Uganda Wildlife Authority habituation of new gorilla group

Information was received from the Uganda Wildlife Authority that work has begun to habituate another group of mountain gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.

Information was received from the Uganda Wildlife Authority that work has begun to habituate another group of mountain gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. The “Bikingi” group will be the 8th such group habituated to the presence of visitors on a daily basis and will likely extend over many months, if not longer, until the rare and prized animals have gotten used to being approach by humans on a regular basis.

It was also pointed out, that once this habituation has been completed and the group been included in the daily tracking for tourism purposes, no further habituations will take place until at least 2012 in order to extensively study the impact of daily visits into the park by as many as 8 tourists per group, the interaction of habituated and non-habituated groups, and the long-term sustainability of the activity.

Gorilla tracking is the highest profile tourism product of Uganda, and when the new group is on line, it is expected that this segment of activities will contribute over 50 percent of the overall tourism revenue, directly and indirectly. Visit www.friendagorilla.org to receive information about the Ugandan gorillas in their natural habitat and make friends with them for the modest fee of US$1 on Facebook.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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