The number of mountain gorillas crossed 1,000 for the first time in recorded history in 2018, and the significance of that number cannot be overstated. A species that had declined to approximately 268 animals in 1981 — a population small enough that leading conservation scientists were predicting extinction within decades — had recovered to over 1,000. This milestone, announced jointly by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, Rwanda Development Board, and Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, was covered by international media as one of the conservation success stories of the decade. Understanding what went into that milestone, and what sustains it, is essential context for anyone visiting Bwindi to see the gorillas that that success has protected.
The Road to 1000: A Timeline
1981: The Crisis Point
The census conducted by researchers at the Karisoke Research Centre estimated approximately 268 mountain gorillas in the Virunga massif in 1981. A separate estimate for the Bwindi population brought the total to somewhere between 300 and 400 animals. The main drivers of the decline: habitat destruction as agricultural pressure converted forest to farmland, poaching for bushmeat and the capture of infants for zoo trade, and the devastating impact of armed conflict in the DRC on conservation in the Virunga section of the range.
The 1990s: Stabilisation
The combination of increased ranger presence, international conservation attention generated by Dian Fossey’s work and its aftermath, and the development of gorilla trekking tourism in Rwanda and Uganda began to stabilise the population through the 1980s and early 1990s. The 1989 census found approximately 620 animals — a significant increase from 1981 that demonstrated the impact of conservation intervention.
The 2000s: Steady Growth
Continued growth through the 2000s, documented in surveys in 2003 (786 animals) and 2010 (approximately 786 in the Virungas plus an estimated 400 in Bwindi), showed a population that was growing at a modest but consistent rate. The Bwindi and Virunga populations were counted separately using different methodologies, and the absence of a coordinated range-wide count made the total figure uncertain.
2018: The Milestone
The 2018 census, the first to apply consistent methodology across both populations simultaneously, produced a combined total of over 1,000 animals — the Virunga population at 604 and the Bwindi population at 459, for a total of 1,063. The announcement was widely reported and widely celebrated. It was not the end of the crisis, but it was unambiguous evidence that the conservation model was working.
What Made the Milestone Possible
The headline is simple: the number crossed 1,000. The story behind it is complex and involves decades of work across multiple countries, organisations, and communities.
Anti-Poaching Infrastructure
The ranger patrol network covering gorilla habitat in Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC represents thousands of daily patrol hours per year across terrain that is physically challenging and, in the DRC section, sometimes dangerous due to ongoing security issues. Snare removal — removing the wire traps set for other animals that gorillas are caught in incidentally — has been one of the highest-impact activities: measurably reducing the frequency of gorilla snare injuries that can cause permanent disability or death.
Veterinary Intervention
The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and subsequent veterinary programmes have provided rapid response to injured and sick gorillas throughout this period. Veterinary interventions that prevent single deaths represent, at a population of 1,000, a prevention of 0.1% of the total population per intervention. Cumulatively, across hundreds of interventions over three decades, this adds up to a measurable contribution to the recovery.
Community Programs
Revenue sharing from gorilla tourism, employment of local people in conservation-related work, and community conservation agriculture programmes have shifted the incentive landscape for communities bordering gorilla habitat. The transition from a situation where gorilla presence represented a cost (crop raiding, displacement from land) to one where it represents an economic opportunity has been slow and incomplete, but measurably real in the areas where it has been implemented effectively.
Tourism Revenue
The $800 gorilla trekking permit, multiplied by thousands of visitors per year across Rwanda and Uganda, generates the primary revenue stream that funds the conservation infrastructure above. The calculation is direct: more visitors means more revenue, more rangers, more veterinary capacity, more community programmes, and more gorillas. The 1,000 milestone is, in part, a tourism story.
The Current Situation
By the most recent estimates, the mountain gorilla population stands at over 1,100 — a continued increase from the 2018 milestone. This growth is not guaranteed to continue: it depends on sustained conservation funding, stable political conditions in all three range countries, and continued management of the disease transmission risks posed by increasing human activity around gorilla habitat.
The population is growing. The work that is growing it must continue.
What the Number Means for Your Visit
You are visiting at a moment of genuine conservation success. The gorillas in Bwindi exist in greater numbers today than they have in several decades. The family you will spend an hour with is one of hundreds of families that have survived and grown because of thirty years of sustained conservation work, funded significantly by people who have chosen to visit.
Your permit is not just an access fee. It is a contribution to the system that has produced the most significant wildlife conservation success story of the last generation. The number crossed 1,000. Your visit is part of how it continues to grow.
Contact Uganda Gorilla Trekking to book your permit. The milestone was reached. Help sustain what reached it.
