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Buhoma, a tiny township in Kanungu district, southwestern Uganda, owes its solvency to mountain gorillas. 

This is also the oldest gateway into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, which is built on the back of mountain gorilla tourism in southwestern Uganda. Gerald Tenywa explored the towns built with “gorilla dollars” and now writes.

Amos Twebaze, a resident of Buhoma, could not hide his smile as he gets his latest payment in US dollars. He then uses his left hand to pull out smaller dollar bills from his pocket to give change to his clients. 

“I make clean money from accompanying tourists to Bwindi as a porter,” says Twebaze, adding that his earnings from gorilla tourism have helped him to set up a bar and a restaurant in Buhoma. 

He also knows that when tourists come to Buhoma, they need services, such as guiding on their way to track the mountain gorillas in the hilly terrain of Bwindi. 

After the wild encounters with the apes, the visitors will need food, accommodation, transport and also souvenirs, Twebaze observes. 

This has attracted booming businesses in the entertainment industry, traditional dancers, handicraft makers, transporters and agriculturalists, who provide food to the hotels, as well as accommodation facilities, according to Twebaze. 

“There are opportunities for many people who are engaged in services that benefit tourists directly and indirectly,” he says. 

In addition, there is a village walk where visitors have a chance to view cultural activities, such as local brewing or wineries, smelting, artefacts, herbal medicine and local dancers. 

As a result, the money from visitors who come to see mountain gorillas, as well as from the village walking expedition, trickles down to the locals. This helps to improve their lives and livelihood, says Twebaze. 

In return, the communities are expected to undertake developments without hurting the mountain gorillas and their habitat, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. 

However, this was not the case three decades ago, when Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, located in southwestern Uganda, were being plundered through illegal activities, such as gold mining and timber harvesting. 

The plunderers left Bwindi in tatters. As the illegal activities scaled up, the population of mountain gorillas declined. 

“We need to put communities at the heart of conservation,” says John Makombo, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) director for community conservation, adding that the escalating pressures on land, poverty and human-wildlife conflicts, were taking place outside the park. 

As communities respond to the pressures, according to Makombo, the habitats and, consequently, wildlife, suffer. 

This means that wildlife agencies and their partners, including communities, have to seek alternative ways of improving lives and livelihoods. 

In short, Makombo says, the investment, for instance of $1 inside the protected area, should be matched by $10 outside the park. 

This is what has improved the fortunes of the mountain gorillas and the communities around Bwindi and Mgahinga. 

As Uganda celebrates the 30th birthday of gorilla tourism, it is important to look at the past and then the future. How is gorilla tourism contributing to development and conservation goals? 

What is working, what is not working and what can be done better? 

Eco-tourism defined  

Gorilla tourism is a form of eco-tourism. Others include chimpanzee tourism, as well as bird watching. 

Eco-tourism refers to “responsible travel that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of the local people,” according to the Toronto School of Management. 

How Gorilla Tourism was born  

Bwindi’s gorilla tourism was birthed in 1993, after John Dubois, a US Peace Corp Volunteer, led a team to habituate the first gorillas. 

The term habitation refers to a process of getting primates or mountain gorillas to get used to human beings without losing their wild character. Gorilla tourism helped to bring business to one of the remotest parts of the world. 

This has led to sustainable development, which is promising further growth for the communities. 

“We have organised groups of communities that have started businesses that benefit the wider community,” says Richard Magezi, a resident, pointing out that there are also people who have started their own businesses, such as hotels and lodges. 

Magezi, who was born in Buhoma, is one of the local hoteliers. His previous responsibilities included being the chairperson of the community of Buhoma and also working at Bwindi Hospital. 

“As a community, we started with a low budget camp, but we have built a high-end lodge, schools are coming up and the community also has a piped water system under the rural water services. We also have a Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCO),” says Magezi. 

The eco-tourism development at Bwindi has blossomed as a result of partnerships between the communities, government agencies, such as UWA, NGOs, as well as development partners. 

The communities have also set up a number of community-based organisations and the private sector. 

On top of the self-help initiatives started as private businesses and organised communities, 20% of the fees collected from entrance fees are shared with the communities. 

This has helped to improve livelihood and development initiatives in the communities. The entrance fee for Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is $40 (sh150,000).

“There are over 3,000 communities that benefit directly, but there are people who benefit indirectly,” says Nelson Guma, the chief warden for Bwindi.

“The contribution of gorilla tourism to the local community has been immense. The funds are channelled into creating access to markets to support to the communities.” 

Between 2005 and 2022, the communities around Bwindi received sh38 trillion for communities, according to George Owoyesigire, the acting principal wildlife conservation officer in the Ministry of Tourism, wildlife, and Antiquities. 

UWA also shares $10 (sh37,000) for every permit with Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Trust. 

This is invested money in endowment funds, which help to fund development initiatives far beyond the boundaries of Bwindi and Mgahinga, according to Stephen Masaba, the director of tourism at UWA. 

Nkuringo in Buhoma's footsteps 

Other than Buhoma, eco-tourism or gorilla tourism has also reached the southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. 

This is where mountain gorillas used to stray into people’s farmlands and have become game changers in the lives of the residents in 23 villages in Nkuringo. 

While residents of Buhoma have established a “dollar village” or “dollar town”, their counterparts in Nkuringo, Kisoro established a luxury hotel in 2008. 

This is known as Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, which was set up by a tripartite partnership — Nkuringo community, Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and Wild Places safari company. 

The luxury lodge charges up to $831 (sh3.2m) for a night. The proceeds from the hotel are shared with the local communities and this has helped different enterprises to get off the ground. 

This has empowered the communities at Nkuringo, in return for sharing their land with mountain gorillas that kept straying from Bwindi into a strip of land belonging to private owners. 

The money from Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge goes to community enterprises, such as education, roads, water supplies, agricultural and health initiatives. 

This is channelled through the 30,000-member community group, led by Nkuringo Conservation Development Foundation, according to AWF. “If you do not invest in the communities, then you are not investing in conservation. The communities are the stewards of the environment,” says Yvonne Ayesiga, AWF’s communications assistant. 

Gorilla tourism expanding  

Apart from Mukono parish, which has now become Buhoma Town Council and the two parishes in Nkuringo, gorilla tourism is expanding to Mpungu in Kanungu and Ruhija in Rubanda. 

This is going to mirror the initiatives at Buhoma and Nkuringo, according to Guma. 

Money spinners 

Previously, the world was obsessed with only what are known as the big five — elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and the African Buffalo. Today, the mountain gorillas are some of the most charismatic wildlife species globally.

It also follows that the gentle giants, as mountain gorillas are referred to in some circles, provide the most expensive encounters. This is because a gorilla permit for an East African costs sh250,000, foreign residents in East Africa pay $600 (sh2.2m), while foreign residents part with $700 (sh2.6m). 

By the year 2020, mountain gorilla tourism was generating more than half of the earnings of UWA, estimated at sh120b every year, according to Oweyesigire. 

“What you should know is that Bwindi was generating more than 50% of UWA’s revenue earnings.” 

However, the revenue from gorilla tourism also goes to the conservation of protected areas that do not make as much money as Bwindi. 

“We have conservation obligations in other areas, yet they do not have a lot of wildlife and their infrastructure is poor,” says Oweyesigire.  

While the name Bwindi means impenetrable in the local lingua, some of the local people had penetrated the park in the search for gold and timber. 

This state of affairs has been reversed and Bwindi was restored, thanks to the charming apes. 

“Gorillas have a great appeal to humans and this has helped gorilla tourism, which has been selling like hot cakes for decades,” says Makombo. 

Gorilla population triples  

Prior to eco-tourism or gorilla tourism, there were less than 300 mountain gorillas in the three home countries, namely, Uganda, Rwanda and the DR Congo. 

Today, the population has tripled over the last 30 years. “We had a declining population of mountain gorillas, but they are now increasing,” says George Oweyesigire, the acting principal wildlife conservation officer in the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities. 

This means that Uganda has significantly contributed to the conservation of endangered species, including mountain gorillas. Back then, mountain gorillas were referred to as critically endangered species. 

However, these have been downlisted from critically endangered to endangered species. 

Critically endangered species refers to a species that is considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Endangered species refers to a species of animal or plant that is seriously at risk of extinction. 

“Over the years, we have had reduced encroachment on Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park,” says Owoyesigire, adding that there is improved protection. 

The population of mountain gorillas had declined in the three countries sharing their population due to encroachment on their habitat and hunting in the 1970s and 80s, according to the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society. 

“We have seen mountain gorillas contributing to economic growth and sustainable development in the community and also the national economy,” says Owoyesigire. 

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics says that for every 10 Ugandans that are employed, two are in the tourism sector. He also points out that most of the people employed in the tourism sector are women youth. This means that if you want to reduce unemployment, you have to increase support to tourism. Owoyesigire also says that they are working with different partners in Government to construct tourism roads, airfields and Kabale International Airport.

What is wrong, not working? 

One of the things that are working are Uganda’s eco-policies that are pro-poor and encourage the sharing of benefits with the communities. 

“We have also enhanced conservation of the habitats of the mountain gorillas, meaning that conservation policies are working,” says Stephen Masaba, the director of tourism at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). 

However, the roads and air travel to facilitate movement to the protected areas need to be improved, according to Masaba. Also, overdependence on gorilla tourism remains a big challenge. 

“The revenue from gorillas also contributes to the conservation of other protected areas in the country,” says Masaba. 

According to Masaba, eco-tourism depends on the natural environment, which is being impacted negatively by the changing climate. 

“We have places that are being impacted by floods and some habitats are changing over time,” he says. 

Masaba also points out that the expanding human population is encroaching on the environment, including wildlife habitats, which undermines tourism. 

This has resulted in increased human-wildlife conflict. 

“There is population pressure, resulting in human settlements blocking wildlife movement in the animal corridors,” says Masaba. 

There are also threats of disease outbreaks, such as scabies and coronavirus, which affect the human and wildlife population. 

As encroachment expands, there is increased displacement and interaction between the human population and wildlife. 

What should be done?  

The saying that small is beautiful is repeated at Bwindi, sitting on 331 square kilometres and Mgahinga, covering 34 square kilometres. This is because the two are the smallest of Uganda’s national parks, but contribute most of UWA’s revenue. 

“If you look at the earnings from national parks, Bwindi contributes 50% while Mt Rwenzori, which is a critical ecological system, brings in only 1%,” says Prof. Wilber Ahebwa of Makerere University. 

“What will happen when mountain gorilla tourism cannot generate revenue?” Ahebwa says there is a need to look for alternative financing. 

He cited carbon offsets that provide sinks for emissions, such as carbon dioxide, which are blamed for climate change, as one of the sources of financing. 

“We need to think outside the box, we need carbon trade and carbon financing, payment for ecosystem services,” says Ahebwa. “Gorilla tourism is doing better, but we need other models that can work to finance protected areas.” 

He also suggests better engagement of the private sector in the management of conservation areas, pointing out that these will bring a lot of value in marketing and contribute to better product development. 

Above all, what we need is an agreed way to manage land, according to Stephen Muwaya, a consultant in rural development. In short, this means putting in place a land use plan that could minimise conflict and restore degraded areas. 

This will also help interventions addressing climate change, desertification and drought and ease population pressure on land. 

“It is very clear that land use planning will take into account local consensus on how land resources should be managed and putting in place by-elaws and guidelines to sustainably manage land,” he says. 

The mountain gorillas have been paying “rent” for the land they are occupying in the heavily populated landscape in southwestern Uganda or Kigezi. 

In addition, they are helping to pay rent for wildlife in other parks. It is high time we reduced the burden off their backs by considering alternative sources of money for conservation.