There have been several questions as to what gorilla habituation entails and what it is all about, many people have on several occasions confused habituation with trekking. It’s true that mountain gorillas are the closest relatives to human beings sharing 98.3% of human genes but this does not stop them from being wild animals. These rare species are naturally shy and they get scared when they see people approaching them or even from a distance.
Therefore in order to minimize this physical and social distances between human beings and mountain gorillas, the habituation process was introduced in 1993 to make mountain gorillas get familiar to people in order to get them ready for gorilla safari expeditions.
Gorilla habituation is sometimes confused with gorilla trekking but these two activities are different. First of all, the habituation process permit is at 1500usd and this permits the travelers to spend four hours with the mountain gorillas despite of maximum one hour in gorilla trekking. In Uganda, habituation in Uganda is done by a group of researchers, who operated under the department of Research and monitoring which is under Uganda Wildlife Authority.
The process of mountain gorilla habituation can take from two to three years to be completed. The exercise involves visiting a selected family of wild gorillas every day until it gets used to these researchers. By the end of the habituation process, all gorilla individuals are identified in terms of their sex, age and later given names. Once researchers are confident enough that these gorillas can be visited by tourists, they conduct a mock exercise/trips for six to eight months. Once this is successful, then the habituated family is opened for tourism
Where is Gorilla Habituation Done?
There are 12 habituated families of gorillas in Uganda and ten in Rwanda available for trekking. Habituation allows the mountain gorillas to get used to people and interact with them freely otherwise they would harm travelers and local people as well.
The gorilla habituation experience will take place in Uganda within the Rushaga Area south of Bwindi impenetrable Forest. There are only two groups being habituated in 2016 and they are the Bikingi and Bushaho Gorilla Families. All the habituation experience starts at 7:30am for only four hours. This year 2016, there will be no habituation experience in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Is Gorilla Habituation Safe?
Despite of the ease and free interaction brought about by the habituation process, it has led to severe poaching and killing of the gorillas by the hunters. This is because mountain gorillas get used to people and they do not run away when approached by the poachers. This is a negative part of the habituation process.
There is also ease transmission of diseases from people to mountain gorillas due to this closeness ant interaction with the mountain gorillas. Although a seven meter distance is a mandatory between travelers and the gorillas, mountain gorillas sometimes approach people and they are hard to avoid because they are used to them which in turn lead to disease transmission. Travelers are therefore called upon to avoid these rare species to prevent disease transmission.
Due to the wild character of mountain gorillas, habituating them to the presence (for behavioral observation or tourism) of humans is a very lengthy process. During this time, people approach the animals very carefully and spend increasing periods of time with them. Most important is that the silverback leading the group accepts the presence of people.
How Long Does Habituation Takes Place?
The limited age for gorilla habituation process is 15 years and a maximum of 4 people is allowed to interact with the mountain gorillas. This is contrary to the gorilla trekking in which eight people maximum is allowed to trek one gorilla family for the maximum of one hour.
Reasons Why You Should Go for Gorilla Habituation
Gorilla habituation process takes between 2-3 year. It can simply be known as the act of training wild gorillas to become used to the sight of people. It involves different groups of people like the trackers, conservationists, researchers.
In Uganda, Gorilla habituation is conducted in Rushaga sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The current cost of Gorilla habituation permit in Uganda is US$1500 and below are the reasons for Gorilla habituation:
- Four hours of Gorilla viewing – Gorilla habituation start with briefing at 8:30 and the actual trek start at 7am. The time taken while searching for Gorillas is determined by the movement of Gorillas in their natural habitat. Once you meet Gorillas, you are given four hours to view, study, and participate in Gorilla training together with conservationists and researchers. For Gorilla trekking, trackers are given only one hours to stay with Gorillas so, Gorilla habituation has comparative advantage.
- Few people are allowed to go gorilla habituation per day. A maximum of four people plus a few primatologist/ researchers and experts accompanies guests to explore Bwindi Forest with the aim of training Gorillas to get familiar to human beings. In the process of habituation, there are minimized cases of disease spreading as there are few people in a group. The rangers also find it easy to manage a small group.
- In the process of Gorilla Habituation, guest associate with the researchers or trainers. The visitors go on asking questions and the scientists answer them hence forging friendship.
- Gorilla habituation facilitates detailed study about Gorillas. The guests move with experts/ scientists who are experienced in this work. The more time spent with Gorillas enable guests to make comparison, learn about Gorilla behaviors, physical outlooks and so on.
- In the process of Gorilla habituation, guests participate in Gorilla habituation. Gorilla habituation is the initial stage of introducing them to human being. In other words, it’s the process of making/ training Gorillas to get familiar to human being or it’s a process of making Gorillas ignore human presence. It takes approximately 2-3year and guests who are willing to pay US$1500, participates in habituation of a gorilla family.
In conclusion, therefore, for any traveler planning to experience mountain gorilla habituation experience, Uganda is the only alternative in 2016. Travelers should therefore endvour to attend for the greater and memorable experience.
Mountain Gorillas