Gorilla Tourism In Congo Picking

The latest we have is that Congo's secuity is becoming a little bit better and the threats to mountain gorillas have been minimal in the past 2 years. Gorilla tracking is rapidly picking up and many tourists are today visiting these rare apes in the Virunga Forest. Many of the tourists visiting Congo prefer to stay in Kisoro in Uganda or Gisenyi in Rwanda and then cross the Congo border early morning to trek the rare gorillas. Another option is to fly to Goma Airport from where the Congolese guides can pick you for a guided gorilla trek.

Many Ugandan and Rwandan based tour companies are offering gorilla trekking tours that are some times included with hiking tours to Karisimbi Mountains, Nyiragongo Volcanoes, gorilla trekking in Uganda or Rwanda as well as leisure at the Lake Kivu beaches.

Mountain Gorilla Tourism - Past & Present

Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) Tracking Tourism is one of the most lucrative form of tourism in a few African Countries ie Uganda, Rwanda, Congo. It not only generates important revenue for conservation efforts but also benefits the local communities surrounding the mountain gorilla parks of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. However mountain gorilla tourism not only yields positive impacts. Analysts and scholars have established that it brings with it the threat of disease transmission into the mountain gorilla population. Human to Gorilla encounters that exist between gorillas and tourists in different mountain gorilla tracking destinations such as Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Mgahinga National Park and Parc Nationale des Volcans (Rwanda) are likely to contribute to the risk of disease transmission. Therefore the future of gorilla conservation together with mountain gorilla tourism, the backbone of Uganda and Rwanda's tourism industry need to be well planned for in order to attain sustainable tourism development. From this blog we discuss the role of mountain gorilla tourism, Benefits to the Local communities, Threats to Mountain Gorilla Tourism Development and Policies that should be taken to enhance both Conservation and Tourism Development in Africa.