African Gorilla Population & Trends

Mountain Gorilla Population estimates and trends in Africa

Population counts and estimates of mountain gorillas are commonly carried out on the basis of nest or sleeping site counts (e.g. Inogwabini et al., 2000). Adults and immature weaned animals build new nests to sleep in each night. The nests are counted and any dung adjacent to each nest examined gives a reliable indication of group size as well as age of animal, particularly when the counts are repeated over several nights.

Mountain Gorilla in its Natural Environment

The number of mountain gorillas declined throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, and some declines were seen into the 1990s (e.g Binyeri et al., 2002). This could not allow gorilla trekking safaris in Africa. IUCN (1982) described a decline in the mountain gorilla numbers in the Virungas, from 400-500 in the late 1950s, to 275 in 1973 to 250 by 1981, with most of thedecline occurring in the DRC section. However, by the mid 1980s the mountain gorillas of the Virungas hadstarted to very gradually increase again. The 1989 count of mountain gorillas in the Volcans National Park, Virunga National Park and Mgahinga National Park was about 306 animals (Plumptre and Harris, 1995). Most recently a population estimate, based on repeated observations of 17 habituated groups and information on 15 unhabituated groups, has shown the population of the Virunga mountain gorilla to be between 359 and 395 (Kalpers et al., 2003).

1979 estimates showed there to be 95-130 mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Reserve (IUCN, 1982). Harcourt et al. (1981) noted a total population size of c.155 in Bwindi (where 33% of the population was counted). More recently McNeilage et al. (2001) estimated the population in Bwindi- Impenetrable National Park in 1997 to be 292 individuals and note that this population appeared to be stable.
At least 300 individuals were reported in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (Uganda Wildlife Division, 2002a).

The mountain gorilla appears to be gradually increasing in numbers and this has favored rapid growth of Gorilla Safaris Uganda. Based on recent estimates (Kalpers et al., 2003 and McNeilage et al., 2001), the total number of mountain gorillas may be between 651 and 687, or according to Plumptre et al. (2003) there are a total of approximately 650-700 mountain gorillas. According to WWF (2002) the Virunga population of mountain gorilla has increased by 14% in the last 12 years. The Bwindi gorilla trekking and gorilla population is stable and may also be increasing (Uganda Wildlife Division, 2002a; WWF, 2002; McNeilage et al., 2001).

Gorilla Trekking in Congo-Poaching Reasons

Why gorillas are hunted by Poachers

In the hinterland of the Kahuzi-Biega in Democratic republic of Congo, there are traditionally acceptable behavior that hunters who annihilate the bushbucks, agrarian chimpanzees and gorillas amid added animals alone allure accident assimilate themselves. Therefore, the frequencies for hunting are low in the case of the bushbuck and chimpanzees. Surprisingly, the hunter alternative account is aerial for the gorillas: the afterlife of elephants from the breadth (771 in 1996 and <5 in 2001), the better game, may accept affronted the hunting of gorillas, the additional better beastly in the park. This affects the development of gorilla trekking Safaris in African DR Congo basin.

Moreover, the massive accession of Rwandan refugees and the access of the wars in 1996-2001 added the adopted exports of babyish gorillas from the park. Meat and abduction of babyish gorillas were mentioned as the above affidavit for hunting the gorillas. As aboriginal as July 1992, a adolescent Grauer’s apache was confiscated at Kigali airport in Rwanda!! It was about to be beatific as bales to Cairo by an Egyptian (Kalpers, 1993). He added appear that in the Virunga National Esplanade in Congo, the abundance apache on which apache biking / mountain gorilla trekking is based, G. g. beringei, was the absolute ambition of poachers who formed for a arrangement of beastly merchants, and that absolute families of gorillas were decimated to abduction adolescent individuals destined to adopted zoos.

Rwanda Gorilla Tours

Ruanda is found in East Africa, near Uganda, Congo, and Tanzania. It is home to the endangered mountain gorillas. Gorilla tours in Rwanda are conducted in volcanoes national park, also known as Parc National des Volcans. It is located 2-3 hours drive. Gorilla tracking is the highlight for any holiday vacation or Rwanda Tour in Africa.

Parc des Volcans is not only a home to gorillas but also the endangered species of golden monkeys and many birds. A number of tourists all over the world visit gorillas in Rwanda, golden monkeys, visit Dian Fossey Tombs and take cultural or nature walks around the area. Rwanda Tours to watch gorillas range from 1 day gorilla trip to as many as 10 days and above.

Other tour destinations in Rwanda include Nyungwe Forest, with 13 primate species and an adventurous canopy walk, nature to villages and tea plantations, forest walks to water falls, Chimps, black and white colobus monkey trekking among others.

Also Akagera wildlife park is a home to wild game such as Giraffes, Zebras and other antelopes, Buffaloes, Elephants, Hippos and crocodiles on Lake Ihema. Rwanda should be is your next vacation destination in Africa.

Gorillas in the Mist

Rwanda Gorillas in the Mist – My Experience

Gorilla Tours: Of all the shows, you can be on a safari in Africa, for me, perhaps the most haunting and memorable is an encounter with a mountain gorilla in Africa.

Few adventure experiences can compare with the sheer wonder and admiration humiliating to witness these creatures in nature. It was the famous American naturalist George Schaller, who said "Nobody who looks at a gorilla's eyes - intelligent, gentle, vulnerable - can remain unchanged, the gap between ape and man disappears, we know that the gorilla still lives in us."

Schaller is revealing beautifully and succinctly, to see African lions, herds of elephants, leopards and rhinos are exciting and certainly an event focusing on, however,  there is something more, something almost ethereal, like clouds of these elusive beasts.

It is this ethereal feeling which resonates so heartbreaking when it comes to you face to face with a distant relative at a time so strange yet so familiar. With fewer than 800 mountain gorillas in the wild in small scattered areas in Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC, the pulses to see these animals, learn from them and therefore understand their situation has never been greater. The major threats to gorillas due to habitat loss to human settlements and agricultural land, sometimes poaching.

Volunteer in Rwanda on Your Holiday

Voluntourism is one of the new and exciting holiday activity that you can take while in Rwanda. Also known as a Land of a Thousand Hills, Rwanda is one of the few adventure places in Africa where one can take a volunteering holiday. You can decide to spend from 1 Week to 4 weeks trip in Uganda - Here is your chance to volunteer with the Rwandan Projects that include humanitarian and local community projects.

On your volunteer holiday or Tours to Rwanda, you can take as well as several adventures. You can take a gorilla safari in Rwanda. There are also several sightseeing tours of natural heritage + volunteer education. Besides the gorillas, Rwanda has two other national parks that offer, for example, a range of wildlife and biodiversity.

Kigali city Tour in Rwanda

Kigali City Tour in Rwanda

Rwanda Tours: Being a country of thousand hills, the capital Kigali is an interesting mix of rural and urban town overflowing on juxtaposed hilly terrain. Kigali is a place to get acquainted with the Rwandan pace. Excursions in and around Kigali offer a first impression of what Rwanda looks like. The many hills seem to stretch forever, usually featuring a lush green colour due to the abundant rainfall from the two main rainy seasons. Of course, visits to some of the historical genocide sites are possible.

Driving round Kigali, Rwanda's capital

The exhibition in the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre tells the history of Rwanda leading up to genocide in 1994 and catalogues the details of the genocide using photographs, video, written accounts and a range of artifacts. This site has been constructed in memory of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that took almost 1,000,000 lives in 100 days while the world stood by and watched. The Kigali Memorial Centre is a site of burial for around 250,000 victims of the genocide, which comprises of a main historical exhibition, a Children’s Memorial exhibition and an exhibition on comparative genocide, called Wasted Lives. You will also visit Camp Kigali, the venue of the massacre of 10 Belgian UN Blue Berets which happened on the first day of the genocide.
Kigali city tour can be combined with other activities like Gorilla Tracking safaris and Chimpanzee tracking.

Rwandan Culture, Historical and Genocide Memorial Sites

GENOCIDE MEMORIAL CITES.

Brief History of Rwanda and the Genocide.

Rwanda was initially inhabited by the Hutu farmers before the Tutsi came in with their cattle. Cattle being a status of fame in Africa, the Tutsi ruled over the Hutu people, and the two groups were living in Harmony.

However, with the coming in of the Belgians who colonized the country, they created a difference in the group by regarding the Tutsi, which was a minority group as the elite class and were to rule over the Hutu. They drew up a line between them and were identified by color, and head dimensions. Many atrocities were heaped on the Hutu majority all in the name of colonialism, and this grew much discontent among the Hutu which created tension and enmity between the Hutu Majority and Minor Tutsi.

This enmity continued on, and thus, on 6th April 1994 following the death of the then President Habyarimana, who was a Hutu, the Hutu were aggrieved and unlished a campaign to slaughter all the Tutsi who they referred to as “Cockroaches”. With the international community looking on after the death of 10 UN peacekeepers and decided to withdraw from the country, 100 days saw over 800,000 most of who were the Tutsi and those who sympasized with them.

Today, there are over 200 genocide memorial sites in Rwanda but only a few are developed for tourism purposes. Genocide memorial Tour is one of the tourist activities in Rwanda - Africa.

List of Rwandan Genocide memorial centers
Kigali memorial centre
Murambi memorial.
Nyamata memorial cite
Bisesero memorial site.
Nyanza memorial centre.
Nyarabuye memorial site
Ntarama memorial site