With just under 900 Mountain Gorillas left in the wild, their species is critically endangered. And one can imagine how exciting it can be to embark on a Rwanda gorilla tracking safari in Africa.
Let’s start by research studies conducted on these mountain gorillas take for example by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge that confirmed that humans share over 98% of our DNA with them.
Only chimpanzees can beat this percentage with a remarkable 99%. And that figure really makes more sense when you get a chance to look at their human-like hands and see how they interact with each other.
These great primates are one of the world’s most endangered mammal species mainly as a result of poaching, disease, and habitat loss.
But one thing to be happy about is that the efforts of the Rwandan government and other organizations are starting to yield results. Starting in 2010, there has been a 26% increase in the mountain Gorilla population.
A total of 20 families of about 300 mountain gorillas currently inhabit in the Volcanoes National Park that lies in northwestern Rwanda bordering Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Of all these gorilla families, only 12 are habituated for tourists once a day by a small group of not more than 8 people.
The other remaining 8 families are being studied by researchers at Karisoke research center in order to learn more about those remarkable creatures.
You can also go for a Gorilla trekking tour in the Bwindi impenetrable forest in Uganda and Congo but one can argue that it is a lot easier to trek Gorillas in Rwanda among the only three destinations.
And this is mainly because the tracks are easier and the visibility is usually better. Let’s put it this way, in Rwanda, you are 100% sure to catch a glimpse of them, though, technically, it can’t be guaranteed with mother nature.
It is really a special experience seeing the mountain gorillas in the wild, you can observe yourself that those gentle giants are not really bothered by humans’ presence at all.
Actually, it is almost like they don’t care. You will see them just go about their daily lives and do what exactly mountain Gorillas do. Eat, play and move about, cuddle and of course sleep.
Cate
Samuel
Robert
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