbreaking research.

As well as seeing the great apes up close, tourists can follow in the footsteps of Fossey on a gruelling trek to her research station. It was on that trek that this writer encountered a lone black back gorilla roaming the rainforest – an unscripted moment that massively trumped seeing a habituated group of gorillas the following day with other tourists.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Virunga National Park – the DRC’s portion of the Virunga Massif – is closed to visitors until 2019 following the murder of a park ranger and the kidnapping of two British tourists and their Congolese driver in May 2018.

Africa’s oldest national park is home to roughly one third of the global mountain gorilla population. However, conservationists fear the great apes could be impacted there by plans to allow oil exploration in the park.

10 of the world's rarest wildlife encounters