Former poachers turn into gorilla conservationists in Uganda

In the thick rainforest of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, mountain gorillas have become the focus of a growing tourist economy.

Visitors from around the world pay 800 US dollars each for a permit to see them in their natural habitat.

A portion of those fees goes back into surrounding communities, supporting projects such as schools, health care and water supply.

Matthew Bien & Grace Lee, are American Tourists visiting the park.

"We support conservation causes and when we wanted to come to Africa, we saw safaris, going on safaris but the main thing we wanted to do is to come here and see the mountain gorillas because they are so endangered and they are so important and they are so much like us,” says Bien.

The income from tourism has created incentives to protect the gorillas, even among people who once relied on hunting.

Former poachers now work alongside conservationists to stop others from setting traps in the forest.

Philemon Mujuni a reformed poacher, says: “Long time ago, we used to go to the forest to hunt wild animals for meat like duikers, like wild pigs, antelopes and many others in this way we used traps, spears, dogs and in the case of hunting we could even hunt animal which are not edible. So, like gorillas they could fall in traps accidentally.”

But in 2020, when poachers killed a beloved gorilla named Rafiki, Mujuni and others formed an organization of former poachers who now say the primates are more important than any other animal.

Rangers say that community involvement is helping to reduce illegal hunting.

Joyleen Tugume, Uganda Wildlife Authority Ranger at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest says: “The degree of poaching here is reducing because we have gotten people who have really surrendered and they are done with poaching they are like okay we are now retired poachers so we have gotten those people, and how are we trying to reduce on poaching? One; we are working with the community. You have taken porters today - those guys who have helped carrying your bags, who have helped pull you or push you, at the end of the day these porters are going to be paid those who would have been poachers they are now not going to poach because they are earning a living.”

The outlook for mountain gorillas has been positive since 2018, when a survey showed that the population exceeded 1,000. It's a remarkable comeback for a species that faced extinction in the last century.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which maintains a list of threatened species, cites the mountain gorilla as endangered, an improvement from its earlier designation as critically endangered. About half of the gorillas live in Uganda.

Mujuni continues: “The gorillas (numbers of them) have increased because there is no more going to the forest to hunt, there is no more traps and also Uganda Wildlife Authority have employed very many rangers and those people like we reformed poachers, we protect where our village is so that no one can enter and kill those gorillas.”

The animals are tracked daily, even on holidays, while tourists are accompanied by porters who can earn a living helping visitors navigate the forest.

Groups of trackers are allocated porters, who can even help carry an unfit tourist up the hills and through the undergrowth for around $300.

Tourism has also created jobs in cultural projects, with dancers, and guides employed through conservation initiatives.

Tugume continues: “Whoever is there and is in position for conserving the gorillas - most especially the communities around homes of gorillas, please let’s conserve gorillas because they are unique animals. I have never seen someone coming here and does not enjoy the experience at least for the years I have been working with gorillas - everyone celebrates seeing gorillas, so we need to conserve, we need to let them have the right of living - that’s the message I can give to the conservationists out there.”

While gorillas might not be at risk of extinction, the future of the species here depends on whether tourism and conservation can continue to work hand in hand.

Sept. 24 is observed as World Gorilla Day. It was launched in 2017 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of a Rwanda-based gorilla study center founded by Dian Fossey, the American primatologist and conservationist who gained global renown for her research.