A muddy four-and-a-half-hour trek, one hour with a gorilla family, and an argument that high permit prices help keep one of the rarest apes alive. Jenna Price Mercurio reports from Bwindi.
Trekking to the gorillas
Wildlife photographer Jenna Price Mercurio describes her trek to see mountain gorillas in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. She flew into Kigali, drove almost eight hours to the village of Buhoma, and then hiked for four and a half hours through steep, muddy forest to find a gorilla family.
She explains how the experience works. A permit costs $800 and sells out quickly. Visitors get one hour with the gorillas under strict rules about distance, noise and food. The gorillas are habituated, meaning they have slowly become used to people over several years. She counts 19 habituated families in Bwindi and says just over 1,000 mountain gorillas remain in the wild.
The heart of the piece is her case that this kind of ecotourism helps the species. Ugandans work as guides, porters, rangers and educators, so living gorillas support local livelihoods, and the high permit price keeps visitor numbers low. She admits that no ecotourism is perfect, but sees Bwindi as a well-managed, sustainable example.
_This story was written by Jenna Price Mercurio for Untold Wildlife, our partner in bringing overlooked conservation stories to more people._