Mountain Gorillas
Mountain Gorilla. Source: World Wildlife Fund.
Gorillas are the largest of all primates. There are three species of gorilla; the mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) faces the greatest threats to its survival. The entire population of mountain gorilla lives in the African Rift Valley. Approximately 300 gorillas live in Uganda’s Impenetrable (Bwindi) Forest; gorillas in the Virunga mountains of Rwanda and Zaire numbered approximately 239 in 1981, and increased to 310 in 1989. They live in groups ranging in size from 2-37 individuals, each dominated by an adult male. The leader of the group, usually the largest and strongest male, is called the silverback because of the streak of gray across his back and sides. Other members of the group include adult females, and immature males and females (up to 8 years old). Mountain gorillas eat primarily herbs, shrubs and vines. Because of the lush vegetation of their environment they travel only 0.5-1 km a day searching for food and, perhaps for the same reason, they are not territorial. They sleep at night in large nests made of branches and vines. Adult and youth gorillas build a new nest each night.
Gorilla behavior is what fascinates scientists and non-scientists alike. They have complex social relationships, and well documented behaviors that prove gorillas to be intelligent animals. Dian Fossey attracted world-wide attention to the mountain gorillas in the 1970’s. She spent a great deal of time observing gorillas in their natural habitat, and fighting poachers who were contributing to the decline of the population.
Without poaching or encroachment of their land, it has been estimated that the mountain gorilla population could increase at a rate of 2 percent each year. Each female will have just 3 or 4 infants in her lifetime. This contrasts greatly with the human population in Rwanda. Threats to the existence of mountain gorillas include the increasing human population, clearing of land for cultivation and cattle ranching, disturbance of habitat by refugees and poachers, and the fighting in Zaire and Rwanda. Nearly all of the arable land in Rwanda is under cultivation, so any growth in the human population is detrimental to the gorillas’ habitat.
In the late 1970’s, two scientists began a long-term effort known as the Mountain Gorilla Project to protect the mountain gorillas. Their research addressed the demographic, ecological, and socioeconomic factors in the gorillas’ decline. The results of their study, which was completed in 1978, indicated that a drastic decline of the population that had begun in the 1960’s had come to a halt. They suggested that isolated hunting (motivated by civil disturbances in Zaire and conversion of park land in Rwanda) was the primary factor that caused the gorillas’ decline. While working on their census in 1978, the scientists learned that the Rwandan government was planning to take over 12,000 additional acres of the park for cattle grazing. This action would have reduced the gorillas’ habitat to three isolated islands.
The Mountain Gorilla Project was well under way by the mid-1980’s, with funding from several large conservation organizations. The project sought to establish a sound tourism program, which would convince Rwandans of the economic benefits that would come from protecting the mountain gorilla. The project educated villagers about the real economic values of an intact forest, and its role in watershed and soil protection. They were also told about the need for a reserve for the gorillas, and the nature and endangered status of gorillas. This project reached the public by traveling the country, showing films, giving lectures, and broadcasting radio programs. It reached hundreds of thousands of Rwandans. The government also had to be convinced of the earning potential of the gorillas. By the early 1990’s, over seven thousand people were visiting Parc National des Volcans each year to see the gorillas. Following the first year of the Mountain Gorilla Project, park visits increased 50 percent, visits to gorillas went up over 100 percent, and total park revenues increased 330 percent. The proposed cattle project was moved to another site. Rules were set in the park for both the safety of visitors and the protection of the gorilla population. Tourist groups were limited to six (and later eight) people. Visits were limited to one hour and cost $200 per person. Four of the 29 mountain gorilla groups have been habituated to tourists in Rwanda, and four more were reserved for research. Four groups were also habituated in Zaire, where the Rwandan standards for mountain gorillas tourism were adopted.
Prior to the war, gorilla tourism was generating nearly 1 million dollars per year for Rwanda, a portion of which is returned to the park for management costs. Foreign tourists were spending approximately 3 million dollars annually in the country. The Mountain Gorilla Project also helped provide revenue for keeping the park and the gorillas secure; a system of mobile patrols was developed, and guards were provided with supplies they need to be successful in their jobs. The Parc des Volcans was one of the best protected areas on Earth prior to the outbreak of civil war. The guards were paid by the government over 1,000 dollars a year. Other villages were employed by the park for a variety of jobs. However, the government kept most of the tourist revenues for the central treasury, rather than sharing with local communities, and many of the leadership roles in the Project were occupied by non-Rwandans. The local people were forced to give up some of the resources they had once taken from the park as park protection improved.
The Mountain Gorilla Project was unique in that Rwandans were consulted and involved in the processes of education and conservation. Prior to 1978, no Rwandan scientist had seen or studied the gorillas, and the information that was collected by international scientists was not being conveyed to the local population. The success of the Mountain Gorilla Project was evident in a later survey, when it was found that less than a third of the local farmers wanted to convert the park to agriculture, and more than 80% of all farmers thought both the country as a whole and their region benefited economically from tourism. Scientists believe the lesson to be drawn from the Mountain Gorilla Project is that conservation efforts must weigh the importance of a wide variety of considerations unique to each location: social, economic, and political factors, biological concerns such as the size of the reserve, current management practices, funding availability, Western interest that might generate money, alternative uses for the reserve, competing values for the land, etc. One scientist quoted, “the Mountain Gorilla Project was a very creative, interdisciplinary approach to solving a difficult problem, and that approach can be applied anywhere, and it is being applied in other places, but the solutions will be very different.”
When civil war broke out in 1989, the tourist industry was affected. However, both sides in the conflict expressed concern about the safety of the gorillas and the population remained intact throughout the fighting. Everyone involved seemed to recognize the earning potential in the gorillas. It is difficult to find data on the gorillas or conservation efforts in Rwanda after the war, since so many human tragedies have occurred and continue to occur in Rwanda today.
