Viewing the beautiful mountain gorillas in their natural habitat is undoubtedly an exciting experience, but it requires some gorilla trekking rules to follow. Watching the infants jump and play on tree branches, seeing the female gorillas nurse and care for their young ones, or seeing the silverback showing authority, power and influence in the gorilla group, so amazing.
Trekking mountain gorillas also gives primate lovers the opportunity to better appreciate these adorable Great Apes. You will understand them as peaceful and calm animals, yet caution has to be taken while trying to get to their presence.
While it is sometimes tempting to try and get closer to these giant apes, it is always advisable to view from a safe and respectful distance, for your safety and theirs as well. Therefore, there are a number of gorilla trekking rules you must adhere to before starting your adventure, in search for these apes and when spending time in their presence. These rules were put in place to ensure natural and normal interaction with the mountain gorillas while in their forest habitats without being disturbed. These rules at the same time also allow visitors to watch them safely.
Gorilla trekking rules on your gorilla tracking safaris:
Firstly, mountain gorilla trekking is a unique wildlife experience only provided within three African countries; that is, in Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. In Rwanda, there is Volcanoes National Park, while Virunga National Park is in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
These Giant Apes live in a very fragile world where poaching, encroachment and habitat loss, deforestation and general climate change threats are taking a serious toll on their survival. Currently, only about 1,060 of them (according to 2018 census) live in their natural habitats, therefore caution is required while trekking and viewing mountain gorillas. Therefore, the following are the gorilla trekking rules to be followed by visitors in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Visitors must not approach the endangered mountain gorillas closer than 7 meters, because this reduces the spread of communicable diseases. It is important to note that these Giant Apes are our close relatives, sharing about 98.2% of human DNA, therefore they are susceptible to a lot of communicable human diseases like flue and cough.
Approaching the mountain gorilla too swiftly or making sudden and abrupt movements can disturb or irritate them. You wouldn’t want our long-awaited gorilla trekking experience to be cut shot after the dominant silverback charging, so, avoid quick and abrupt movements.
Under no circumstances should more than 8 visitors visit a particular habituated gorilla family, and the number even reduces further when it comes to a gorilla habituation experience. Here, only four visitors are allowed to trek a gorilla group each day because they spend a lot of time with the gorillas.
Limit your gorilla viewing time to the allotted one hour per day, to reduce on the impact of visitor presence on their health and convenience. This limit was placed to mainly reduce on possible behavioral changes, to avoid stressing the Giant Apes as they live their Gorilla normal lives in their natural habitat. This will also reduce on any possible spread of communicable diseases.
Making noise while trekking or with the giants is not allowed because, one, you scare away other species in the forest, especially the birds, other primates, shy animals and two, you are likely to irritate the mountain gorillas or send them into hiding.
More rules to follow:
Avoid depositing rubbish. Food leftovers, water bottles, papers, polythene bags, beverage cans and other waste should not be left within the natural habitats of the mountain gorilla. This is because it not only acts as breeding places for diseases but also can bring about choking once the animals eat them. So, always leave the environment as you found it, so that even the future generation can enjoy what we are enjoying now.
Do not attempt to touch or feed the mountain gorillas while viewing them because this can turn out to be disastrous.
The minimum age for children travelling on a gorilla trekking trip is 15 years. This is rule is usually strictly implemented to the dot. However, exceptions are some times given to children of 13 or 14 years, on a number of circumstances. First, the child looks older than his/her age, acts mature, is physically fit. This trek has to be done with written authorization from a parent or guardian who becomes responsible for any accidents.
This minimum age was placed for a number of reasons that include the difficulty/physical demands of gorilla trekking, the fact that young children are susceptible to communicable disease like flu and cough as well as their inability to control emotions. For instance, a young child will just cry or wail when a silverback starts charging instead of keeping calm as required.
Make sure that your hands are properly washed with water and soap before visiting the mountain gorillas because as earlier mentioned, they are susceptible to human diseases. Washing your hands means you are reducing on the risk of spreading diseases.
Travelers with flu, cough or any other communicable diseases are advised to postpone their gorilla trekking tours until they are well. This is a way of protecting these endangered creatures from these diseases, which affect them more than it does to humans.
Eating, smoking or drinking in the presence of the mountain gorillas is also not allowed.