Updated
Gorilla trekking as tourism began in the late 1970s in Rwanda, when the Mountain Gorilla Project started taking small groups of visitors to habituated families in Volcanoes National Park to fund protection. Uganda followed in April 1993, when Bwindi’s Mubare family was opened to visitors. Before that, mountain gorillas were known to science only from 1902, were hunted and feared for decades, and were first studied closely by George Schaller in 1959 and Dian Fossey from 1967. Today carefully limited tourism is one of the main reasons the species has recovered.
Discovery and early protection
In 1902, the German officer Robert von Beringe shot two gorillas on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes, and the mountain gorilla was described to science as a new kind of gorilla named after him. For years afterwards, hunters and museum collectors killed gorillas, and films such as King Kong in 1933 spread the image of a monster. The naturalist Carl Akeley, who visited the Virungas in the 1920s, saw a very different animal and persuaded Belgium to create Albert National Park in 1925, Africa’s first national park, to protect them.
Science and habituation
George Schaller’s field study in 1959–1960 showed that gorillas were peaceful, social animals. In 1967 Dian Fossey founded the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda and spent years habituating gorilla groups so that people could watch them closely without disturbing them, the technique on which all gorilla tourism depends. Fossey herself was wary of tourism and favoured strict protection. See our guides to Dian Fossey and books about gorillas.
The birth of gorilla tourism
In 1979, conservation organisations launched the Mountain Gorilla Project in Rwanda, combining anti-poaching patrols, education and controlled tourism: small groups visiting habituated families for a limited time, with permit fees paying for protection. The same year, David Attenborough’s famous gorilla scene in Life on Earth was broadcast worldwide, building interest. Gorilla tourism also developed in what was then Zaire. Read about Attenborough and the gorillas.
Gorilla trekking in Uganda
Bwindi and Mgahinga became national parks in 1991, and in April 1993 the Mubare family in Buhoma became the first group opened to tourists in Uganda. The Uganda Wildlife Authority was formed in 1996 and has gradually opened more families across Bwindi’s four sectors, now more than 20, plus Nyakagezi in Mgahinga.
Uganda later introduced the Gorilla Habituation Experience in Rushaga, allowing small groups four hours with a family still being habituated. In 1999, a rebel attack at Buhoma killed eight tourists and a park warden, leading to the armed escorts and security that protect treks today. See our guides to Buhoma and safety on gorilla treks.
Rules and prices over time
The core rules have stayed the same since the early days: a maximum of eight visitors per family per day, one hour with the gorillas, and keeping a safe distance.
Permit prices have risen over the decades as demand grew and the cost of protection increased; in Uganda the standard permit is now US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November, compared with US$1,500 in Rwanda. Mountain gorillas have grown from about 250 in the Virungas in the early 1980s to at least 1,063 today. See our guide to how tourism helped save mountain gorillas.
Frequently asked questions
In the late 1970s in Rwanda, through the Mountain Gorilla Project.
In April 1993, when Bwindi’s Mubare family was opened to visitors.
They were first described to science after Robert von Beringe shot two in the Virungas in 1902.
Yes. Permit income funds protection, and numbers have grown to at least 1,063.
